Dazzling Dubai

Dubai has emerged as a grand tourism and shopping destination in just last 15 years. Rising from a complete desert, to a world famous skyscraper city, Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities of the world.

Dubai Marina Metro Station with Skyscrapers

Dubai, a city having both sea and desert, provides a lot of tourist activities. The ultra luxurious hotels, the iconic landmarks and clean, sunny beaches provide tourists an ample of photo opportunities.

Dhow Cruise, Dubai

The Downtown Dubai, famous for the Burj Khalifa, The Sheikh Zayed Road, giving the most spectacular skyscraper views of Emirates towers, Business Bays, Financial towers, World Trade Center, Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lakes towers and many more.

Etisalat Tower 1, Dubai

Dubai has world famous malls including the biggest Dubai mall, The mall of Emirates, Dubai Marina mall, The unique pyramid shaped WAFI mall, Ibn Batuta mall and many more are the heavens for shopaholics. 

Wafi Mall, Dubai

Wafi Mall, Dubai

Not only the huge malls, but the traditional souks of Daira, including the famous gold souk and spice souk are also favorite among the tourists.

Gold Souk, Dubai

Gold Souk, Dubai

There are extraordinary tourist attractions in Dubai, including the Miracle garden, Dhow cruise, Desert safari, Global village, The Dubai Fountain show and many more. The Palm Jumeirah Island, Hotel Atlantis, Hotel Burj-Al-Arab, Jumeirah Beach hotel are architectural marvels of Dubai. 

Jumeirah Hotel, Dubai

Burj Al Arab, Dubai

Although Dubai is in desert, it hosts two famous water parks, The Wild Wadi water park and The Adventure water park. There is also a Ski Dubai, a snow park situated in The Mall of Emirates.

Dubai Museum

The People of Dubai are very much tourist friendly and it is very easy to get around the city even by yourself.

Sheikh Zayed grand mosque, Abu dhabi

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi is world famous and the largest mosque of the UAE. It is a pure white marvel designed in Mughal and Moorish style architecture. 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi

It is mandatory to have proper clothing covering the full body to enter into the mosque. Ladies are required to cover their heads too. 

There are guided tour every hour to visit the mosque with ample of knowledge. Our guide was having in depth knowledge and answered all the questions with great enthusiasm. 

Decorated dome ceiling near main entrance, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The main prayer hall can accommodate about 7000 worshipers. The Iranian carpet in this hall weights 35 ton and is the world's largest hand woven carpet. 

Main Prayer Hall, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque 

World's largest Carpet, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Chandeliers in this hall are world's largest chandeliers, made in Germany having forever sparkling millions of swarovski crystals.

A marvelous Chandelier out side the main prayer hall, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque  

World's largest Chandelier inside main prayer hall, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The courtyard in the centre of the mosque can accommodate about 30,000 worshipers. The courtyard has four tall minarets on the four corners. Standing under any Minaret, lines of white poles having golden decorations can be seen, which gives an amazing effect.

Courtyard, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Minaret, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Decorated Poles, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

There are special lighting arrangements at night, which follows the phases of the moon to project lighter to darker bluish gray lights. In our next visit to this marvellous place, I wish to visit at night to experience this glorious lights. 

A day tour of Abu Dhabi from Dubai

Abu Dhabi is an oil reach capital of the UAE, located 145 KM away from Dubai and connected by E11, the longest highway of the UAE. Abu Dhabi is an island surrounded by several other islands, including Yas island famous for Ferrari park and Yas water-world. 

Aldar headquarters building, Al Raha, Abu Dhabi

We boarded bus E100 to Abu dhabi from Al Ghubaiba bus station, Dubai in the morning. The ticket was 25 AED per person, and bus was having quite comfortable seats and free WiFi connectivity. 

Decorations on the highway near Abu Dhabi

We reached Abu Dhabi central bus station in 2 hours, from there we boarded city transportation bus:54 to Sheikh Zayed grand mosque. 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi

For more information please check my post: Sheikh Zayed grand mosque, Abu dhabi

We returned to the central bus station by the same bus:54 and changed to bus:34 to Emirates Palace Hotel. This is a huge palace hotel and among the most beautiful hotels of UAE. You can have a reservation in any of the restaurants inside of the hotel campus, if you want to visit the interiors of the hotel. 

Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi

We walked for few minutes towards Marina mall, this road gives the best view of Abu Dhabi Corniche skyline. 

Corniche, Abu Dhabi

The marina mall is the biggest mall of Abu Dhabi. From Marina mall, we boarded the bus: 63 for Corniche public beach. It is a clean beach with lots of activities like bike hiring, cycling, surfing, etc. 

Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi

After spending 2 hours on the beach, we returned to the Central bus station by bus:34 and back to Dubai by intercity bus: E100.

Map with Abu Dhabi bus routes

A perfect day at Downtown Dubai

The Downtown Dubai is the most amazing place of Dubai because of the tallest Burj Khalifa, Dubai fountain show, The Dubai mall and Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo. 

