Dubai Travel Forum

Hey all,

A friend and I are flying UAE, and we have a 7 hour layover in Dubai before our final destination. We are considering venturing into the city, but I have little knowledge of Dubai, and was hoping to gain some insight on...

1)transporation from the airport to the city (and back), as well as prices
2) What to do/see (we arrive on a sunday night at 7pm, and were hoping to get a bite to eat) we

Any information would be very helpful,
Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt. The airport is only a few minutes from the heart of the city, plenty of taxis available (metered, air-conditioned, well controlled). Airport taxis have an AED25 surcharge, so into the city centre to Deira would be maybe AED40, maybe AED15 going back.
Deira is on the Creek, same side as the airport, which runs through the centre of the city. Explore the souks and shopping areas then get the abra (ferry) across to Bur Dubai side of the Creek (it costs AED1 each way) and look around the souk/shopping area there. There's also the historic Shindagah area, where Dubai began.
There are great restaurants on the Creekside in Shindagah, which is where I recommend you get a bite to eat. In particular I'd say Kanzaman, which is the last one in the row, near Heritage Village.
I have info on this area on my Dubai pages in a 'Must See' Travelogue and restaurant details in Tips.

Hi Matthias,

as Colin said, head down towards the historic centre of Dubai, along both shores of the creek.

And as Colin said, you can take a taxi from the airport down to the Gold SOuk first (located on the same shore as the airport), then take a water taxi across to the Textil Souk, Heritage Village, etc.

Here there are also some very nice restaurants (unlicensed = no alcohol served) that offer Arabic food.

Thank you both colin and jess. Very helpful

However, I miss-calculated my time and really only have about 4 hours on the ground. This will surely be enough time to venture out, right? Approximately how long does it take to get to the city center on a Sunday evening?

Also, approximately how much cash should I bring for the cab ride there and back and dinner?

Sorry, but 4 hours on the ground is really not enough time, especially on a Sunday EVENING (rush hour traffic, as Sunday is a working day here and traffic in Dubai is notorious, ESPECIALLY in the areas around the airport.)

I wouldn't risk it if I were you... by the time you've made it out of the airport and to an intersting part of town, you'll probably have to turn around again and go back... that's just my opinion.

Jess is right, it may not be enough time, although it depends on exactly what time in the evening you'll arrive. If it's later you may have missed the worst of the traffic.

If you went into Deira from the airport it would cost maybe AED40 in the taxi and maybe AED15 back (there's a surcharge on airport taxis). Dinner for two in an independent (non hotel) restaurant always costs us less than AED100.

we arrive at 6:45pm and depart at 2 am. So I figured by the time we got deboard it would be closer to 8pm, then we would need to be back by at least 12:30...what do you guyys think?

You'll miss the worst of the traffic at that time, so getting into the centre of the city shouldn't be a problem. Going back to the airport around midnight will be easy.