April Family Holiday - Dubai

[BagGreen24]

We are a family of 5 looking for a 10 day holiday during the Easter holiday break April 2026. For the past few years we've been to the Canary Islands so would like to try something new. I don't think Spain or Greece will be warm enough for the type of beach holiday we want, and I don't want the swimming pools to be too cold to use.
DH suggested Dubai. It's never appealled to me for lots of reasons. Am I unreaonable to totally rule it out? Could anyone recommend a good hotel there or suggest any others suitable for a family of 5. We don't want two sepearte rooms.
Am I being unreasonable to totally rule Dubai out of a hotel search?

We’ve just got back. I’d always been anti going there for all of the reasons cited on here but then looked at all of the various places I’d been on holiday over the years and wondered why I was on a particular moral crusade about Dubai.
It is all a bit strange but it makes for a very easy holiday and our teens loved it. We stayed at the Marriott on the Palm as they have interconnecting rooms which, with one of them having a sofa bed in the lounge area, would work for five. We did a day at the waterpark, a theme park, the mall and the souks. We know we’ll go back there or to AD and want to do the Grand Mosque, go out to the desert and do the fountain show. It’s really easy to travel around by uber/taxi. Actually, everything was really easy. Lots of good restaurants.

i didn’t mind it but can’t say it was amazing for the money- for not much more we could have gone to carribean - it’s very shopping and bling orientated - I can say accommodation was a highlight - fabulous-3 bed luxury flat in our case - the beaches are nothing great and we went in may and it was too hot to lie by a pool (47 degrees) and cloudy and windy too a lot of the time - alcoholic drink was extortionate too and we found food mediocre and expensive, a bit Americanised if you don’t go for Indian or Lebanese ( and my husband likes neither) - I much preferred Marrakech - Oman or possibly Jordan though might be a good bet - I didn’t like Egypt either in all honesty - we were really ill

Regarding alcohol, take your full duty free allowance (or you can buy when you arrive). Most of the 4 or 5 star hotels offer rooms with Executive Club access which offer breakfast, snacks throughout the day, afternoon tea and later free drinks and canapes before dinner. Well worth the extra as you can eat lunch/tea there rather than paying in a restaurant. I take a couple of bottles of wine in my case which I put in the fridge in the room!

@DubaiHoliday pity you don't know any Nigerians. Their young women go missing there at a rate not seen in another country, thinking they are going to be Nannies (because they speak English), domestic staff etc. Both sexes are caught up in modern day slavery. The Police are picky about what they investigate, including murder/child abuse. They use the law to imprisoned rape victims and victims of DV, or any white woman who isn't subservient. Plus, it's a Muslim country, why aren't they taking in and helping their brothers? They could solve our boat issues. They could at least stop funding genocide and war.

I’ve never been but my brother has. They stayed at Lapita? They do all inclusive and it includes entry into legoland waterpark and another theme park. Also do rooms for 5.

Quite

@Ponoka7 Young women go missing in Nigeria too. Hardly a beacon of a great country for women!

You could also consider Ras Al Khaimah or Abu Dhabi. RAK is just 40 mins from Dubai airport

Cape Verde should be warm (I've never been).

I'm going on an Emirates cruise with MSC in November so that could be an option to look at.

Fantastic place!

Morocco would be great then we’ve been at Easter. Few days in Marrakech and then beach at either Agadir or Essouria

They actually do kill people for being gay in Morocco, regularly. I remember during the world cup, that extremely irritating travel BBC guy, the chap in the wheelchair, was on a freebie in Morocco, promoting it as such an amazing place. If you go to any backward place like Morocco or Egypt but slag off Dubai you are just a raging snob and hypocrite.

I find it interesting people have such strong views on Dubai's values and practices.
Realistically outside of Europe, many countries will not uphold the values we expect in the UK.

Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia all have fairly awful human rights records, yet it's rare to see someone being warned not to go there.

Even the US, today they invaded another country and kidnapped its president. Would you tell people not to go to Orlando because of that?

Dubai is a fairly good family destination. More or less guaranteed good weather and a high standard for hotels and food. It can be a bit bling/tacky in places, but so can many places. I would definitely recommend it for families with young children.

I would never go to Turkey - not just for the way they treat people - animals as well. Particularly in the last 18 months or so re the killing of street animals