With nearly 17 million visitors in 2023 Dubai is the third most visited city in the world. I am a regular viewer of the European edition of CNN, a channel on which Dubai is often promoted as a tourist destination. This and my urge to travel to new places brought me to Dubai. It’s a travel experience I loved! But: be prepared to embrace the artificial.

I meticulously planned my eight day journey to Dubai. Maybe it’s because I am the son of an independent, self-employed flower dealer, but I liked to spend my time and money well. Certainly if I am going to be in a far away destination for a short period of time.

It has paid off, by comparing online I have found the best deals. In case of theme parks it was booking directly at the official site of the attraction, for other attractions like the desert safari and a visit to the Burj Khalifa the platform Get Your Guide turned out to offer the best price. But be aware prices change all the time.

Fly Emirates

I flew with Emirates from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol directly to Dubai. My return flight was the same route with Emirates. I can certainly encourage people to choose for Emirates. Their staff is very professional.

I for example had a problem with my lactose intolerance. I probably registered my diet preferences too late. The staff offered me a lactose free meal nonetheless and immediately registered the preference for the return flight so I didn’t need to bother.

The looks and makeup of the flight attendants is also strangely perfect.

The plane was modern and the selling point of the flight company is its entertainment. On ICE, the inflight entertainment platform of Emirates, you find a wide range of recent movies, documentaries and television series.

Barsha Heights

I stayed at Hotel Premier Inn Dubai Barsha Heights, near metro stop Dubai Internet City. It’s a family hotel with a buffet dinner and rooftop hotel. The staff was very friendly.

The hotel also had a concierge called Imran, who has a stand at the lobby where he sells excursions. Due to technical failures on their site, I didn’t manage to book my tickets for Global Village in advance. At Imran’s stand I could buy them for the same price as via the official site, meaning the lowest price.

Furthermore this hotel has a small but convenient gym and a floor that is reserved for smokers.

Although I didn’t like the neighbourhood Barsha Heights too much, I would recommend the hotel.

The main reason I didn’t like the neighbourhood is the fact that the footpaths need some love and care. I am someone who walks a lot in every city I visit, so this really disturbed me. There was pavement subsidence here and there.

Driveways were interrupting the pavements without reason, forcing you to cross the street. I nearly tripped over a badly visibly threshold. The strange pattern of the neighbourhood also made you walk longer than necessary. It’s such a shame because in terms of architecture Barsha Heights is a state of the art neighbourhood.

The bushes were nicely maintained. Sadly the streets were littered with business cards of Indian massage centres and Russian sex workers. The staff of the lobby told me that spreading these cards is of course illegal. They clean up these cards every day but as soon as the cleaners are gone people discreetly start spreading  them again.

Artificial

Dubai doesn’t have the most oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates. The centre of oil gravity lies in Abu Dhabi.

But the capital invests a lot in Dubai to attract tourists. Modern Dubai is created to please tourists. There are so many attractions to choose from: shopping malls, aqua parks, theme parks, gardens, museums … You can’t help a feeling of artificiality when visiting.

The water of the fountains looks too blue to make sense. The malls are ridiculously big. The buildings are extremely high.

On top of that, there is a limited of history to be found. The people who lived here were mostly nomads. There are not a lot of historical buildings. The culture that is offered here are mostly franchises imported from the United States, Europe and India.

If you are not willing to embrace the artificial, don’t visit Dubai!

But I don’t mind. I like strange things that don’t make sense. I like a good cliché and some kitsch here and there. Needless to say I loved the UAE.

Desert safari

First I did a desert safari. This was served by Ammar Tours. I was being picked up at my hotel and driven to the desert near the border with Oman. As you are travelling, the desert becomes more beautiful. The yellow sand turns into a dark orange.

First our group was dropped off at a facility where you can rent a quad. It’s was fairly announced in advance that this was not part of the package I booked.

I had the choice to book a quad to drive around in the full desert or to stick to a big fenced terrain. Know your driving skills: so I wisely chose the last. I must say: it’s a sensation to drive on a quad through the desert hills.

Nothing however prepared me for what followed: after the quad driving, we took the sport utility vehicle further down the desert.

At a stop they let some air escape from the tires for the best grip on the desert dunes. What follows was dune bashing: with an incomprehensible agility our driver drove up the side of the dunes, letting the car slip in to the deep, accelerate and climb the next hill. With sand flashing over the front window and heavy Arab music blasting through the sound boxes.

It was a thrill of a ride and the real highlight of the entire UAE trip!

Subsequently you get the possibility to slide of a dune hill with a surfing board. Standing on the top of a desert hill, also invites you to take a picture and feed your social media. Strangely enough you have perfect internet connection in the desert.

