Dubai: Out & About in a City on the Rise
Homeschooling, trips to the beach, playground visits and exploring the sights of Dubai. Spending a longer period of time in one location, we have had the luxury of shifting down a gear and enjoying more of an everyday life in Dubai – while of course still checking out the city and region.
A City of Growth & Determination
Dubai is well-known for its extravagance and ambitions to be the tourist, commerce and financial hub of the Middle East, boasting the world’s highest buildings, biggest malls and outstanding attractions. Be it Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mail or Dubai Eye – Dubai never does anything half-hearted but aims to outdo anything seen anywhere else.
The history and growth of Dubai is as impressive as many of the landmarks it has today. In 1980 the city had a population of just 270,000, in 2016 more than 2.5 million and today it counts close to 3.5 million people as residents. Only 10% of the population are locals, the remainder expats from Asia, Middle East and Western countries. A growth spurred by the discovery of oil in the 1960s, the establishment of the United Arab Emirates in 1971 and a unique determination – and investment – to develop Dubai into a pulsating world city, attracting tourists and commerce from across the world.
Dubai with Kids: Beaches, Skyskrabers and a World of Flowers
As a city constantly on the move and in development, Dubai offers numerous attractions for family and children. Located directly at the Persian Gulf, the city has 1000 kms of beach, several of them close to the city center and built into attractive public play and recreation areas. In particular JBR Beach, Umm Suqeim Beach and the newly opened Lar Mer Beach are easy reachable and fun to visit. We have spent countless hours at these beaches, playing football, dipping our feet in the ocean and finding sea shells in all colors and shapes (we can pack a full suitcase just with shells!).
Burj Khalifa: World’s Tallest Building
Other attractions well worth a visit include a visit to Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 829.8 meters. The skyscraper offers spectacular views of Dubai’s Skyline and the Arabian coast from its observation deck at the 124th floor, 452 meters from the ground. The visit to the observation deck was a big highlight for Niklas and Frederik, who found it fascinating and a bit scary to look down from such a height!
Miracle Garden: World’s Largest Flower Garden
More earth-bound, the Dubai Miracle Garden is another fun afternoon activity. The world’s largest flower garden – with more than 50 million flowers and 250 million plants – is a maze through artful flower decorations and figures. A smurfs’ village, a castle with dancers, elephants, pinguins and an Emirates A380 Airbus all constructed and decorated with flowers are just a few of the imaginative things to find in the garden.
Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye): World’s Largest Ferris Wheel
A newer activity in Dubai is a visit to Ain Dubai (also known as Dubai Eye), the world’s tallest and largest observation wheel which opened in October 2021. Located on Bluewater Island, close to JRB Beach and Dubai Marine, the enormous Ferris wheel offers unique views of the Dubai Skyline, Palm Jumeirah and the Arabic coast. It takes 38 minutes to complete one round with the wheel and at the highest point, you are 250meters from the ground. While we visited Burj Khalifa during the day, we took the ride with Ain Dubai after sunset – and the combination can definitely be recommended as it was great to experience from high above both in daylight and at night.
As we have been exploring Dubai, we have also done several full day trips – including visiting the EXPO 2020 and Abu Dhabi. More to follow about those experiences in separate blogs in the next weeks.
