What are some good ways to explore Dubai on your own?

[Franklin Bob]

Hello, I'm curious to hear about the experiences of those who have visited dubai. For first-time visitors, what are the best strategies to experience the highlights of Dubai on their own? Any insights and tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Woodrowst]

We used the old city Dubai self-guided tour available online through GPSmyCity and enjoyed it.  GPSmyCity is our go to site for self-guided tours.  They have a number of tours Dubai and most other major cities. 

[Arkansas cruisers]

We, too, used the GPSmyCity website to select and map out Dubai attractions as a Custom Walk, and then used the Big Bus Dubai website and found that the Big Bus could take us to most of the attractions we wanted to see. 

 

For our hotel, we reserved the Swissotel Al Murooj Dubai, because it was a quick 10 minute walk to the Dubai Mall. Then we booked the 48 hour tickets online in advance for the the hop on hop off Big Bus, the one with the brown buses and logo, not to be confused with the red hop on hop off City Sightseeing buses.

 

The Swissotel was a quick 15 to 25 minute RTA Taxi ride to and from the airport for under $16 for two passengers.  The hotel staff showed us the easiest way to cross the busy streets to walk to the Dubai Mall,  which served as our hub for activities such as the Big Bus, the Burj Khalifa, restaurants and shopping.

The day of arrival, we explored the Dubai Mall and its Underwater Zoo & Aquarium, Ice Rink, etc; took the Burj Khalifa at the Top Sky tour (booked in advance); and saw the fountain shows and Burj lights. 

 

The next morning we checked in at the Big Bus kiosk on the ground level of the Dubai Mall. We took the Red Route for the first day of our 2 day ticket, and hopped off for the included Arabian Dhow Cruise. I also enjoyed our stops at the Dubai Frame, the Museum of the Future, and the Gold Souk.

 

The following morning we took the Blue Route for stops at the Mall of the Emirates to see Ski Dubai, at Dubai Marina to see the beach, and at Jumeirah Palm to tour the included Lost Chambers Aquarium and to see the Jumeirah Palm hotel.

 

Good luck and enjoy! Dubai is amazing!

[9tee2Sea]

• I purchased a two day hop on hop off ticket.  Stayed on the bus for the entire route, then got off/on the second time around.  Traffic by Jumeriah Beach was horrendous.  Nice place to walk about and eat, but not great for driving thru.