Then you are driven to a panoramic point where you can take pictures of the setting sun. In the dark you are driven to a camp where you are treated to an evening show with dancers and a fire artist. Within the price of the package I could enjoy a barbecue, a salad buffet and coffee and sodas at will.

To top it all off you get a small tour on a camel’s back. When I told my friends how much I paid for the entire day and evening filling programme, they laughed at me. It’s really good value for money.

High into the sky

The second day I visited the Burj Khalifa, with its 828 metres the tallest building in the world.

But be aware Dubai. Saudi Arabia is building the Jeddah Tower which is going to be 180 metres taller than Burj Khalifa. So much for being a good neighbour, throwing off shade! At Burj Khalifa you can visit level 124, 125 and 148.

I visited level 124 and 125. Surely the view is wonderful. It’s a must do attraction, a proof you’ve been to Dubai. But I was slightly underwhelmed. You have to wait long to actually get in the elevator and go up, to then face the windows full of smudges left by other tourists. Also something to take in mind is the hours of visit: the place of the sun can affect your ability to make nice pictures.

Something that pleased me much more was the free fountain show in front of Burj Khalifa that runs every half hour from 5:45 PM to 11:30 PM.

As I found out the second time I was there, the shows vary. So it’s worth coming back to enjoy another show at another hour. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 projectors, the fountain is 275 meter (902 feet) long and shoots water up to 152.4 meter (500 feet) into the air accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music.

You can watch the fountain from a platform but why not eat at one of the restaurants surrounding the fountain and enjoy it from your dining table?

Giant aquarium

Burj Khalifa is situated near the Dubai Mall. This is a giant mall, the biggest in Dubai. And believe me: there are plenty of malls in Dubai.

The shops are mostly focused on luxury brand but you may also find a Carrefour supermarket in the mall.

If you book a ticket to visit Burj Khalifa, it’s worth combining with entry to the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. The aquarium is located in the mall and stretches several floors. The 10-million-litre tank on the ground flour has 40 species living in it and more than 300 majestic sharks and rays.

You can walk through a tunnel crossing the tank with sand tiger sharks and leopard sharks passing over you. The Underwater Zoo includes several areas including a rainforest, a rocky shore and a living ocean. Like so many things in Dubai it’s all about numbers: bigger, stronger, faster!

Flowers and butterflies

On my third day I went to two special gardens: Dubai Butterfly Garden and Dubai Miracle Garden. Being a son of a retired plant seller, I am still attracted to flowers. Wherever I go, I visit botanical gardens.

You wouldn’t expect a lot of nature in the desert. But think again: in butterfly gardens you can gaze at around 15,000 butterflies of over 50 varieties of butterfly in different sizes and colors. It’s the smallest of the two gardens and really a place where you can relax.

The other garden is a known tourist attraction: Dubai Mircale Garden. The venue is 72,200 square meter and shows more than 50 million flowers in full bloom. My heart skipped a beat. It’s insane.

They have a Smurfs Village, a floral clock, an Indian Temple covered with flowers, gigantic horse heads and penguins made of bushes, a floral airplane and much more. It doesn’t make sense, kitsch at its best.

But it made me extremely happy. Of course around the gardens there are sellers who will push to sell you their drinks, candy and souvenirs: a friendly no is enough to keep them at a distance.

Global Village

During the weekend I kept free to sleep in and enjoy the pool of the hotel. In the evening I went to Global Village. This is something I was keen on seeing. I like clichés about countries. Global Village is just that. It’s a fair ground accompanied by a pond surrounded by pavilions.

These pavilions have gigantic facades ‘depicting the country or continent’ they represent. That’s were the clichés kick in. Every corner of this place screams: picture opportunity! In the pavilion you can shop for food, fashion of souvenirs from the countries the pavilion embraces.

For most countries this really works: in the African pavilion I had an Ethiopian meal and bought a shell necklace.

The American and European pavilion were a disappointment though. They didn’t sell real American and European products and were filled with other general souvenir stands.

The European pavilion presented French fries and doughnuts as a Belgian delicacy. Being a Belgian: I agree to the first, not to the second! It didn’t spoil the fun.

On a giant stage at Global Village you are treated to free shows. When the led dragon in the pond next to the floating market comes to life, you want to stick around. It’s a great spectacle of music, laser beams and firework.

Indoor theme park

At the end of my trip I also visited Abu Dhabi twice. The first day I went to Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. It’s the world biggest indoor theme park.

As I made my reservation in advance I could make use of free bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. It was a hustle to find were and at when the bus departed. I actually had to call to the park to get the exact time and location.

