Dubai with Kids

For years Dubai wasn’t even on our radar. We thought it would just be a city, with a desert surrounding it, full of big all inclusive luxury hotels and not much else. HOW WRONG WERE WE!

It’s got entertainment galore, theme parks, beaches, an Aquarium, an indoor ski resort, trips to the desert and LOADs more besides. It sounded perfect to go to Dubai with Kids. We were sold.

Flights and Accommodation

Dave stumbled upon a great flight deal for the 4 of us, £1500 return on Emirates during England’s Half Term week in late October. We paid an additional £160 to choose our preferred seats for both flights.

Considering things usually cost the earth during school holidays we felt it was a good price and a perfect opportunity to go to Dubai with kids, so booked it up. We then found a decent looking Airbnb which provided loads more space than the hotels (and was a fraction of the price). We were set!

Emirates was a decent flight experience, on the way out we flew overnight and the girls slept the majority of the time. And on the way back it was a day flight but the girls slept for a while and filled their time with movies and food otherwise.

Our savours were the Seat to Sleep pillows (gifted and linked here) and our Koala Kloud Footrests (also gifted and linked here). The pillows made the girls nice and comfy in their seats, avoiding the awkward arm rests and uneven seats.

The footrests provided them with somewhere to put their feet that wasn’t on us! It really did make ALL the difference to our experience. Both items will be coming with us on every long haul flight in the future.

As we were going to Dubai with Kids we felt that an Airbnb was the best option for us. We could get 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, living room and balcony with use of a pool for £1000 for 5 nights. This was a tiny amount in comparison to hotel rooms (of an adequate size for 4 people). However…..we were a bit disappointed with the airbnb, the location and size were brilliant but it was not quite up to the cleanliness standard I expect (which is high I admit). However, it certainly served its purpose – the pool was brilliant and always empty when we went and being so close to Dubai Mall was great as it’s a hub to reach so many places.

So whereabouts should I stay in Dubai with kids?

This really depends massively on what you want to get out of your trip. I’ll separate some of the Cities areas below but first, let me reiterate this – Dubai is BIG. VERY BIG.

• Dubai Mall and nearby:
  • This is where we stayed and, for us, it was perfect and I think ideal for an action packed trip to Dubai with kids. We could walk to Dubai Mall within 10 minutes which is next to the Burj Khalifa and the Fountains. The Fountains were one of our favourite things about our stay, and the half hourly fountain display from 6pm each evening was brilliant. Because we stayed so close we got to see this a number of times and it was always set to different music. On a few occasions we ate dinner (without having to pre-book) at restaurants next to the fountains. This meant we got to see it do its display whilst we ate, a memorable experience.

• Dubai Mall and all it has to offer can easily fill a few days (including the Aquarium and over 1000 shops and restaurants – it’s a Mall like no other!)
  • From the Metro at Dubai Mall we could reach other most other parts of Dubai with ease (including Mall of the Emirates for Ski Dubai, and the Palm).
  • It’s also the main hub to pick up the Hop on Hop off Sightseeing Bus routes. For the first 2 days we mainly used this to get around, see our You Tube guide here for more details.

• The Palm:
  • Named so because it is, from the Air, the shape of a Palm Tree, this is an area made up of private residences and hotels.
  • This area of Dubai is probably for you if you want to escape to a luxury hotel and enjoy their private beach for most of your time. It’s quite the distance from Dubai Mall, but you could still do a day trip out to see other places within Dubai. Many tours run from the hotels on the Palm.

• Dubai Marina:
  • One of the newer areas of Dubai this beautiful Marina will grow and grow in popularity due to its vast number of restaurants, hotels and luxury Yachts.
  • There are lots of walkways (rare in Dubai!) so it’s perfect for a stroll. Bear in mind though that Dubai gets extremely hot (it was 35c and upwards when we went in late October) so being outdoors is not always ideal!
  • It’s close to the Palm and has a metro stop so you can get to other areas of Dubai with relative ease.

