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    The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai: Travel Guide eBook
    The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai: Travel Guide eBook
    The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai: Travel Guide eBook
    Ebook251 pages1 hour

    The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai: Travel Guide eBook

    By Rough Guides

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    About this ebook

    This mini pocket Dubai travel guidebook is perfect for travellers looking for essential information about Dubai. It provides details on key places and main attractions, along with a selection of itineraries, recommendations for restaurants and top tips on how to make the most of your trip. 

    In this Dubai guidebook, you will find:

    • Curated recommendations of places – expert picks of main attractions, child-friendly activities and relaxing spots, plus where to take the best photos
    • What's new, when to go and sustainable travel – all-new features direct you to what you need to know
    • Things not to miss in Dubai – Burj Al Arab, Sheikh Zayed Road, The Gold Souk, Al Fahidi, Dubai malls, abras (water taxis), desert safaris, Madinat Jumeirah, Downtown Dubai
    • Three unique trip plans – itinerary suggestions for those on a short break, including one for a Perfect day
    • Food and drink – recommendations for local specialities and the best dining experiences
    • What to do in Dubai – recommendations for entertainment, shopping, sports, children’s activities, events and nightlife
    • Practical information – how to get there and around, money, health and medical care, and tourist information
    • Overview maps – handy maps on the inside cover flaps show Dubai and around
    • Arabic section – basic vocabulary and phrases from the local language
    • Striking pictures – inspirational colour photography throughout
    • Coverage includes: Shindagha, Bur Dubai, Deira, Umm Hurair, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInsight Guides
    Release dateJan 1, 2025
    ISBN9781835292808
    The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai: Travel Guide eBook
    Author

    Rough Guides

    Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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      Book preview

      The Mini Rough Guide to Dubai - Rough Guides

      cover.jpg

      HOW TO USE THIS E-BOOK

      Getting Around this e-Book

      This Rough Guide Mini eBook is designed to inspire you and help you plan for your visit to Dubai, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

      The guide begins with an Introduction that features our selection of 10 things not to miss in Dubai, information on what’s new, when to go and how to travel sustainably, plus three itineraries, designed to help you get the most out of your trip. The History chapter gives the lowdown on Dubai’s past and present, while the Places chapter is a comprehensive guide to all the best sights, with handy area highlights links and details on where to shoot the best pictures. You will find ideas for getting active, immersing yourself in culture, discovering the local nightlife or what to shop for in Things to do, while the Food and drink chapter introduces you to the local cuisine, what to eat and how, and gives listings of our favourite restaurants by area. Finally, Travel essentials offers just that: practical information to help you plan your trip.

      In the Table of Contents and throughout this eBook you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

      Maps

      All key attractions and sights in Dubai are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

      Images

      You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Dubai. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

      About Rough Guides:

      Published in 1982, the first Rough Guide – to Greece – was created by Mark Ellingham and a small group of friends who couldn’t find a guidebook to meet their needs. Combining a contemporary, journalistic style with a thoroughly practical approach to travellers’ needs, the immediate success of the book spawned a series that rapidly covered dozens of destinations. These days, Rough Guides include recommendations from budget to luxury and cover more than 120 destinations worldwide, all regularly updated by our team of ever curious, roaming writers. These Rough Guide Minis may be small, but they are packed with information and inspiration and offer amazing value for money.

      © 2025 Apa Digital AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Dubai past and present

      What to see

      Layout of the city

      10 things not to miss

      A perfect day in Dubai

      Dubai for foodies

      Dubai for families

      History

      From prehistory to Islam

      The Maktoum Era

      Sheikh Rashid

      Independence

      Sheikh Mohammed

      War in Yemen – and a family at war

      To Mars and beyond

      Chronology

      Places

      Shindagha

      Al Shindagha Museum

      Creekside promenade

      Bur Dubai

      Al Fahidi Fort

      Al Fahidi historical neighbourhood

      Al Seef

      Bur Dubai Souk

      Deira

      The Gold Souk

      The Spice Souk

      East of the Gold Souk

      Municipality Museum

      Deira Creekside

      West of the centre

      Wafi

      Karama

      Sheikh Zayed Road

      South along Sheikh Zayed Road

      Downtown Dubai and the Burj Khalifa

      Around Downtown Dubai

      City Walk and Business Bay

      Jumeirah

      Southern Jumeirah

      Dubai Water Canal

      The Jumeirah Corniche and beaches

      Burj Al Arab and around

      Mall of the Emirates

      The Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina

      Atlantis

      The rest of the Palm

      Dubai Marina

      Ibn Battuta Mall

      Expo City Dubai

      Away from the coast

      Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary

      Dubai Safari Park

      Dubailand

      Dubai Park and Resort

      Day trips

      The desert

      Hatta

      Sharjah

      Al Ain

      The east coast

      Abu Dhabi

      Things to do

      Culture

      Nightlife

      Outdoor activities

      Shopping

      Where to buy

      What to buy

      Festivals and events

      Food and drink

      Where to eat

      Top 10 things to try

      1. Shawarma

      2. Mezze

      3. Camel meat

      4. Machboos

      5. Luqaimat

      6. Balaleet

      7. Regag

      8. Harees

      9. Madrouba

      10. Arabian coffee

      Drinking

      To help you order...

