Dubai
- Population:3.6M
- Timezone:GST (UTC+4)
- IATA:DXB
- Currency:The dirham is the local currency and cards are accepted almost universally; keep a little cash for the abra, taxis and souk bargaining.
- Key Areas:Deira — the working creek, souks and dhow wharves · Bur Dubai — Al Fahidi, wind towers, museums · Downtown — Burj Khalifa, the mall, the fountain · Jumeirah — beaches and low-rise villas
Overview
Dubai is three places sharing a name: a working trading port along a saltwater creek, an engineered city of towers to its south, and desert that starts an hour inland.
Culture
Emirati cooking is easiest to find at dedicated local restaurants rather than hotel buffets — machboos, harees and luqaimat are the dishes to look for. Everyday eating is overwhelmingly South Asian, Levantine and Filipino, reflecting who lives here: the shawarma counters and Kerala canteens of Deira and Karama are better value and better food than most of the marina strip. Friday brunch is a local institution rather than a tourist one. Festivals: Ramadan and the evening iftar tables, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, Dubai Shopping Festival (winter), National Day, 2 December. Museums: Museum of the Future, Etihad Museum, Al Shindagha Museum, on the creek, Alserkal Avenue galleries, Al Quoz.
Practical Info
Safety: Dubai is a low-crime city and ordinary precautions are enough. The real hazards are environmental and legal rather than criminal: heat exhaustion between June and September, strong currents at unpatrolled beaches, and conduct rules that differ from European norms — public drunkenness, public displays of affection and photographing people without asking all cause avoidable trouble. Language: Arabic is the official language, but English is the working language of daily life and is spoken almost everywhere a visitor goes; signage is bilingual. Currency: The dirham is the local currency and cards are accepted almost universally; keep a little cash for the abra, taxis and souk bargaining.
Travel
Dubai has a reputation for being new, and half of it is; the other half is a port that has traded for two centuries, and the gap between them is what makes the city worth more than a stopover. Along the creek, wooden dhows still load cargo by hand for Iran and East Africa, small ferries cross for a few coins, and the gold and spice souks do genuine business rather than performing it for visitors. Ten kilometres south the engineered city takes over — the Burj Khalifa, the mall beneath it, the Museum of the Future — and west along the coast lie the beaches and the Marina, where most visitors sleep and swim. Inland is the part people under-plan: dunes begin within an hour's drive, in reserves where oryx and gazelle have been reintroduced, and an evening out there is the memory most visitors take home. Everything else is governed by heat. November to March is pleasant and busy, April and October work at the edges of the day, and June to September is punishing outdoors, when the city moves indoors and room rates fall accordingly. The Metro is clean, cheap and runs the city's spine, which surprises visitors who arrived having budgeted for taxis.
The creek is why the city exists, and it still works. Dhows tie up along the Deira wharfage and load by hand for ports across the Gulf; the abras that ferry passengers across remain the best transport in Dubai and cost almost nothing. The Gold Souk startles by sheer volume, and the Spice Souk beside it is worth a walk for the smell alone. Bargaining is expected — the first price is an opening position.
Frequently asked questions
Diplomatic missions in Dubai
2 embassies based in this city, grouped by region.
Treat this Visaja page as your starting point: verify the current rules directly with the official source before you submit an application.