In 2018, I visited Abu Dhabi for my mum’s birthday. The capital of the United Arab Emirates, the city lies off of the mainland on an island in the Persian Gulf. With a skyline of mega structures, malls and marinas the city is a quieter retreat for a more relaxed break, away from the chaos of its loud mouthed brother, Dubai. (You can read more about my time in Abu Dhabi here!)
Having said that, the lure of Dubai was too much to pass up and during our 5 days in the capital we decided to venture up to Dubai, a world renowned city famous for its architecture, man made islands and luxury shopping scene. Just 90 minutes drive along empty Arabian highways the main reason I wanted to go was to see the Burj Khalifa.
Something of an architecture nut, I had watched the construction of this skyscraper since the mid 2000’s and was excited to see it in all its steely realness. Outrageously prominent on the Dubai horizon, 830m of the Burj flashes into view through the hazy heat of the city. At the base of the tower lies the Duabi Fountain with its supersonic jets, lights and twangy music. Keen to avoid crowded banalities of Dubai such as The Palm/The Atlantis and every other water park, sticking to the area around the mall was what we decided to do on a wonderfully warm Monday morning.
Refraining from going up to the top of the Burj Khalifa as you have to save something for next time, my focus was on the sites to see inside the famous shopping centre. One of the main attractions is the 10 million litre aquarium in the middle of the centre which is one of the biggest suspended aquariums in the world. The second largest shopping mall in the world also offers penguin petting and indoor skiing and snowboarding.
Dubai is Dubai is Dubai. It cannot be compared to Abu Dhabi and is outlandishly ostentatious in its own way. Personally, I prefer Abu Dhabi as it less cliched than its big brother and a lot more relaxed and real. Home to the glitziest glamour and the highest skyscrapers in the world, Duabi provides you with more bars and waterparks than one person could ever need. Whilst Abu Dhabi is a lot calmer and best suited to relaxing and living life at your own leisure. In Duabi, everything needs to be done yesterday which is great to experience but not a pace I want to try to live up to whilst trying to take a relaxing holiday. This being said, I think it is pretty safe to assume I will be returning to Dubai one day, as the view from the Burj will not Instagram itself!
Have you ever been to Dubai or Abu Dhabi? What do you like most about them?
Ellies London 
Wish your mother a very very Happy Birthday from me. Dubai is a Really wonderful place for the tour and Burj Khalifa is an Amazing & incredible.
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Thank you so much ♥ For her birthday we spent the time in Abu Dhabi at the F1 track as I arranged a drive around for her 😀 Dubai was amazing and I would love to return to go to the top of the Burj.
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I have never visited Dubai so this was an interesting read for me.
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It’s a lovely place to visit for sure, but I still prefer Abu Dhabi! Dubai, I guess has more of the tourist stuff to see if that’s what people are looking for! X
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I’m heading to Abu Dhabi 2 weeks today…..
Third time in 18 months….somehow I just can’t seem to go anywhere else….I know won’t come anywhere near my expectations….I love the place, the people, the service, the food everything 🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌
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Will you be returning to Dubai on your next trip to the capital? I hope you enjoy the sunshine and I can’t wait to see you before you go. Nothing quite compares to the luxury you get out there – it is crazy!
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The St Regis is superb without a doubt. I am going back there shortly. The mosque was also spectacular. I am hoping to visit the falcon centre this time. Apparently owning such a bird is highly coveted over there.
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Oh yeah? That sounds like an awesome trip – I hope you get to see the birds and take lots of pictures. I would like to do a falcon and saluki show on my next visit and maybe a tour of the dessert! Enjoy your trip ♥
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I haven’t been there, but I’m totally looking forward 😍
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Thank you so much for reading 🥰 it’s honestly an amazing place to visit. I wanna keep returning to see what they build next 😃
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This looks like an amazing place to visit 💕
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Thank you for reading 😃 it’s a wonderful place to see 🥰 x
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I haven’t yet, but I’d love to go there soon with you x
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Sounds good to me 😊 #plans!
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I’d love to visit Dubai. It’s definitely on my list!
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It’s a wonderful city to spend some time in for sure! Thank you for reading my post! 😍
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I have not been to Dubai, but my mother has an uncle there, and my grandmother goes often. As such, I have seen pictures of the lights over the water and many more a place. I cannot say from experience it is a lovely city, but I believe it is, and one day I should like to go and see for myself how much I would enjoy it. 🙂
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I think anyone can have a great time in Dubai as it has something for everyone to a certain extent. It’s so loud and crazy, it kinda gives me a bit of a Vegas vibe of the Middle East 🤣
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Ooh, I love that way of describing it!
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