Dubai for a holiday

[user1492877024]

Apologies in advance for posting here instead of the travel section, it's just that I know AIBU gets more traffic. DH and I are considering visiting Dubai for a week and I was wondering if anyone could advise on the best time to visit, places to stay and eat etc. Am struggling between visiting Omen or going to Dubai. Has anyone visited both places?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

I have two really close friends in Dubai and I’m gutted I can’t visit them from Doha any longer

We have to meet my DP's and DPIL's in Muscat. This silly tiff needs to be over now. Hotels are so much more expensive in Muscat than they are in Abu Dhabi & Dubai. And while I love Muscat, the 5 hour drive is getting old!

LOL Beverly don't I know it. The UAE is the 4th country I've lived in long term, and while there are certainly issues, in comparison with some supposedly progressive, modern countries (who may or may not be holding the winter Olympics) it's a walk in the park in terms of human & women's rights.

So many self righteous people here. Dubai is not my kind of holiday destination but I hope you go if you fancy it.

These threads always go the same way. Posters storm on to virtue signal, backed up by quotes from an article they read somewhere and to berate and insult those who want to or do holiday in the UAE. Then those who know and understand the region arrive and point out the inconsistencies in all the judgmental sneering and the sneerers disappear. I love holidaying in the UAE, had family there for years which is the reason I went in the first place. Possibly if no family there influencing my decision to visit I might also have sat trumpeting my negative and uninformed views at others who wished to go there. I would like to think not though.

'In the Guardian and therefore on MN It’s okay to take intrepid holidays in all sorts of culturally challenging and more romantic places where human rights abuses and crimes against women and animal are absolutely rife, endemic and culturally imbedded, so long as it’s not Dubai or Qatar, for reasons I’ve never fully understood.'

Beverley I agree. Posters rave about Cuba which has a very poor human rights record.

All the posters claiming some of us are just 'virtue signalling' or being led by the nose by the guardian, as if we have no idea what goes on, smacks of just trying to justify their own choices. While this post is about Dubai and that's what I posted about, I wouldn't go to Oman either, or as I've already said, many other locations.

If you want to disregard what goes on in those countries so you can have your sun holiday somewhere supposedly 'glamorous' then go right ahead. But don't assume the rest of us have no idea what we are on about. Just because Dubai isn't the worst example as far as some of you are concerned doesn't mean it's all a-ok.

Yes please pm dates ill check if im free x

I wouldn't bother. I went last year, stayed at Atlantis The Palm and the only good thing about it was the weather (red hot constantly) and the water park.

Bad points - constantly being stared at by men.
Ridiculously expensive (£6 for a can of Coke) and unless you like shopping for gory gold, there is nothing to do.

gory gold?

I can't stand Dubai, it's like Disney in the desert! Very little character and chavvy. Oman, on the other hand, feels much more genuine and has hills as well as the beaches and dessert. I think the people are nicer too.

Lived in Dubai for 5+ years, anyone who hasn't been but has a negative opinion on it I wouldn't listen to.

It's an amazing place to go on holidays, there is alot to see, the service is spectacular in hotels etc. You should visit Atlantis on the Palm, Dubai Marina, JBR, loads of beaches.. even private ones that are part of hotels. You don't have to worry about what you dress like. You can visit Souq's which are local shopping centres they are beautiful, Madinat Jumeirah is just lovely to visit and go for dinner there.. so many things to do. You'll like it, its a very relaxing place to be. I couldn't recommend it more.

Try to visit between months Oct - May :)

I have never been, but I know people who go frequently and really like it. I think it's a great place to go if you're looking for nice hotels, some sun and a bit of luxury and relaxation.

If I had the money for an additional week in the sun, I might consider it, but I wouldn't go there for our main holiday. Most people I know go for a week or 2 in addition to a week skiing and another summer holiday.

I liked Oman - I stayed with db who was posted there for three years. It was gentle, pretty (fab roundabouts), the people were friendly. He took us to Dubai, which was interesting in terms of creating something from nothing, and in the way the shopping mall often had the adhan echoing around it - a weird juxtaposition of God and mammon.

I enjoyed the Waitrose in the Mall though, and didn't realise Debenhams was quite so ubiquitous.

This will get really nasty later. It's utterly pointless, people always get in a lather. But make no mistake, I don't need to justify my life to a bunch of twitchy, leftie housewives who feel like they are worldly wise because they have read about Dubai in the Guardian. I just feel sorry for them. I can't imagine being that provincial and narrow.

Sure readslike a justification but sure dismiss everyone with a different view to you as 'provincial and narrow'.

This will get really nasty later.
I It got nasty there.

I'm not even from the UK so the 'guardian reading lefty' accusations have no relevance to me or my views.

I haven't lived in the UK for years but I still read the Guardian most days. Unlike some though it doesn't define my opinions.

If I started a post slagging off the UK saying how awful the NHS for example, how disgusting it is people die in corridors and ambulances and can't see a doctor, mumsnet would be up in arms. Rightly people are defensive of their home, regardless of it's failings.

Please show some courtesy and remember that the ME is home to many of us. It doesn't make people stupid or, as so often suggested here, not bright enough to know anything, its just a place we live. Its perfectly reasonable for us to feel defensive, especially of people who are clearly not very exoerienced in the world.

There are things about the UK that make me sick. The child abuse, the violence and the exploitation of certain groups. But I don't generally make an effort to find.posts about things I have little knowledge and experience of just to sound off my admittedly ignorant views on. Try doing the same.

I'm not puppeting, I changed my name inspired by beverlyhills

If I had the money for an additional week in the sun, I might consider it, but I wouldn't go there for our main holiday.

I agree with that. There are better places to go, but if a week of winter sun is what you need, with some water parks etc thrown in it's ideal. I wouldn't go back again and again from the UK though. I've only been several times because I live in the region.

well at least we both know where the other lives now.

that was to WestBayWendy

@Alessandrocopper 😂😂