What is there to do in Dubai?

Answer 1

• Beach - swim, sunbathe, walk, jog, sleep.
• Movie nights free - on the Wafi Rooftop, Sun nights.
• Movie nights free - Mon at Mercato if you get Movie Monday ticket from 7 Days newspaper.
• Parks in Dubai - run, walk, read a book, play a sport.
• Shopping Center (if you don't buy anything) - walk around Ibn Battuta mall and learn some history from all the displays, watch people skiing at Mall of the Emirates, or just go window shopping and people watching at any of the large shopping malls in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or other emirates. At least in the hot summer months, you'll be in an air conditioned environment. Lock away your credit card first.

Guided Tours and Excursions

• Balloon Flights - 880 dhs pp, tel +971-4-2738585, tickets from Emirates Post Offices (21 January 2007).
• Desert Safaris
• Seaplane tours of Dubai with Seawings - tel +971-4-8832999, toll-free in UAE 800-SEAWINGS (73294647). Tours cost AED 895 or AED 1125 per person, or charter the whole plane for yourself and friends or family. Seawings can organise other special flights and activities.
• TRAKS (Tour Ras Al Khaimah Systems) - article Friday mag 10 Nov 2006, James Falchetto (Jim) - outfitter providing outdoors equipment. Tour guide? Runs Land Rover Defenders up and down RAK mountains transporting gear for outdoor enthusiasts.
• Yacht charters - motor and sail, see the links on the sailing in Dubai page.

Concerts

• Concerts - Classical Music - Dubai Concert Committee organizes monthly concerts at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. Their mailing list for invitations is full but you can turn up to try and score a spare seat.
• Concerts - Rock Music - get Time Out Dubai (5 dhs in supermarkets, gas stations and bookshops) to see what's coming up in the next week. Or visit www.dubailook.com. Sometimes big names come to Dubai. Usually geriatrics though, like The Pretenders, Deep Purple, Roger Waters. Rolling Stones aren't expected for another decade or so.
• Concerts - DJ - get Timeout Dubai. You do get the latest and greatest DJs hitting the courts. Or floors. Or decks or whatever it is that DJs hit. See also nightclubs in Dubai.

Events

• Bastakia Souk arts and craft fair on Saturdays in the winter months (December - February) - Bastakiya gets even better.
• Conferences - if you throw a business card in a goldfish bowl at the Conference and Exhibition Centre near the Dubai World Trade Centre, and look smart, you'll be able to walk in and learn about water sanitation, or heavy earth moving machinery, or office stationery supplies, or whatever the latest convention subject happens to be. It's not as boring as it sounds - you get free coffee cups and plastic pens in branded plastic bags...
• Dubai Desert Challenge - (February) - golf. The desert rally is the UAE Desert Challenge
• Dubai Film Festival - a great chance to see a good range of new films (December)
• Dubai Jazz Festival - an annual music festival in February
• Dubai Marathon
• Dubai Rugby Sevens (December)
• Dubai Shopping Festival (January/February)
• Dubai Summer Suprise (July/August)
• Dubai Tennis Open - (February/March)
• Dubai World Cup - horse racing
• GITEX (November/December)
• Jumana - Secret of the Desert. Fireworks, water, fire, 3D displays, lasers and 50 people jumping around a stage telling the story of a dying Arabian King, his two sons, a princess and some magic. Just over an hour long, costs 185 dhs, Get there at 830 pm for 9 pm show, daily except Mondays (and possibly Sundays). Season finished for 2006/2007, starts again from 01 September 2007. Jumana is performed at Al Sahra Desert Resort in Dubailand. Tel 800-58626. Jumana location may be tricky (location map - opens in new window). If you miss the entrance, you're two U-turns and an hour and a half's drive away from a second chance (Gulf News Tabloid 28 Jan 2007 had a favorable write up - except for the U-turns).
• UAE Desert Challenge (November) - cars, bikes & trucks go mad.