Dubai Hints & Tips! (Merged)

Moose_2

Hi,
As for good places to eat in Dubai, I recommend the Irish bar upstairs in the Palm hotel next door to the HardRock Cafe, The drink is cheap (about £3.50 for a pint of cider or lager which believe me is cheap out there) and they make a wicked curry, rice and chips for about £7, it's not the poshest place to go but cheap for food and drink.
Also the best thing to do is go to Carfore supermarket or Spinneys for cans of pop, in the hotels they charge about £1.50 for a can but in the supermarket you can pick up 6 cans for £1.50 ( thereabouts anyway...not exact prices!) we did a small shop for sweets, crisps and can etc for the beach and it cost a fraction of the price of the hotels!

Change your money at the post office befor you go as you'll need change for tips.

Dress code in Dubai is pretty relaxed. Most people wear shorts and vest tops when shopping in the day or evening but the shopping centres have really cool air conditioning so sometimes a lightweight cardigan or something to put on is useful but most hotels like the men to wear trousers and shirts in the restaurants in the evening (same all over the world I suppose) and have the dress code in the entrances into the restaurants.

I've been to Dubai several times and have never seen the beach closed for 2 days for ladies only.

Shops are open till midnight in some places, I think they are closed on Saturdays as this is their Religious day but all hotels operate normally. The shops there are a ittle more expensive than here at home they have Next, Debenhams, BHS etc...

HTH

H

fatboyonadiet

Moose wrote:

Change your money at the post office befor you go as you'll need change for tips.

DON'T use the post office, gives you a worse exchange rate then using www.travelex.co.uk, e.g. £100 today would give you 624.91 Dirhams from Travelex but only 610.34 from the Post Office. Some will argue it's only a small difference but a difference none the less. Also I normally order some currency online and then pick it up from the airport just before I fly and then exchange some more cash when I get there - you'll get a better exchange rate.

Moose_2

I only said the post office as the adverts give you the impression they are good, I have always changed my money at Travelex at the airport but thanks to your advice will do it online from now on as we are due to go back to Dubai in November.

H

bigup

Thanks for that, i have just ordered my money and received confirmation to collect at the airport

And thanks guys for all the other info on dubai...

alanrp123

Having visited Dubai many times, (I lived and worked in Abu Dhabi for almost 20yrs), I find the easiest way to draw cash is by using my Barclays Visa Electron card, 90% of the ATMs take it, and I have never been hit with any charges and always had a better rate of exchange than offered at the moneychangers.
I am going to Abu Dhabi in September for 4 weeks and have already rented and paid for a hertz car, £182 for 21 days, everything included.

khizman

Moose wrote:

Hi,
make a wicked curry, rice and chips for about £7, it's not the poshest place to go but cheap for food and drink.
Also the best thing to do is go to Carfore supermarket or Spinneys for cans of pop, in the hotels they charge about £1.50 for a can but in the supermarket you can pick up 6 cans for £1.50 ( thereabouts anyway...not exact prices!) we did a small shop for sweets, crisps and can etc for the beach and it cost a fraction of the price of the hotels!

Shops are open till midnight in some places, I think they are closed on Saturdays as this is their Religious day but all hotels operate normally. The shops there are a ittle more expensive than here at home they have Next, Debenhams, BHS etc...

HTH

H

Firstly, you would have to be an idiot to buy anything at a hotel anywhere in the world.
Going to a supermarket will be a waste of time unless you cannot find what you after in the local convienience store,
Shops charge 1dhs for a can unless you are in a tourist area where they will charge alot more, there are vending machines though on the beaches which will again charge 1dhs.
at a supermarket you will be paying 5.50 for a 6 pack so it seems useless to go all the way there.
Let me just repeat, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from a hotel, why would you as a moneysaver spend 5 times the price?
Shops are shut on Friday until the evening at ab out 4-5pm.
also 7 quid for a curry and rice is a proper rip off as i have mentioned in other threads

bigup

So we need to stack up a few 1dh coins for the vending machines?

Any links to the other threads?

fatboyonadiet

This one is the longest but try here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=70744, here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=60883 or maybe here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=46221

bigup

Thanks for that fatboy.....on one of the threads on guy says about clothes and that "shorts" are a no no..... is that the case? and should i be packing trousers or something instead to walk around in?

khizman

bigup wrote:

Thanks for that fatboy.....on one of the threads on guy says about clothes and that "shorts" are a no no..... is that the case? and should i be packing trousers or something instead to walk around in?

if you are a guy you are ok in shorts but women = no
personally i dont wear shorts anymore at all,
try 3/4 length ones.