What to See and Do in Dubai

We recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Dubai, a city in United Arab Emirates.  Read more for a photo-heavy recap of what we saw and did in Dubai.

Dubai is an interesting city.  It is the home of the tallest skyscraper in the world (Burj Khalifa) and is known for its extravagant architecture, luxury shopping, and desert surroundings.  I found the city to be wondrous, indulgent, and surreal.  It’s a city built on sand — yet it’s very very clean.

We flew Emirates Airlines for a very comfortable flight.  The seats were spacious and flight entertainment and meal options were on point.

I enjoyed the twilight twinkling stars on the ceiling during part of the flight.

The first photo above is of the Burj Khalifa.  We could see this building from just about anywhere we were while in Dubai, even miles and miles away.  If you have seen Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol you know this is the building Tom Cruise scaled — not even a stunt double!

We had the opportunity to visit the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa — what a view!  This is a must-do during anyone’s visit, unless you are deathly afraid of heights.  It’s not an open deck, so even if you do not like heights you might feel okay!

Dubai has the most luxurious malls.  Every mall is very beautiful and clean.  You can find just about any store you want in Dubai.

We visited The Dubai Mall (the largest mall in the world) as well as The Mall of Emirates.

There is an indoor ski resort (Ski Dubai) inside the Mall of Emirates — what!?

The Dubai Mall doesn’t have the ski resort, but it does have an Olympic-sized ice skating rink!

It also has a large aquarium attraction — along with many many other fun attractions…

…such as a virtual reality (VR) park!  We tried our hand at a King-Kong type gorilla game.

Of course we visited LEGOLAND Dubai — I’ll write a separate post for this later.

I wet my feet in the Persian Gulf.

One of my favorite experiences of Dubai was the Dubai Fountain Show.  Incredible!  It displayed right in front of the Burj Khalifa and alternated with a light show projected on the Burj.

This was like Vegas times 1,000!

Many spectators watch from the bridge.  See the building with the big glass windows?  That’s the Apple Store in the Dubai Mall!

We saw a BUNCH of luxury vehicles in Dubai…

…some were even abandoned!

We visited the souks in Old Dubai — starting with the Spice Souk…

…and then riding a boat to the Gold Souk.

The Gold Souk is a Middle East hub for jewelry and consists of over 380 retailers!

After shopping at the souks, we toured the Dubai Museum.

We ate authentic Middle Eastern mandi food in the traditional way — on the floor in a private room.

And delicious Iranian BBQ in a fun atmosphere.

With delicious tiny tea.

This Indian seafood restaurant was one of our favorites, too.

I highly recommend the shrimp.

If you’re not an adventurous foodie, you can find pretty much any chain restaurant in Dubai to find your favorites from home.

We visited the Jumeirah Mosque.

Although we arrived too late for the official tour, we walked around the inside for a quick self-tour.

If you visit Dubai, do not miss City Walk.  Trust me on this one.  It’s the locals’ favorite, and an out of this world sensory experience for tourists.

Plus, this is where I found one of my favorite treats — Sweet Salvation Ice Cream (mine is covered with lotus cookie crumbs!)  YUM!

On our last day, our friends sent us on a luxury desert safari!  This was one of our favorite experiences, so I’m dedicating an entire post to it later.

And last but definitely not least, we enjoyed a visit with Redeemer Church of Dubai.

Thanks to our gracious hosts and friends for pretty much planning our whole fun-filled agenda and driving us around.  We couldn’t have seen so much without them!