Exploring the Middle East: Abu Dhabi and Dubai
Issue 10: Modern Marvels in Two Cosmopolitan Cities
Our trip through the Middle East ended with four days in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As noted, we anchored our trip with a flight from Washington, D.C. to Cairo and back from Dubai to DC. DC friends who had lived in the region a couple of years ago counseled us to split our time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and we were glad we took their advice.
Two Days in Abu Dhabi
In a misguided attempt to maximize our time in both places, we took a late night flight from Jordan to the UAE. Our flight from Jordan to Abu Dhabi landed at 3:30 in the morning and we jumped into a taxi and headed straight to the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi on beautiful Saadiyat Island. We used points and a suite upgrade award for an incredible set of rooms with a fantastic view.
Turquoise water and sandy shores on Saadiyat, the only natural beach in Abu
We spent the next day and a half mostly lounging by the pool and beach. Though it was a little cool, there were plenty of people in the water. The resort is popular with expats in the area, particularly on weekends. Even with the volume of visitors on the Saturday we were there, we never had a challenges finding lounge and daybeds and the service was excellent. I saw hotel staff even organizing and playing soccer with a group of children.
We left the resort just once, for dinner at Abu Dhabi’s upscale mall, The Galleria Al Maryah Island. The Park Hyatt concierge made us a reservation at 99 Sushi Bar, a lovely but expensive restaurant probably better visited without kids in tow. We strolled through the mall afterwards and all enjoyed a trip to an outpost of New York’s Magnolia Bakery for dessert.
Two Days in Dubai
We left Abu Dhabi right at our noon checkout time and jumped into a taxi for an hour drive to Dubai. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed to a barbecue hosted by a work colleague. We were floored by my colleague’s generosity, who I was meeting in person for the first time. We spent the afternoon and evening on the roof of his apartment building, chatting with his family, friends, and colleagues and eating everything from classic American hamburgers to midddle eastern kebabs.
Playground on rooftop of Dubai apartment building
After a morning at the office and lunch with colleagues (me) and time at the pool (my family), we regrouped to visit Dubai’s Gold Souk, a famous market in the old part of the city. We wandered the labyrinth of shops filled with jewelry, from simple pieces to extravagant designs. The souk is arguably the best place in the world to buy gold jewelry because of the quality, variety, and standard price of gold across the UAE (the daily “gold rate”). Jewelry prices vary by the complexity of design (the “make rate”) and haggling is expected. My daughter and I both left with new earrings.
The next day, after a leisurely brunch and some pool time, we left the hotel to go to the Dubai Aquarium, recommended by my coworkers. The massive aquarium crosses three stories of the Dubai Mall. Walking by the glass tanks filled with sea creatures is a worthy excursion in and of itself, but we also purchased tickets for the full experience. Inside the aquarium we walked through a subaquatic transparent tunnel with hammerhead sharks floating above, took a glass bottom boat ride at the top of the tank, and watched penguins scoot down slides.
Gentoo penguins in Dubai Aquarium
We finished our day with dinner at Dubai Mall’s indoor Chinatown, where we ate dinner at sichwanese Haidilao Hot Pot and spent a little extra for noodles hand pulled at our table and a buffet with dozens of ingredients to concoct any dipping sauce you can dream up. Highly recommend both upgrades.
Cheffing at Haidilao
We walked outside after dinner to see the Burj Khalifa at Dubai Fountain. Time your visit to take it in at night night, as we did, to take in the intermittent light and music show. After some obligatory pictures, we picked up our luggage and headed to the airport to start our journey home.
Bookmarks
Here are some favorites, all in one spot. There will definitely be a next time to the UAE, and we already have plans on how to fill it.
Abu Dhabi
Stay: Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi is one of the nicest resorts on Saadiyat Island.
Play: even if you don’t stay on Saadiyat, squeeze in a trip to the beach there. Many (most?) resorts offer day passes to their onsite pools and beach clubs.
Next Time: friends highly recommended kayaking around the Louvre Abu Dhabi. We’ll return to do that and try to time our visit to take in the museum’s family programme.
Dubai
Stay: Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi was centrally located with excellent service, but a bit generic. Next time, we’ll likely check out the Andaz Dubai on Palm Jumeirah, a set of palm-shaped, man made archipelagos off the coast of Dubai.
Eat: Hand-pulled noodles at Haidilao Hot Pot.
Play: the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo was fun, but pretty expensive. Unless you are crazy about sea creatures, I might recommend walking by the aquarium and taking in the glass tanks from the mall without buying admission.
Next Time: I offered my kids a choice between the Dubai Aquarium and the waterpark at Aquaventure. They chose the aquarium but were very upset with me when they learned later that Aquaventure is the world’s largest waterpark. I’ve promised them a future visit, and may try to time it to take advantage of Aquaventure’s Free Brithday Pass for at least one of us.