Table of Contents
Prelude
Dubai has become one of the most favourite tourist attractions in last couple of years. The city and the Dubai International Airport are so designed that many choose to take Dubai as their stopover option during long haul flights. Moreover, for most of the nations, visa and immigration process have been made more friendly to encourage people to travel to Dubai. Beside, taking a vacation in Dubai many choose to take one or two day tour to Dubai. And for them we are presenting today ‘One Day Travel Itinerary to Dubai’.
Choosing an itinerary for one day in Dubai is pretty difficult. You have to make a balance between your expectation, time availability and worth. As an example, you can watch spectacular sunset from Al Mamzar Beach.
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Middle East - The United Arab Emirates
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Again you can choose to watch Dubai from “At the Top – Burj Khalifa” both during day and night. In that case, you have to get to the top of Burj Khalifa during day hour and remain till the night fall. So, you have to decide and choose according to your interest. This blog will just present few options before you, to help you deciding easily.
Let us clarify our point of view. There are many other tourist attractions like Legoland, IMG World of Adventure, Ski Dubai. etc. However, we were not much interested for this sort of attractions and did not explore any of those. So, if your interest does not match ours, you may check other resources for information.
Transportation
Public transportation in Dubai has been made super friendly by the government. You will have options of taking taxi or metro almost from anywhere to any destination. You will also have good options of renting cars from many agencies. However, if you have time constraint and want to make the most of it, we would recommend you to Dubai taxi. There are other taxi agencies e.g. careem, UBER, etc. But they are expensive. That’s more expensive than metro but that would save a lot of time. However, if you have ample of time try to avail metro wherever available.
Tourist Attractions
Lets consider you have one full day time and part of night time available in your hand. In such cases, we recommend you to travel to following tourist attractions:
Dubai Creek in the Morning
Dubai Creek is a saltwater creek located in Dubai. It is a fantastic place to realise and feel the vibe of old Dubai. You may take a boat ride at the creek and enjoy the ride witnessing the Arabian life along the creek. You will have options of taking your breakfast seating in any of the restaurant there.
Miracle Garden
From Dubai Creek go to Miracle Garden. However, Miracle Garden does not operate throughout the year. So, whether you would go to Miracle Garden or not depends on at what time you are travelling to Dubai. We have formulated details of touring around Miracle Garden in our another blog post here. Going there in the early morning before the sun become too harsh is better.
Tour Around the Deira, Gold Souq and Spice Souq
In case Dubai Miracle Garden is close and you have to choose other tourist attractions, we recommend you to take a tour around the Deira, Gold Souq and Spice Souq. Gold Souq is otherwise one of the major tourist attractions in Dubai and surely this is the best place to purchase gold in the world. Dubai Spice Souq or the Old Souq is a traditional market in Dubai. Stores in the Spice Souq sell a variety of fragrances and spices. Both Spice Souq and Gold Souq are adjacent to each other and you will be able to walk around both the places within 2/3 hours.
Dubai Creek to Dubai Marina Cruise
In case when you are travelling to Dubai, Miracle Garden is not operating; you should choose to take a cruise from Dubai Creek to the Dubai Marina. There are high speed ships routing along this route throughout the day. You may take one way route and go to other destinations from Dubai Marina. Dubai Marina is the largest man made Marina in the world, and we promise, you will love both the trip and touring around the Marina. During the ride you will see the Dubai Skyline, Burj Al Arab and Atlantis the Palm en route.
Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach
From Dubai Marina you can go to Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach. Due to time limitation we would recommend you to go to the beach and depart for your next destination after spending some time. This place is very beautiful one with deep blue water and white sandy beach.
Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
From Jumeirah Beach you can directly go to the Dubai Mall for touring around Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. Both the place are very unique and you will love those. If you are travelling with kids/ children these places are going to be really meaningful to them.
At The Top – Burj Khalifa
We have already mentioned that you should go to At The Top – Burj Khalifa in the late afternoon so that you can see both the day and night view. However, we are listing here few important aspects of At The Top – Burj Khalifa.
- This time slot is quite busy. So, get your ticket ahead. We recommend you to get your ticket online much before your travel date.
- Usually it takes 45 mins or more to collect tickets, being in the queue and going to the 124th floor. So, calculate the time of Sunset and plan to reach at the top at least one hour before the sunset.
- While buying tickets, you will notice that there are time slots and tickets are being sold accordingly. Take a note, once you reach the view point, no one is going to check for how long you are being there. That means, once you are on the top, you can remain there as long as you want.
Dubai Fountain
Dubai Fountain is the next destination for you. Definitely, you will watch the fountain show from the 124/125th floor of the Burj Khalifa. However, once you are in the ground floor, try to enjoy the water dance from all the corners. This is an amazing show. Remember the timing. The show runs usually from 6/7 PM to 11 PM. However, there are exceptions depending on the season and Ramadan. So, before going there please spend some time researching about it. It’s free. So, no ticket is required.
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall is the 2nd largest shopping mall in the world by total land area. You may not be that much into walking around a shopping mall. But, once you are already here for watching Dubai Fountain, Underwater Zoo, Dubai Aquarium; you can always decide to walk around the mall. The mall itself has numerous world record in its belt. So, a walk around is really worth of time.
Tickets
In this one day itinerary you will need to get tickets for Miracle Garden, At The Top – Burj Khalifa, Dubai Aquarium, and Underwater Zoo. Get your tickets for Miracle Garden from the gate. It’s easy and usually there is not any big queue for that. For other places get your ticket from any online ticketing agencies. You will find good combo offers for all three. Usually headout always has good prices. However, you check the prices from other agencies and get your ticket.
What to Eat
Dubai has all the options of food for you. You will find all kind of cuisines of the world in Dubai. And in almost all the places they serve halal food. However, there are restaurants who serve pork, wine, whisky as well. For that, they have acquired special permission from authority and they are going to be expensive.
Where to Stay
If you are staying the night in Dubai, we recommend you to stay the night anywhere near/ around Downtown Dubai or Deira. There are numerous options of hotels ranging from luxury hotel to budget hotels around this place. Staying in any hotel around these places will help you for this itinerary. Everything, starting from varieties of food to all your important needs are available in these places and you will have lot of options to choose.
Top Travel Tips
- For one day trip timing is crucial. So, plan beforehand and stick to your plan. Do not waste time anywhere.
- Carry drinking water with you. You may also carry light snacks if you want to save time by not being stuck for food in any restaurants.
- Choose your dress accordingly. Take a note of the weather. During summer it’s going to be super hot and humid. You will sweat a lot. So, carry 1/2 extra shirt/tops with you.
- There are many options of taxi. Stick to Dubai Taxi. They are cheaper and super available everywhere.
Photography Tips
- If you are photographing in any public places with people in in your frame always ask for permission.
- Always check whether photographing is permitted or not. Dubai has very strict rules for photography.
- Deira Gold Souq, Spice Souq and surrounding places offer excellent opportunities for photographing street and people.
- For photographing in Dubai Miracle Garden it is better to go there in the early morning.
- For photographing at any of the beach or if you are going for Desert Safari protect your camera from fine particles like dust or sand by using any scarf sort of thing.
- Carry a tripod for photographing from the 124/125th floor of the Burj Khalifa.
- You will also need a tripod for photographing Dubai Fountain.
Here, we come to the end of our blog. Hope this blog helps you to plan your trip to Dubai and make the best use of your time for one day. Well, if this helps you please let others to be helped by sharing and referring this post to others.