What did we do in Dubai with Kids?

Well, frankly, the list is endless. But I’ll cover what we did first before running through what we run out of time for!

• Souq Madinat Jumeirah:
  • We had a lovely evening exploring this modern Souq (Arabic for Market if anyone is wondering) and bar and restaurant complex. There are stunning views over the Burj Al Arab and you can take Abra rides over the 5km of waterways. We baulked at the price, so instead opted for the real Abra’s at the Creek the following day.

• Dubai Frame:
  • The UAE’s latest cultural landmark, Dubai Frame is an iconic structure that frames impressive views of Old and New Dubai. It’s quite a remarkable sight and the experience was really fun for us all. It’s really reasonably priced (which can be rare for Dubai) – find out more details on our You Tube guide here.

• Dubai Mall:
  • I’ve mentioned it a bit above, but we spent quite a bit of time here. There is the Aquarium (we didn’t go in, but you get an incredible view through the double story glass fronted tanks).
  • There is also the Old Souq, which is a gorgeous, elegant area of the Mall. Full of gold, precious metals and jewellery, and the worlds Oldest Dinosaur skeleton.

• There’s an Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink, children’s play zone, Kidzania, a massive indoor cinema complex and The Village – with a retractable roof that opens during the winter months. 
  • There’s over 1200 shops and restaurants, you could go every day and see something different! And as for where to eat? You really are extremely spoilt for choice.

• Burj Khalifa
  • We took a trip up the tallest building in the World at Sunset and yes, it was expensive, but it was most certainly worth it.

• Once you’re up there you can stay up there as long as you like – we were up there for quite a long time, we found somewhere to sit and watch the sunset. It was beautiful.
• We didn’t have fast track tickets but were fast tracked in any case because of the children. This REALLY helped our sanity as the queues were long. The girls would have struggled with the hour (or longer) wait to get up and down.

• Hop on Hop off Bus Sightseeing Tour
  • See our You Tube review on this for a full insight but overall I’d definitely recommend it for at least part of your visit. The Red Route was by far the best one that we did and it covered some excellent sites and places that we’d struggle to have visit otherwise (for example the old Souqs, Dubai Creek etc, where the Metro doesn’t run). The other routes were less useful but we got 50% off our tickets so it was actually very reasonable for what we got. Keep an eye out for deals and check out the various companies that provide the same!

• Ski Dubai
  • Well this is crazy! A whole Ski Resort in the desert! It’s based within the Mall of the Emirates (easily reached with the Metro) and it’s HUGE. We bought tickets to the Snow Park (as you have to be able to ski to go on the slopes) and had a great time building snowmen, zorbing, sliding, sledging and much more besides. For a detailed review on our visit check out our blog here or our You Tube Review here.

• The Dubai Fountain
  • Every half an hour or so from 6pm the Dubai Fountains, at the foot of the Burj Khalifa, put on a spectacular display to music. The music varies from pop, to classical to Arabic to….Baby Shark 🙂 Check out our You tube video of it here.

• Souqs and Dubai Creek
  • This was one of my favourite places in Dubai. The old Town. The traditional Souqs. And the fantastic (cheap) Abra ride on Dubai Creek.
  • You could easily spend a day here exploring the Souqs and the Museums in the area. Stopping for a delicious lunch on the banks of the Creek.
  • The Abra ride was about 20p each (compare this to the price at Souq Madinat!) and we didn’t have to wait long (they are going pretty much continuously). We easily got the double buggy on (folded down). It was really great, only a few minutes long, but it felt so authentic.

• Dubai Garden Glow
  • It was a bit of a fluke that I found out about this. It’s a seasonal event so check before you go, but if it’s on when you’re there it’s not to be missed. The lights were beautiful, and there was gentle music playing to accompany it. It was cooling down after a hot day and the breeze was perfect. It was really a very lovely, reasonably priced, escape from the bustle of the city (despite being in the centre of the city!).
  • Attached to the Garden Glow is a Dinosaur Park with very authentic loud dinosaurs, the girls found it a bit scary and it was getting late so we had a quick look, a play in the park and then headed home.

