Advantages: shopping, beaches, gold, nice and warm weather
Disadvantages: Can get too hot :-)

...Summary Our vacation started on March 13th and ended on March 24th 2002. The travellers this time were as usual my love Nikki Mooki and myself Gard Karlsen. We flew from Stavanger (Norway) via Amsterdam to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. We stayed at the Arif Castle Hotel in Bur Dubai. Prelude We always take a lot of time deciding when to go and where to go on vacation. I first read about Dubai in a local newspaper about 4-5 years back and this was the first time I realised that it would be a fun destination. Well, I had really never thought of it as a travel destination before at all. The article can be found on this link (only available in Norwegian). The article described a town of many contrasts, a town being under a great development, a town filled with shopping possibilities and cheap gold. So when we found an offer... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Dubai is a safe place with very good quality of life. There is universal brotherhood everywhere.
Disadvantages: None for me, but the hot weather for tourists who are not used to this.

...I had written the original review on 25th March, 2001 and updated the same as below: First update marked * * Second Update marked ** ** Third Update marked *** *** on 31st May 2006 Kindly read below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was Friday, the 24th January 1975, when I first landed at Dubai International Airport by Kuwait Airways. The airport looked small with sand stretching on the sides. I had left my motherland for the first time and I felt a twinge in my heart for leaving my dear ones back at home. There was a sandstorm while I was moving along the roads of Dubai and my spirits further descended to low ebb. But that was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Days transformed into years and my family joined me and my children grew up here and Dubai... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Time Flies and one falls in love with the place
Disadvantages: Too Hot

...Dubai Experience I have been travelling on Emirates from 2001 and me and my wife had accumulated about 30,000 skyward points. Of this about 13,000 were to expire on End-Sept-2005 and I thought it may be a good idea to use them. There was a London to Dubai offer for 20,000 points to be used in October and I picked it up. We flew from London Heathrow by EK006 on 28-October-2005 and came back on 2-Nov-2005. The Investigation:- I used the internet to collect information about Dubai and found that there was not really too much information that was available on the net. Some of the sites that I could explore were (a) www.dubai.link.ru (one of the best sites available) (b) www.dubaicityguide.com (c) www.dubai.com There was on offer to join which.net free for 30 days on a trial basis which I joined and the information that I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: good location, nice food lovely hotel
Disadvantages: none

...We have just returned from a week’s holiday in Dubai and I really feel I have to tell you about this hotel we stayed in. When we booked to go to Dubai I have to admit I was very apprehensive. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with everything as I am more used to Spanish holidays. Before booking we researched plenty of hotels in Dubai in the Jumeriah beach area which seems extremely popular. We picked Le Meridien Mina Seyahi hotel as it was one of the few hotels in Dubai which actually offers an All Inclusive option. Most only offer B&B with some others offering half board and occasionally full board. We liked the idea of All Inclusive because we had heard that Dubai was fairly expensive and with only booking twelve weeks before departure we didn’t have that much time to save up loads of money with some other things we had... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: first ski slopes in Dubai, one of a kind, lots to do, family fun
Disadvantages: a sore bum from falling down so much!

...The Ski Dubai attraction in Dubai is another one of the Sheikhs attempts to get Dubai on the map as being one of the top tourist areas in the world. This idea was really a case of turning the impossible into possible. As Dubai has all year round sun, beaches etc snow was to be out of the question, although I do remember a few years ago some snow flakes did fall in Dubai. A ski slope in Dubai is unbeleivable but yet a reality. It makes Dubai a place that has everything to offer. The dubai ski dome will also ultimately come in Dubais favour for when they will make a bid for the Olympics because no one can now object that due to dubais climate there is no snow there! LOCATION It opened in 2005 and is located on the most used and known road in Dubai, The Sheikh Zayed Road. The ski slope is in the Emirates Mall, another well known... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great weather, clean beaches, great food, tax free port
Disadvantages: it can become extremly hot in the afternoons from april to september

...When the time came to decide where to go for this years hols Dubai won hands down. I had never been to Dubai but I had always wanted to, especially as the majority of my relatives were already planning their second and third trips there. I started off by doing some research, I had heard that it gets very hot there sometimes with temperatures recahing to 50 degrees and above. So it was the right choice to go there in the month that we did, January. We booked by Emirates airlines, there were no stopovers, we reached to Dubai International Airport in around 7 hours. As soon as we got off the plane the slight exhaustion from beiing on the plane vanished as the airport was great ,none like I had seen before. There was marble flooring, huge palm trees that were two stories high situated all around the airport, you got a real feel... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful