Why Visit Dubai: What Is Worth Your Time, and What Is a Queue

Dubai gets sold on superlatives: tallest, biggest, most luxurious. Some of it earns the hype and some of it is a well-air-conditioned queue. Here is the honest split, from people who live here rather than visit.

When to go, and when not to

The summer point is not politeness. Daytime heat and humidity in July and August make walking between two buildings unpleasant, and every activity outside air conditioning becomes something you endure rather than enjoy.

What genuinely holds up

The Creek and old Dubai

Deira and Bur Dubai, on either side of the Creek, are what the city was before the towers. Wooden abras still cross the water for AED 1 a trip, paid in cash. The gold and spice souks are working markets rather than reconstructions, and the whole area costs almost nothing to explore. If you do one thing, do this.

The desert, properly

Not the dune-bashing package with a buffet and a dance show. A quiet evening in the desert, ideally in a conservation reserve, is the landscape the entire country sits in and the reason the culture developed as it did. Worth the effort of finding a good operator: the UK government advises picking a reputable company with proper health and safety procedures.

The food

With over 200 nationalities living here, the eating is genuinely exceptional and most of the best of it is cheap. Karama, Deira and Al Quoz do things that the hotel restaurants cannot.

Burj Khalifa, once

It earns its reputation. Book the timed entry in advance, go for sunset, accept that you are paying for a view rather than an experience, and do not do it twice.

What is overrated

Saying this plainly is the point of the article.

• Indoor skiing. A novelty photograph and a queue. Fine with children, skippable otherwise.
• The larger malls, as destinations. Excellent in the height of summer, and otherwise they are malls.
• Brunch, as a cultural experience. It is a long, expensive lunch with unlimited drinks. Enjoyable, not a reason to fly here.
• The Palm, from the ground. It reads as a shape from the air and as an ordinary road at street level.

Getting around, and what things cost

The metro is clean, cheap and covers the main spine of the city. One nol card works on the metro, tram and bus, and fares go by zone: a single trip costs AED 3, 5 or 7.50 on a Silver card, depending on how many zones you cross. If you are staying a while, a 30-day Silver pass costs AED 140 for one zone, AED 230 for two or AED 350 for all zones, but only on a registered nol card. An anonymous Silver card can only take the 7-day pass, at AED 50, 80 or 110. Taxis are metered, plentiful and reasonable by international standards.

What is expensive: alcohol, hotel dining, and anything sold inside a resort. What is cheap: transport, street food, the souks, and almost everything in the older districts.

Behaving well without overthinking it

Dubai is far more relaxed than visitors expect and stricter on a small number of specific points. The people who get into trouble almost never intended to.

Our guide to dress and abaya shopping goes into the clothing question properly, including where to buy if you want to.

If you are considering something more permanent than a holiday, our cost of living guide is the reality check.

Three itineraries that work

1. 48 hoursThe compressed versionCreek and Al Fahidi on the first morning, souks in the afternoon, Burj Khalifa at sunset. Second day in the desert, returning for dinner in Karama.
2. Five daysThe proper versionAdd a day in Alserkal Avenue and Al Quoz for the gallery district, a full beach day, and a morning at the Museum of the Future or Jameel Arts Centre.
3. With childrenThe one that survives the heatAquarium and indoor theme parks in the mornings, and the fountain show in the evening, when it runs every 30 minutes from 6pm. Everything outdoors before 10am or after 5pm, without exception.

Whichever you pick, do the old city first. Arriving at the Creek after three days of towers reads as a footnote. Arriving there first makes everything afterwards make sense.