Dubai - costs/power

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pc7

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4 of us heading to Dubai saturday, can anyone who has been there recently give some pointers. We are staying at the royal meridian spa hotel on jumeriah beach, have found good bars/restaurants etc on trip advisor and the like. We fancy doing some sight seeing, waterpark, shopping and partying how expensive is it over there, roughly how much should I bring for the week? any guidelines? Also whats the power rate for plugs do I need a different one for there (have the usual european plug for traveling what do I need for Dubai?) can't live withoug GHD! thanks :)
 
Hi,

I have stayed in Le Royal Meridien... great hotel. Even though everything is a bit cheaper by our standards, alcohol is expensive. We found that even though we were staying in a 5 star hotel with 5+ star service in house restaurants were very reasonable not like here. You will spend money very easily though whether its in the hotel bar, shopping, or in the Gold Souk! Take a taxi to Madinat (very close to your hotel) 42 restaurants/bars in there, a great Thai and one called Meat Co. brilliant value... very informal.

Bring your GHD ..no problem 3 pin plug the same as here- Anyway if you have bought your iron in the last 9 months you have one with universal voltage.(btw you do know that if you loosen the screw on the 3 pin plug and remove the outer cover you have a 2 pin in place automatically)

Tours work out roughly 80 euro per person.. I would recommend the desert safari, the dinner cruise on the creek and maybe if you wish afternoon tea in the Burj (book now online tho.. Skyview Bar €50 per person).

Enjoy
 
Agreed , great hotel.

Try to get an upgrade to the Club or Tower sections.
 
thanks for the tips! cannot wait, we have deluxe rooms with sea view hope these are the same as what you recommend
 
We stayed at RM for 10 days, and ate and drank in hotel every day and night at some stage, and got treatments in Spa(2) and bought some creams etc, our bill after the 10 days was €1100 in hotel, I though it was great.
Would recomment the Afternoon Tea at the Burj, just to say you have been there!
Eat at the Buddah Bar, I loved it, though it was fantastic if my memory serves me it is beside Grovesnor Hotel which is near the RM.
Go Skiing too, hard to believe you can go from 40 C to like -10 C in the space of seconds!
Shopping is bit cheaper, and the shopping centres are Wow! So big, but great!
Oh I so want to go back to Dubai. . .
 
thanks footsteps we are going for a week I was budgeting a grand but bringing the credit card too! cannot wait :)
 
its been a while since I've been in dubai, so I really envy you :)

my main piece of advise is that if you like to have a drink in your hotel room, without paying the hotel prices, buy your duty free when you get into Dubai airport. There used to be a duty free shop beside the baggage carousel, whihc was very handy, as you can't buy alcohol in the shops there unless you are a resident with a permit! Its worth picking up a bottle or 2, after all you can pack them and bring them home.

Pick up a 'time out in dubai' when you get there, as many of the restaurants do 'specials', where there is unlimited food/drink for a set price, around AED100 per person.... Most of these are listed in the time out, and they can work out great value.
 
Just remember if you are going on Saturday its the middle of Ramadan so be circumspect about eating and drinking in public during daylight especially in more traditional settings such as the souks and outlying areas.
 
Yeah we have all brought respectible clothes with us especially that its 4 girls together. We all have little wraps and cardi's to cover up going out in the evenings and that. From what I've read thou hotels/clubs etc aren't too strict during ramadam.
 
Oh yes, forgot about the duty free! It is there just before the baggage collection but bring an extra bag in your hand luggage if you are planning on buying some drinks as esp during Ram it wouldn't be fair to be flauting it! Also when bags bring brought to hotel room you don't really want them to be carrying your plastic bags of duty free!!

Have a great time!
 
oh thanks this thread is making me even more excited!! roll on saturday! :)
 
Dont forget to go skiing on the real snow ski slopes at the Mall of the Emirates. Skis and winter clothing available for hire. There is no more surreal experience than sitting in the Apres Ski bar there sipping a cocktail and watching the ski lifts take the skiers in full winter woollies to the top at -3 degrees and +47 degrees outside.
 
was looking at it online looks brill as does the water park! hopefully I'll have some good posts and advise for when I get back :)
 
pc7 said:
was looking at it online looks brill as does the water park! hopefully I'll have some good posts and advise for when I get back :)
Click to expand...

I think the Waterpark is closed next week, I'm going myself and remember reading that somewhere.
 
Heading to Dubai in October, can anyone advise as to the best currency to bring with us AED/USD/EURO?. We will of course be using credit cards, but would like to have some cash as well.
 
You will need Dirhams (AED). You can get them at the airport in Dubai or there are money exchanges in all the shopping malls where you can exchange them for Euro. Good time to come with Euro - you will get just over 5 dirhams for one euro - good value - at one point the exchange rate was 3.6 drhams for one euro. Don't mess around with changing to dollars.
 
banks here do have some dirham without ringing, (got some this week in AIB grafton st). She looked up her currency book and advised they take all major currencies, euro, sterling, dollar so you'll be fine over there
 
Sorry for bumping this thread but myself and my partner are off to Dubai next week for 6 days (followed by a week in Cape Town).

We were planning to bring 2000 euro spending money for eveything except the cost of the hotel(have budgeted for that already). We want to go skiing, a helicopter trip, maybe a jeep trip into the desert and I definately want to go to the water park.

Also if there are any good nightclubs we would like to go there one night if there is a big name DJ playing. I think the Dubai Tennis finals are on when we are there so I would love to go to that.

Is the Afternoon Tea at the Burj worth doing? I would book it in advance if I thought it was a good experience.

Dont think we will be buying any gold or electronics so any shopping we will be doing would more than likely be clothes, leather belts, fake brand names etc. Where are the best shopping centres/markets etc

Can anybody recomend a good website or just general advice on what a good budget for enjoying the holiday without penny pinching would be. Or maybe you have recomendations on other activities to do that I havnt thought of? I am pretty much open to anything but I dont think I will hire a car as I heard they drive like maniacs there.

Sorry for all the questions? Im just really really excited about this holiday
 
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