      ... And read the menu

      Places to eat

      Bur Dubai

      Deira

      Karama, Oud Metha, Garhoud and Satwa

      Sheikh Zayed Road and Downtown Dubai

      Jumeirah

      Dubai Marina and the Palm Jumeirah

      Drinking

      Travel essentials

      Accessible travel

      Accommodation

      Airports

      Alcohol

      Apps

      Budgeting for your trip

      Children

      Crime and safety

      Customs and entry requirements

      Driving

      Electricity

      Embassies and consulates

      Emergencies

      Etiquette

      Getting there

      Health and medical care

      Language

      LGBTQ+ travellers

      Money

      Opening hours

      Photography

      Post offices

      Public holidays

      Public transport

      Religion

      Telephone

      Time zone

      Tipping

      Tours

      Websites and internet access

      Introduction

      Nowhere is quite like Dubai. In barely five decades, the city has transformed itself from a modest Arabian trading town, which few outside the region had ever heard of, into one of the planet’s most glamorous, futuristic destinations, home to the world’s tallest building, its biggest shopping mall, its largest man-made island and a host of other spectacular, record-busting developments.

      For some, modern Dubai is one of the twenty-first century’s great urban experiments; an attempt to create a truly global city and become one of the world’s essential destinations. For others it is frequently seen as a panegyric to consumerist luxury: a self-indulgent haven of magical hotels, superlative restaurants and extravagantly themed malls. Perhaps not surprisingly the city is often stereotyped as appealing only to those with more cash than culture, although this one-eyed cliché does no justice to Dubai’s beguiling contrasts and rich cultural make-up. The city’s headline-grabbing mega-projects have also deflected attention from Dubai’s role in providing the Islamic world with a model of political stability and religious tolerance, showing what can be achieved by a peaceful and progressive regime in one of the planet’s most turbulent regions.

      Shutterstock

      Inside the Museum of the Future

      What’s new

      With new exhibition spaces still being added, Al Shindagha Museum in the old city is Dubai’s most ambitious cultural project to date, transforming swathes of Shindagha into the definitive repository of Emirati culture, crafts and history. At the opposite end of the city, the vast Expo 2020 site is now being repurposed as Expo City Dubai district, preserving many of the Expo’s headline attractions including the stunning Al Wasl Plaza and the aptly named Surreal fountain, whose waters really do flow uphill. Sort of. Other new landmarks include the superyacht-styled Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab mega-resort, sitting alongside the Burj Al Arab, and the Atlantis Royal resort, looking like a huge pile of bricks balanced precariously on the edge of The Palm, while the funky new J1 Beach complex in Jumeirah offers one of the city’s ultimate chill-out spaces. And don’t miss the wacky Museum of the Future, a huge, squashed doughnut covered in calligraphic swirls which has already established itself as one of the city’s weirdest and most wonderful sights.

      For the visitor, there’s far more to Dubai than designer boutiques and five-star hotels – although of course if all you’re looking for is a luxurious dose of sun, sand and shopping, the city can’t be beaten. If you want to step beyond the tourist clichés, however, you’ll find so much more on offer, from the fascinating old city centre, with its labyrinth of bustling souks interspersed with fine old traditional Arabian houses, to the memorably quirky architectural landmarks of the modern city. Dubai’s human geography is no less memorable, featuring a cosmopolitan assortment of Emiratis, Arabs, Iranians, Indians, Filipinos and Europeans – a fascinating patchwork of peoples and languages that gives the city its uniquely varied cultural appeal. Twenty-five years on from the opening of the iconic Burj Al Arab, Dubai shows no signs of slowing down, and with new mega-projects announced on an almost annual basis the city remains one of the most fascinating and vibrant places to visit.

      Shutterstock

      A summer day in Dubai

      Dubai past and present

      Modern Dubai’s go-for-it dynamism is nothing new and the city has always boasted an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to seize whatever opportunities it has been presented with. As early as 1894, Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher al Maktoum was enticing merchants from Iran and India to settle in the city with the promise of zero taxation, establishing the basis of the modern city’s cosmopolitan and business-friendly outlook. Old Dubai was a flourishing port long before oil was discovered in the emirate in 1966, at various times making a living out of a vibrant trade in pearls and gold, as well as other commercial activities.

      The development of the modern city was kick-started by the discovery of oil in the 1960s (although Dubai’s oil reserves have only ever been relatively modest and now account for barely one percent of the emirate’s GDP, unlike its oil-rich neighbour, Abu Dhabi). Oil revenues provided the funds to construct a modern industrial infrastructure, supervised by the canny Sheikh Rashid, who laid the foundations for the city’s current prosperity. Sheikh Mohammed, Rashid’s son and the current ruler of Dubai, further accelerated the pace of diversification, overseeing the construction of lavish tourist facilities alongside a string of business-friendly initiatives ranging from assorted free-trade and financial zones aimed at positioning Dubai as the tourist, business and financial capital of the Middle East. Foreigners now outnumber native Emiratis by more than ten to one, giving the city its extremely multicultural and cosmopolitan flavour, with the overall population of around 3.3 million including citizens from just about every country in the world.

      Not surprisingly, there have been growing pains along the way. Exploitation and alleged human-rights abuses of low-paid Indian and Pakistani construction workers have regularly blighted the city’s image, while environmental concerns associated with Dubai’s various mega-developments are another issue. Social tensions between the many different nationalities cohabiting within the city also continue to provoke friction, while the regular incarceration of visiting Westerners on

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