Your first trip to Dubai
Contents of this article
Once you have agreed on your contract in principle, it would be a good idea to visit Dubai before finally relocating there. The best option would be if your employer in Dubai provides you with an introduction trip as a part of the contract. If they don’t, then you can go on your own. That will worth it.
I definitely recommend you taking your wife/husband with you when you go to Dubai, just because she or he might not like Dubai city and you won’t be able to do anything about it. There is nothing wrong with the city or the Middle East, it is just different.
Tips before you go to visit Dubai
- Read some tips from insiders. If you have friends living in Dubai it would be the best option. This will give you an overview of what the life in Dubai is from the eyes of a resident, but an agent who is paid to relocate you.
- Make a list of areas you would like to live in. Ask your employer to hire a relocation or real estate agent to show possible housing options. If they refuse, you may want to hire an agent yourself. Search Google for relocation agents in Dubai.
- Make a list of places you would like to visit. There are some impressive landmarks, e.g. Burj Dubai, Dubai Mall, The Palm Jumeirah.
- Check out the placement of your hotel. Don’t stay too far from Dubai’s interesting places. You will either be bored or have to spend some money on taxi.
- Spend some time over the map. Find the area where you will be supposed to work and where you would like to live. Dubai is located on a shore and it is a quite long shore. If you don’t like spending too much time driving to work and back you might want to decide where you would like to live before you go to see apartments. Check out Google maps.
- Go on a working day. This will make sure you will see the traffic. It can be terrible depending on where you live and where you work.
- Pretend to be a Dubai resident when you catch a taxi
. Dubai taxi is extremely good; most of the cars are new Toyota Camry or Nissan Altima. In any mall or hotel you go down to the taxi pick-up area, there are a queue and a person who manages the passenger and cab traffic. Every taxi has got a meter and it is not expensive (45 km ride costs 75 AED (14 EUR, 21 USD), you pay a fixed fee of 3 AED (0.6 EUR, 0.8 USD) when you catch a cab, 4 AED (0.7 EUR, 1.1 USD) in night time.
Of course, if a taxi driver sees you as a tourist he will fool you driving non-optimal routes but at least you won’t have to negotiate the price paying by meter.
My story of visiting Dubai for the first time, Mid December 2008
In the company I work for it is called an orientation trip. It is a global practice to provide such kind of trip to each employee and the spouse accepting a job overseas.
The hotel we stayed at was Hyatt Regency, a 5-star hotel located in Deira next to the vegetable and fish market. The hotel was great, well it should have been as one night stay was something around 1 thousand AED (~ 180 EUR or 270 USD).
Hyatt Regency Dubai
The trip was 2 days over a weekend of which one day we spent with a relocation agent touring around the city and seeing apartments, and the second one we were just hanging around on our own.
Tour to Dubai, Day 1
The company hired a relocation company called Crown Relocations which managed the whole relocation process. An agent met us right at the airport upon arrival. She was a very friendly Iranian lady, very polite, very knowledgeable about Dubai, dedicated to help. We really liked the attitude.
Dubai road
From the airport we went directly to see apartments for rent in Al Warqaa and International city areas of Dubai. Although the apartments there were quite cheap (comparing to prices in fancier areas), the surroundings were construction and desert.
My wife didn’t like the areas as she knew that she wouldn’t work in Dubai, and she did not want to be bored sitting at home alone there. However, those areas are extremely good options for single men spending all time building career and do not bother about construction outdoors. And save money of course because flats for rent there are fairly cheaper than in many other areas.
After that we had a tour around the city, took a look at Bur Dubai area, Downtown Burj Dubai and Burj Al Arab hotel, finishing the tour with lunch in Mall of the Emirates and a quick look at Ski Dubai.
DIFC Area
Burj Al Arab
Then, we had a look at apartments for lease in The Greens and Downtown Burj Dubai. These are mostly known as ‘expat’ areas with fancy shopping malls and restaurants close by. The Greens is a nice area. The only issue with it right now is terrible traffic out of the area because of construction nearby. The apartment we saw at Downtown Burj Dubai was a tiny studio with a construction view. The price was overwhelming 115,000 AED / year (~ 20,800 EUR or 31,300 USD).
The Greens
Apartment at Downtown Burj Dubai: Kitchen
Apartment at Downtown Burj Dubai: Inside
Apartment at Downtown Burj Dubai: View
I don’t know why we didn’t go to see Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence. Perhaps, our housing budget was not enough for Dubai Marina those days. Prices have dropped a lot since then.
She dropped us in the hotel in dinner time, presented a useful book about living in Dubai called Explorer and a box of candies, and after having a shower we went to see surroundings.
Surroundings were Deira’s small shops and cafeterias. The area was a bit dirty and overcrowded. After a short walk we returned back to the hotel to have dinner and sleep.