Dubai Mall, The Downtown Dubai

We reached at The Dubai mall in the morning, the biggest, the huge mall. You actually need a map in your hand (available at information centers), or you will be lost while shopping. After spending few hours exploring the mall, we entered into the most amazing Dubai underwater zoo. The ticket is 75 AED per person. It is one of the best aquariums having lots of marine species, from colorful to transparent fishes, from the smallest to whales and sharks, a wild variety of them. 

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, Dubai Mall

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, Dubai Mall

We spent the afternoon on the other side of the mall, near Souk Al Bahar. This is the best point to capture the magnificent Burj Khalifa, because of the artificial lake and no obstacles in between. 

Souk al Bahar, The Downtown Dubai

Burj Khalifa as seen from Souk-Al-Bahar, The Downtown Dubai

The Address, Downtown Dubai

We joined the queue to go up on 124th floor of the burj in late afternoon, two hours before sunset. We had booked the advance tickets from www.atthetop.ae , as the tickets get costlier if you buy on the same day. We get into the elevator, and zzzzooooom, in just 60 seconds we were touching the sky at 452 meters. 

The Dubai Mall and Dubai Fountain from 124th floor of Burj Khalifa, Dubai

View of Dubai-The City of Skyscrapers from 124th floor of Burj Khalifa

The observation deck gives excellent panoramic views of the Dubai city, the other skyscrapers, the coastline, the world islands and some hints of Palm island, Burj-Al-Arab, Palm Atlantis and the skyscrapers of Dubai Marina. 

View of World Island at Sunset from 124th floor of Burj Khalifa

We enjoyed the sunset, the first and second fountain show from there on the top. 

The Dubai Fountain from 124th floor of Burj Khalifa

Then we descended to the ground, to again enjoy the fountain show standing in between the Burj and the lake. The Fountain show is truly spectacular and gives a perfect end to a day well spent at The Downtown Dubai.

Burj Khalifa at night, The Downtown Dubai

Miracle Garden, Dubai - A miracle in the desert

The Miracle garden of Dubai is indeed a colorful miracle in the desert. The location of the garden is almost outside Dubai, so it is better to hire the taxi. 

VIP Gate, Dubai Miracle Garden

The ticket is 30 AED per person, which is worth is you have minimum 2 hours of time to spend in this marvelous garden. It opens 9 AM daily and closes on 11 PM on weekends and 9 PM on weekdays.

Flower Hearts at entry passage, Miracle garden

Umbrella decoration, Miracle garden

The garden has three gates in three different directions. The shape of the garden is like a round pizza, and you get to enjoy the each slice with different fun. 

Flower clock, Miracle garden

Train full of flowers, Miracle garden

There are lots and lots of flowers everywhere, spread across the garden providing the most colorful views. 

Miracle garden

Miracle garden

Each point in the garden stops you to take pictures. There are peacocks, a giant clock, an Arabic lady statue, a long toy train, the burj khalifa, colorful huts, funny cars, an upside down home, heart shaped pathway arcs, and a lot more. Everything is loaded or made up of the colorful flowers.

Flower huts, Miracle garden

Arabic Lady sculpture, Miracle garden

Flower art, Miracle garden

Peacock and Burj Khalifa made of flowers, Miracle garden

The garden facilitates a big food court, having a lot of different restaurants and cafes.

Roof of the food Court, Miracle garden

The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

The Palm Jumeirah is an artificial island shaped like a Palm tree, and constructed by Nakheel Developer group of Dubai. It is the first completed and smallest among the three such islands on Dubai shoreline. 

Burj-Al-Arab and Jumeirah beach hotel as seen from the Palm island

The outer most part of the palm, the crescent is having a lot of Hotels and Restaurants including the world famous Hotel Atlantis. 

Hotel Atlantis, view from the monorail, The Palm Jumeirah 

Hotel Atlantis and the its beach, The Palm Jumeirah 

The fronds of the palm are the series of luxurious villas, each having access to the private beach. There are hundreds of such villas and the owners are world famous celebrities and billionaires. 

The villas on the fronds of the palm, The Palm Jumeirah 

The trunk of the palm is full of Residential high-rise apartments, public gardens, restaurants, shops, etc. 

The trunk of the palm, The Palm Jumeirah

The tourists can visit this island either by road or by the monorail. Fortunately, I have visited by both, and I think the monorail way is better if you want to get the feel of Palm from some elevated height. Try to grab the front seats to get the panoramic view of the Palm and Hotel Atlantis. 

Monorail, The Palm Jumeirah 

The Monorail station to go by monorail is situated in The gateway tower, and is linked to the tram station 'Palm Jumeirah', One can buy a return journey ticket from this station, and reach to the farthest end of the palm near Hotel Atlantis. 

Dubai Marina skyscrapers as seen from the palm island

The seaside view at the farthest end of the palm island

There is also an aquarium named "The Lost Chambers" and a water-world "Adventure Water-park" of Hotel Atlantis.

Palm Monorail information: http://www.palm-monorail.com/