Would you choose Dubai as a holiday destination?

[Letshopenextyearisbetter]

Colleague told me excitedly she has booked to go to Dubai with her family for two weeks. I said ‘Oh wow!’ But really I was thinking 😬
I realise we all like different things, but just curious if you’d choose to spend your money on going to Dubai? I can personally think of some really lovely places to go for that amount of money, especially over Christmas

No, I’ve never been but feel the same as you, it’s probably not the place for me for several reasons.

No, I have zero interest in going to Dubai, but I'm glad that not everyone wants to go where I want to go, because otherwise it would be too crowded and full of the kind of people who'd rather be in Dubai 😂

Nope. It's a place built and served by modern slaves.

Not for me no. Just epitomises the awfulness in the world.

No. I really don't want to go to a place where the residents view me as on a par with a service animal only maybe slightly less intelligent.

No

I have zero interest in Dubai, I know of a few people who holiday there regularly & some who have moved over there. But it’s not for me, especially not as a family holiday.

My 8 year old believe it or not asked if we could go on holiday there recently, when I asked him why, he answered me with.. Well obviously to see Burj Khalifa 🤣🤣
Pretty expensive trip to go & see one building!

No because of their rules re alcohol, marriage etc. I’d be scared I’d get arrested. The way women (esp western women) are viewed there is enough to stop me. But I do know many people who go and seem to enjoy it so leave them to it.

Yes I go every year

Not a chance

You couldn’t pay me enough money to go there.

No. I have had to go many times for work. Stayed with a colleague and their family for months at a time, which was quite nice actually, and not in the tourist hotel areas, but still it’s largely quite boring and unpleasant, frankly.

Well it wouldn't be for me. However my neighbour loves it. She is 80 and goes with her older sister. She goes as the hotels are lovely and perfect for them as they have mobility issues and they feel safe.

I used to live there, and it's puzzling to me why anyone would go there on holiday. Leaving aside entirely the human rights abuses, the heavy surveillance, and the fact that it's a dictatorship with a heavily self-censoring press and a ruler with a bad habit of kidnapping and imprisoning his own daughters and whose behaviour towards his ex-wife amounted to, in the words of a UK high court judge 'a campaign of fear, intimidation and harassment' to the point where he lost his paternal rights because he can't be trusted to see them -- it's an environmental disaster on the grounds of water desalination and consumption alone.

Not somewhere I I will ever go personally

Yes. I’ve been twice to visit friends. It’s a nice, safe environment and a great place to holiday with kids.

I prefer the grittiness and unpredictability of more exotic locations, and I’m apparently one of the few who doesn’t really enjoy eating at the outposts of London restaurants at twice the price, but you can’t deny it’s a lovely place to holiday.

Not for me (used to live in the area) but can understand why people want to go in the U.K. midwinter - you’re pretty much guaranteed lovely warm sun and still warm-ish sea, and it’s not a hideously long flight away.
When we lived in neighbouring countries, Christmas was when so many parents, inc. both sets of ours, came to visit.

I personally wouldn't, but I don't find it inexplicable that different people like different things.

Tower blocks, relentless heat, shopping malls, multi-lane roads, sand. Pretty much my vision of hell.

I’ve been once, tagged along with DH on a work trip, it was an interesting experience and I quite enjoyed it but once was enough.

Not for me for all the reasons PPs have listed

@FactsNotFeelings what do you like about it? It's obviously got some attraction and is clearly a unique place but what keeps bringing you back and back?

I went with now ex DH 15 years ago. Wouldn’t bother going back.

Completely soulless with 0 culture, built and run by modern day slaves.

One of the good things about going to other countries is getting to engage with the locals. Except in Dubai there aren’t any. Not that there’s anything wrong with there being immigrants working there, but when they’re there working as modern day slaves to keep rich conglomerates in business it is everything that is wrong with the place.

No, I have zero interest in visiting for all the reasons already listed

Horses for courses obviously...
But, it's my idea of hell. All that glass, concrete, desert, high rise buildings, everything just so man-made and unnatural. Barely a tree in sight. Then the ridiculous heat... Thats before we get onto the culture, their views on the modern world, religion and women's rights.😬

Give me lovely green Corfu any day.

Last year we stopped off for a few days each way on our journey to and from the UK.
Stayed in the Atlantis it is kind of larger than life with huge aquariums, pools and water-parks and the sea, our 5yo loved it and cried when he woke up in the Sofitel in Gatwick.
The hotel was very comfortable, weather is fantastic I can see the attraction. But on the other hand it is a bit of a concrete jungle, expensive and full of people who think they are too good for Torremolinos.

I'd go again but only to break up the flight home, and since DS is becoming a bit of a pro at flying we might not need to.