Hanging around Dubai, Day 2
I encourage you to read something about the city before you go. I didn’t. In the morning we found ourselves studying the book we were presented just before we left the hotel.
Road next to the Hotel
We didn’t go out of Deira as the agent told us that it would be expensive (we shouldn’t have listened to her though). So we went to see the fruit market which as very very good and the fish market which was… well you really have to like fresh fish to like the fish market 
. We walked through Deira small shopping streets and Dubai Creek shore down to Deira City Centre Mall. We started to like the city that day. The sky was blue with rare white clouds, the temperature was around 25 degrees and the sea was amazingly blue. Uhh and it was mid December.
Dubai Municipality Building
We caught a cab from the Deira City Centre mall to go back to the hotel.
For dinner we wanted to try local food, so we went to Kan Zaman restaurant at Heritage Village on the other side of Dubai Creek. The restaurant was quite nice with amazing view to Dubai Creek and its dows (small wooden ships). I didn’t take my jacket on. That was a mistake, as temperature goes down to 15 degrees in winter time.
Dubai Creek Dow
We left Dubai next day feeling happy about coming relocation.
November 17th, 2009
Thanks for the good advise. I will show this to my husband, we are hoping to move to Dubai in early 2010 and I am reading as much as I can from people who live there now.
Terri,
You are the first to comment on this blog. Thanks!
I am now in process of adding more articles in a structured form – purely my own experience.
I hope this information will help you do better when you are here!
Ilya
I agree with Terri’s comments – this information is great, far better than on some of the official information websites you can stumble across. Thanks!
Heloo,
The good knowledge from you about dubai it was very useful for me at now, but I have a question in Dubai how much it is the bus transportation, is more than taxi?the weather, the wtaer in air how percentage is, what to take with me, in Dubai, Im from Romania, and the weather is temeperat-continental in Ro.What is in Dubai?
Thanks a lot,and I’m expecting to arrive in Dubai next month.
Hi Alexandru, never tried the bus, sorry.. but I think it should be less expensive than taxi. Here you better have a car. This city is not made for pedestrians.
Weather is awful in summer – up to 40-45 almost every day with high humidity. So you will always be sweating. Sometimes it is difficult to breathe.
Spring and fall will be something very close to your climate in summer – about 30-35 during the day and 25 in night. The sea is wonderful those days.
And winter is just fantastic. Now it is about +25 during the day time and +18 in night.
thanks a lot for this, you are the best.You ,from what country arrive in Dubai?
I came from Russia, eastern Siberia region
hi ilya.b, I see your pictures posted on Flickr.they are wonderful. i like them very much, and i learn that you now live in UAE, i need your help to get to know some information about the country. i am a student from China, this term i am expected to give a presentation about business culture of UAE. but it’s really difficult to find relevant information. all i could find is about business fairs or tourism information, so could you please talk something about the culatural imapct on business in UAE, the customs, or the traditional business value in UAE. i’m looking forward to your reply.thank you so much. best~
Hi. Thank you for your comment. Sometimes it is just driving me mad how the things are organised here. Lots of bureaucracy, time wasting, and people don’t do what they say. Everyone is very polite though, so the first impression is a “wow!”.
Not sure if this is good enough for your presentation but this is all that I can say. I am working for a western company and do not really deal with local businesses. All that I mentioned above is my personal experience.
i’m so happy to get your prompt reply and i really appreciate the information. thank you~
wish you happy life there
I am coming to dubai in April 2010. I also plan to shift my family (2+2). The spouse would be housewife only. My location of work would be Jebel Ali with a CTC of appx US$15000 per month. Can you suggest me the appx rental value of furnished apartment 3 Bedrooms in JBR / Marina / near about neighborhood?
You can check dubizzle.com for the latest prices. Cut 5-10% off the apartment price to get more or less real price
thank you very much for the prompt reply. I have checked the website as suggested and it was really very informative. However, I would appreciate if you can please clarify following points:
1) Is it a normal trend to pay the full one year rent at one go and if so, the company normally provide for an advance against such payment?
2) What are the schooling options around Jebel Ali area?
3) Would it be advisable to own a car or take it on rent?
4) Is the parking space easily available at your residence (in case the apartment does not come with a parking space)
Thanking in advance
Regards
Hi Maru
1) Normally landlords ask for 12 months payment in advance but it now is negotiable due to the downturn. It is fully up to the company if they pay for you in advance.
2) Sorry, no idea as I have no kids…
3) It depends on how stable your job is. If you feel confident I would buy one. If you are not too sure you have a job after a few months, it is better to rent one.
4) It depends on how populated the area is. Parking is rather difficult in Dubai, so I would suggest looking for a residence providing parking.