If you are planning a trip to Dubai from India, you need to apply for visa in advance. It takes around one week to get the visa. You can apply for visa through Akbar travels or Musafir. They charge approximately INR 6000 per person for visa. When travelling to Dubai, certain airlines also ask for "Ok to board" to be done prior to departure. You can apply for "Ok to board" as soon as you get the visa to avoid any last minute problems.
Once the visa and 'ok to board' formalities were done, we had an early morning flight and reached Dubai at around 9.00 am. From Dubai airport T1 & T3 (not T2), you can directly take metro to go anywhere. You can take a metro card and recharge it as and when required. The charge for buying the card is AED 25, and has a balance of AED 19. The metro card can be used for bus as well. The minimum fare is AED 3 when you are travel to a nearby station. For end-to-end travel in metro, the charge is AED 10. The metro connectivity is good and it is the easiest, fastest and cheapest mode of travel in Dubai.
From T1 we took metro to Al Rigga where we had booked our hotel for the next 5 days. We left our luggage and went to Dubai mall. There is underwater zoo and aquarium at Dubai mall. The aquarium is smaller compared to the underwater zoo. The entry for both costs around AED 140 per person if you book it online from Headout.com. Buying tickets at the counter will be expensive than online booking. The mall has free wi-fi which you can use to book online tickets if you have not booked in advance.
At Dubai mall, we ate at the food court and did some shopping and in the evening, we went to see the Dubai fountain. If you go to the Apple store, you can stand in their balcony and view the Burj Khalifa and Dubai fountain from there. Or you can choose to go outside the mall and view the Dubai fountain. After spending some time we took metro back to Al Rigga. We then went to Garden Glow Dubai.
Next day, we left for Old Dubai in the morning. From old Dubai, you can take an Abra boat ride to the Gold Souk. The boat ride costs AED 1. Next to gold souk, there is spice souk and textile souk. You can stroll in the entire area to see the various markets.
We came back to the hotel in the afternoon as we had booked Desert Safari for the evening. The desert safari costs AED 70 per person. You can book the desert safari from Headout.com. There are various meeting points from where they pick everyone in a mini bus and take you outside the city. Once you reach there at around 4.00 pm, they transfer you to the SUV which takes you through the desert to the Oasis. The desert safari package includes transfers, very short camel ride and dinner. After strolling in the desert for some time, you need to go to the oasis at around 6.30 pm where the belly dance and other traditional dances are performed. This is followed by dinner at around 8.00 pm. The entire trip gets over by 9.00 pm and then they drop you back to the common meeting point.
Next day in the morning we went to Etihad museum, the entry fee is AED 25. The museum displays the history of the country. However if you are short on time, you can skip it. We then went to the Jumeirah mosque. The mosque also has an entry fee. However we reached there at 11.00 am when it had closed so we could not go inside. We then went to La mer beach as it was nearby and had lunch there. In the evening we went to the Miracle Garden. We took a bus from the Mall of Emirates to go to the Miracle Garden. The entry fee is AED 55 per person for Miracle Garden.
We came back from Miracle Garden to the hotel at 6.00 pm as we had booked a night city tour which costs AED 95 per person. They pick you up from your hotel in a shared mini bus. You can also choose for a city tour in a Limousine.
During the night tour, we were first taken to Souk Madinat Jumeirah. We were given 30 minutes to explore the place. Next we went to a bridge where water falls from the bridge. We were then taken near to Burj Al Arab and finally to Burj Khalifa where you can also see the Dubai fountain. They also showed few famous points on the way and drop you back to the hotel.
Next day we had planned to go to hotel Atlantis. You can book lunch buffet at hotel Atlantis through Zomato for AED 175 per person. You can enter the hotel only if you have reservation otherwise the entry is not allowed. We took metro from Al Rigga to DMCC, and then took a tram. The special train going to Atlantic costs AED 30 per person.
After spending some time there, we went to Dubai Marina as we had booked an evening boat ride from Dubai Marina to Bur Dubai. The cost was AED 54 per person. As we had some time before the boat ride, we went to the nearby beach from where you can see the Dubai eye.
Next day we left a little late to go to Mall of Emirates. After spending some time at the mall we had lunch and went to Global Village as it opens only at 4.00 pm. The entry fee is AED 15 per person. It is nice place where you case spend good 4-5 hours strolling, eating, shopping and enjoying various rides. For the rides, you need to buy a recharge card and the minimum amount for buying the card is AED 100. The cost for rides varies from AED 20 to AED 50. We left from Global village at around 10.00 pm, though you can choose to stay longer if you wish.
Next day we took morning flight back home.
Don't forget to take the famous sweet of Dubai - Baklava - when you return.
Tip: As water is expensive at tourist destinations, you can buy a pack of 6 bottles, 1.5 ltr each, in a supermarket for AED 6.
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