• Abu Dhabi Day trip
  • This was quite a push within our time frame, but we really did want to take a day out to explore a bit more. At just a couple of hours from Dubai, Abu Dhabi was the obvious choice.
  • We decided instead of getting an organised tour to hire a car and drive. Overall we think was the best choice but due to a slow start, trip to the airport to collect the car and faff with the car seats we didn’t even get to Abu Dhabi until 2pm.
  • This restricted what we could see so we focused on the biggest sight in Abu Dhabi – the Sheikh Zayed Mosque.
  • The drive to and from Abu Dhabi was mostly Desert, I find it majestical and fascinating. My husband finds it a bit dull. Depends entirely on you! We did see camels which the girls were thrilled about.

• Sheikh Zayed Mosque
  • This place was incredible. and HUGE. The whole complex covers over 30 Acres and is full of white marble, in perfect symmetry, with gorgeous pools of water and intricate art work on the walls. It’s such an incredible place of calm.
  • It was over 40c the day we visited (in late October) and if women aren’t fully covered they will be provided with an Abaya to wear over their clothes. Likewise, if a man isn’t in full length trousers, they will be provided with trousers to wear. I had read in advance to bring your own head scarf if possible which I really appreciated as it was cooler than wearing the inbuilt hood.
  • Entrance is free and it’s pushchair friendly. There is a huge car park underneath and food outlets in the mall (which is in the process of being built).

Where didn’t we manage to visit?

Our itinerary was packed. And I probably overdid it with what we attempted to do. As it was we were out pretty much 10am to 11pm each day and were all exhausted with achy feet! Ideally you’d do what we did in about 7/9 days rather than 5. A two week holiday would cover everything we did and more….in comfort.

We wanted to visit, but didn’t manage to get to:

• Kite Beach
• Dubai Marina
• Dhow Cruise
• Global Village
• Wild Wadi Waterpark or Altantis Aquaventure Waterpark
• Dubai Parks and Resorts including Motiongate Dubai, Legoland Dubai (and Legoland Waterpark) and Bollywood Parks Dubai.

As you can see there’s LOADS we didn’t see. But we also did do an awful lot, definitely as much as we could manage in the time we had. Another holiday to Dubai is needed!

Any other points to consider?

• Double Buggy/Stroller
  • I almost didn’t take ours as I thought our 5 year old would be ok. I’m so pleased that I changed my mind as we walked ALOT. Upwards of 20,000 steps some days. And it was hot so the girls wilted easily.

• Alcohol
  • I don’t drink, and my husband didn’t drink during this holiday (as we self catered so even finding alcohol would have been tricky) but it’s worth considering when you book somewhere to stay that they do not sell alcohol in the shops or restaurants in Dubai. You can purchase alcohol in most, but not all, hotels. There are extremely strict rules about drinking in public, being drunk in public and drink driving. The minimum age to drink is 21.
  • The plus side of alcohol being hard to come by was the huge range of mocktails and juices available. The Lemon Mint drink that is available everywhere is TO DIE FOR.

• Take a portable Fan
  • As I’ve mentioned it was extremely hot when we went so I was really pleased I picked up this portable fan before we went, it could clip to the buggy/stroller or the girls could hold it.

Conclusion

We LOVED Dubai. I really was pleasantly surprised with it. We are not big city people. I am much more at home in a quiet house in the countryside. BUT once I settled into the skyscraper city environment I fell in love with it. The diversity of things to do there is almost unparalleled by anywhere we’ve visited. You can do as much, or as little, as you like there and you will leave happy. One bit of advice for you. GO TO DUBAI.

Thanks for reading and please check out our Dubai Travel Vlog on our You tube page here.

For more on what to do in Dubai as a family – check out our ultimate guide on Youtube below!