But once I was waiting in front of the right hotel in Dubai, I was greeted by a lady who accompanied the travelers to the different theme parks at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Besides Warner Bros. World you have Ferrari World, Waterworld and Seaworld.

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi was absolutely beautiful. The park design is beyond compare. And I visited several theme parks in Europe and the US.

All the characters were of course known to me: Batman, the Joker, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, the Flintstones, the Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo…

I visited the UAE in October. This is the early beginning of the tourist season. I visited the theme park on a Monday. This probably explains why I didn’t have to queue at all. The park was in Halloween mode with extra decoration and a Scooby-Doo Halloween show.

In this game of trick and treat my real treat came at the Flintstones restaurant I visited. I ordered spare ribs. The dish was strangely created. I don’t know how they did it but my spare ribs were given an extra thick bone making them actually look like a mammoth dish instead of spare ribs. But I assure you, it was tasty.

Presidential palace

The second day in Abu Dhabi, also the last day of excursions before the obligatory return day, I went to visit Qasr Al Watan.

This presidential palace of the UAE is mainly used to receive foreign heads of state. However sheiks Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan decided to open up the palace to the public in 2019.

The construction of the palace was completed in 2017 but it reflects the regional cultural heritage. The palace is made of white granite and limestone. The decoration is jaw dropping.

You can look into but not got into the rooms where foreign leaders are welcomed. It also has a room which displays all the gifts from foreign countries to the president: vases, medallions, weapons, statues, decorated Qurans and traditional coats.

‘The House of Knowledge’ in the Eastern Wing is dedicated to the influence of Arabian scholarship on human civilization. Whilst in the Western Wing you will find the ‘Spirit of Collaboration’, where meetings of the UAE Cabinet and Federal Supreme Council are hosted.

However beautiful the palace is, for a western tourist it remains strange to see how much of a person cult in surrounding the sheiks. Their portraits hang in every hotel lobby and there are big billboards next to the highway with their image.

In Butterfly Garden there was even a portrait of sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made of butterfly wings. It’s an indication that the sheiks hold absolute power here.

Transport

I must say: public transport is not as developed in Dubai. Surely you have the Dubai Metro. It’s a modern means of transport, the stations are very clean and you have sales desks in nearly each station.

But the metro can simply not cope with the growing amount of travellers. During rush hour you are packed and often have to stand up. To avoid this you can take a Gold Class ticket: more expensive but with less travelers.

There is also a Women and Children Only compartment where it’s usually quite calm. Practical, if you have ‘the right gender’ to make use of it.

Taxis are a bit cheaper than in Western Europe. I can encourage you to install the Careem app on your smartphone. Careem is a platform of taxis and food delivery services that is widely used in the UAE.

You can see on the app where the approaching taxi is exactly located and it gives you the number of the taxi, the name of the driver and which brand of car he is driving.

Habits, customs and traditions

Dubai is a bilingual city in which you can use both English as Arabic to communicate with most people. Speaking a few words of Arabic as a form of courtesy is always appreciated but not a necessity.

Which brings me to habits, customs and traditions. Toilets are strictly appointed to either gents or ladies. In Islamic toilet etiquette, after defecating, you must wash your anus with water. This explains why the toilets have a kind of small shower head next it.

Of course this is just a facility and everyone choses whether they want to use it. In general the toilets in the UAE are very clean.

Respect towards the sheiks is key. Don’t get political while visiting the UAE.

Alcohol is notoriously expensive and mostly served in hotels. It’s a double-edged sword. A shame if you like alcohol, a relief if you hate alcohol abuse and the peer pressure to drink alcohol in order to have fun. I tended to experiencing it as a relief.

During Ramadan nobody is forced to take part in it. It is however appreciated to not display water bottles. You can drink of course but if you hold it in your hand police will most likely come up to you and gently ask you to store it in your bag.

This is considered a sign of respect for those who are fasting. At night during Ramadan the shopping malls get very crowded.

High season in Dubai is from November to April, when temperatures become bearable. Besides in swimming pools, you ought to dress. Shorts in public are no problem, but miniskirts are not appreciated.

When you visit a mosque or official building (e.g. Qasr Al Watan) make sure to cover your shoulders and to wear long trousers or a long dress.

Fata morgana

My overall impression of Dubai is that is an artificial city. Beautifully designed but it is a Fata Morgana for all the human suffering that lies beneath it. But then again: so many people live from tourism. So staying away is certainly not going to help them.

As a tourist destination Dubai has lots to offer. But most of the culture is somehow imported. In that sense the desert safari and Qasr Al Watan balanced out my exposure to the Looney Tunes and the Smurfs.

If you like experimental architecture, if you like a good franchise, if you like luxury and if you are willing to embrace the artificial: Dubai is yours to be discovered.