Travelling to Dubai on Budget

Dubai also known as City of Gold can be a expensive place to visit. This article is about my visit to Dubai and intends to share some insights from my visit and hopefully someone might benefit from my experience. My visit was kind of a budget travel and I focused mainly on sight seeing rather than expensive theme parks and shopping in Dubai. 

Gold Shops in Dubai Gold Souk

• Try the off season , I visited on June you can cut down lot in accommodation and related stuff however it's extremely hot and humid. 

• Book your flights early. I booked Emirates since they offer direct flights. I recommend to book flights with less connection times else you will waste your time on an airport.

• Always use public transport (Dubai Metro is cheap and very quick) when and where possible try to avoid taxis. If you are a sole traveller public transport is the best but if it's a group there is a very small price difference between public transport and taxi fare so look for your schedule and decide accordingly.

• I read that using uber or careem apps are convenient and cheap rather than taxis you find everywhere but I found using normal taxis to be far more convenient. 

• When you look for accommodation I suggest you to book online (I used Agoda) way ahead of time. I stayed at Flora Inn Hotel Dubai which was awesome and really worth the price (Double Room costed around SLR 6,000 around 34 USD per night) 

• Second thing on accommodation is try to locate your accommodation close to a Metro station. It will save you loads on transportation. My hotel was just a few hundred meters from GGICO metro station which helped to save a lot.

• Try to buy food from supermarkets rather than food courts. You can find many local delicacies cheaper from such places. If you can obtain breakfast from your hotel at a lesser price that will be ideal. 

• I didn't tried a city tour but considering transport costs it might be cheaper to try a city tour if the time is limited. 

• Have a rough idea about where you wanna go, where the locations exist and best time to visit each place. Try to include locations that are close to each other on same day. I used lists google maps when planning my tour. I will discuss about the places I visited separately. 

• Try to find cheaper options for activities which are expensive like :

1. Take an Abra ride if you want to explore Dubai Creek instead of a Dhow Cruise.Dhow cruise will be fun still you can pretty much experience the Dubai Creek on an Abra for just 2 AED
2. If you plan to go skating at Dubai mall look for time slots in noon which are cheaper. 

Some Activities that I recommend you to do are:

• Visit Dubai Mall, Burj Park and Dubai Mall which are totally free (Burj Khaliffa Tickets cost around 135 AED so it's up to you)
• Visit the Beaches of Dubai there are many public beaches that are free. I was unable due to extreme heat of June.
• Visit Jumeirah Mosque  just 25AED for a guided tour.
• Visit Dubai Museum and Learn about their history (Personal favorite)
• Take an Abra Ride to cross the Dubai Creek (2 AED)
• Visit Al Fahidi District and walk through the narrow alleyways (Free). 
• Visit Dubai Souks. You don't have to buy anything just visit the Gold Souk and the spice souk. Personal advice is not to buy as it's expensive. 

Of-course in the end Dubai is comparatively an expensive place to visit but your research and wise spending will help you to save a few bucks that you can use to plan and visit more places. Bon Voyage!

Burj Khalifa

Abra on Burj Lake