Holiday in Dubai please help

[cindersrella]

Hi all! We are looking to go on holiday to Dubai next year in May.

Can anyone advise on the cost of food (lunch time snacks) and drink both alcoholic and soft.

Me, my husband and two children 5 & 9
Will be going for 9/10 nights.

The holiday it's self halfboard with a two hour happy hour is £4400.

We don't really want and extra £1000 bill on top for food and drink.....

Can anyone advise?

You can eat quite cheaply or spend loads depending on where u eat. We do a mixture of eating in mall food courts, which have so much variety or eating in mid price restaurants.

If you plan on eating at your hotel then that will be more expensive

If you have breakfast as big and late as possible and dinner fairly early, you shouldn't need much extra at lunch.

Slice of pizza, ice cream, coffee and cake, snack size meal from stalls, stuff from supermarkets/convenience stores, that sort of thing.

Is the happy hour for drinks that can be combined with dinner? That's a possible main unexpected cost when staying half board - you end up paying hotel prices for drinks, which are usually £££s.

If you want to control costs, it's probably best to be prepared. Don't wait until everyone is hangry before looking for somewhere to eat lunch as that's the quickest way to walking into the nearest restaurant and ending up with a £60-80 bill, and that's assuming that prices for casual lunch restaurants are similar to the UK.

A soft drink is around £5 , beer £12 , gin and tonic £25, glass of wine £19 , sandwich with fries £20. For the price you're paying you would get ultra all inclusive at the Palm. I always go all inclusive there with my children so they can have whatever they want to eat and drink. It's not the same as AI in Europe it's far superior with excellent restaurants, branded drinks and proper cocktails.

Thankyou all. We have decided that at this moment in time it's not a holiday for us.

The happy hour is 6-8pm (which is when ideally I would want my children eating.

the drinks are not included within the half board package either.

When I go to Dubai I never eat anything but breakfast in the hotel and even then, if I’m in the Indian quarter or near a mall, I wouldn’t eat breakfast in the hotel either. The food courts in the malls are cheap and have varied choices for kids - chances are you will be there everyday anyway due to the activities underway.

Alcohol can only be drunk at hotels and can be expensive but tea / coffee / biscuits / cake is usually served for free in the reception areas of nice hotels to compensate.