If you would happen to see a photo of Dubai in the year 2000 and one today, you probably would not be able to guess that they are the same city!
There were no skyscraper, no marina, not even a 5% of the city lights that populated it today!
The town of Dubai was famous mainly for fishing, pearl diving and desert trade routes!
Then, in the past 25 years or so, Dubai as we know it today didn’t just grow, it came to life and it exploded into one of the most modern and futuristic city on Earth!
Located along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates (a federation formed in 1971), and at present times it has grown into a global hub with more than 3.5 million inhabitants!
As the city grew so fast, most of its citizens are international expats coming from abroad (roughly 92% according to last reports!), which make the metropolis an incredible melting pot of cultures and one of the most curious and attractive holiday destinations on the planet!
In this article, we thought of gathering for you the 7 most crazy, extravagant and breath-taking experiences you can try in Dubai, all adventures that will allow you to delve into the impressive hyper-modern development of the city, its desertic natural environment and its original mindset, made of contrasts and compromises.
What defines Dubai today is not just its skyline, but its mindset. Everything feels intentionally pushed one step further than expected, from architecture to experiences, from infrastructure to lifestyle. It is a place built on contrast, where hyper-modern development exists just a short drive away from vast, empty desert landscapes.
If at the end of the article, you will still be undecided on what experiences to try on your journey, we can also invite you to give a try to Destlist, an innovative done-for-you travel planning system, which combines AI with human revisions made by travel experts, to create customized travel plans for all kind of travelers and needs!
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Said that, let’s buckle up and let’s dive into some pure Dubai awesomeness! 🙂
7 Most Awesome Things
to Do in Dubai!
1) Take a traditional
Dhow Cruise in Dubai Marina!
To get the feel of the city and its out-of-scale magnitude, one of the first experiences to try on your first visit in Dubai (maybe the day of your arrival if your flight times allow it) is a dhow cruise!
Dhows are traditional wooden boats that have been used in the Arabian Gulf for centuries, long before Dubai became the global city we see today!
Historically, these boats were essential for fishing, trade and especially pearl diving, which was one of the main economic activities in the region before oil revolutionized everything and started the era of skyscrapers and luxury!
In a way, stepping onto a dhow is stepping into a piece of pre-modern Dubai, but that’s all the “old-times” feeling you’ll get.
Why?
Because modern dhow cruises usually take place in Dubai Marina, an area that showcases Dubai’s futuristic side at its best!
City lights everywhere, reflections in the waters, giant humongous buildings all around, modern shows, fine dining on boat... the Dhow cruise is a slow experience with a very unique atmosphere, in our opinion the perfect activity to get acquainted with the city before something more adrenalinic! 😉
Ifyou want to know more about how Dhow cruises work, be sure to check out our complete article on Dhow Dubai Cruises 🙂
2. Go for a Dune Bashing Quad Ride
in the Desert!
After experiencing the city skyline, one of the most unmissable things you can do in Dubai is to go in the exact opposite direction and leaving the city behind you!
Within just 30 to 60 minutes of driving (depending on the time/traffic of the day) from Downtown, the urban density of Dubai fades quickly and gives way to a giant open desert, a landscape that has defined this region for thousands of years. rent a quad and
This is where you can get wild by renting a quad!
Riding up, down and across red sand dunes, is a damn fun experience that makes you feel the adrenaline and the freedom!
The sand makes traction unstable, and I believe it to be part of the fun! 🙂
Driving a quad is not technically difficult (if you can drive a car, almost surely you can drive a quad!), but it requires attention and good physical condition (as you might bounce hell of a lot!) 🙂
To me, quadding in the desert of Dubai was incredible: it gives you a sense of freedom, with no buildings in sight, no traffic, just the wind, the roar of the engine and dunes after dunes!
In one word: MEMORABLE!
In four words: do not miss it! 😉
3. Rent a Lambo Huracan
and feel the scale of Dubai!
Dubai is one of the few places in the world where renting a supercar can seem a normal thing to do (there are so many around!), and where it is actually pretty affordable too (because there are so many probably xD).
The city’s infrastructure and its wide spacious roads are ideal for trying supercars for the first time as they give you margin for errors and ample space for practicing 🙂
To give you an idea, to rent a Huracan Lamborghini in Dubai for 24 hours, might cost you around 350-450Euro (1600-2500AED), depending on the exact car model and availability (if you ask me, a pretty fair price for such a badass experience! 🙂 ).
Why I say badass?
Well..diving a car, with over 600 horsepower, that gets from 0–100 km/h in around 3 seconds, it’s a dream-came-true for any person passioned about motors 🙂
In a different context, it would feel excessive and out-of-place, but in Dubai, such an experience it can become a way to truly feel the city vibe (and of course, never forget it too! :)).
4. Fly on a Hot Air Ballon
over the Desert!
Here at Lost on the Route, as you might already know, we love air balloons! xD
In one of our recent articles about the 11 most beautiful places to ride a Hot Air Balloon around the world, we inserted the desert of Dubai, and there is a reason why!
When you see the vast desert and its unending dunes, from an height of 1.000 meters in the air, it start looking like a pattern, and you can surprisingly start to realize the big impact of the wind in shaping the dunes!
A balloon ride in Dubai can be both a romantic or a self-discovering experience!
Departure times are around 4:30–5:00 AM, (like with most hot air-balloon experiences), so early in order to reach the air just before sunrise (and overall, air balloons fly better in cold weather because of the temperature difference!).
The launch areas for hot air balloons are typically located in protected desert zones about 50 kilometers from Dubai, and should be reserved at least 3 days in advance to avoid missing out!
At sunrise, the light gradually reveals the desert, highlighting textures, shadows and colors that are difficult to notice at ground level.
In some cases, you may also see wildlife such as Arabian oryx or gazelles, which are adapted to survive in this environment 🙂
5. Ride a camel
on the dunes by sunset!
6) Get the lift to the highest point
of the Burj Khalifa!
You cannot go to Dubai and don’t climb up the Burj Khalifa.
You simply CAN’T!
At some point, if you are in Dubai, you will inevitably find yourself looking up at the Burj Khalifa.
With a height of 828 meters and 163 floors, the BK is currently the tallest building in the world, and its presence dominates the skyline in a way that is difficult to fully grasp from photos alone.
If you want to know more about the BK and Dubai in general, be sure to check out our article 10 Fun Facts about Dubai too 😉
The building is located in Downtown Dubai, one of the most developed and visited areas of the city, and observation decks are accessible at levels 124, 125 and 148, depending on the type of ticket you choose.
The difference between them is not only altitude, but also the overall experience, with higher levels offering more space and fewer crowds.
As you’ll probably come here only once in life, I would recommend you to go as high as you can! 😉
The perspective of Dubai from the BK is stunning, unreal, unreal, and more unreal!
Dense clusters of skyscrapers, wide multi-lane highways, artificial islands extending into the sea, and beyond all of that, the open desert… it’s absurd, it’s unreal…I don’t have other words to describe it! Next!
7. Skydive Over
Palm Jumeirah
This is the ultimate experience, the cherry on top for an encompassing, complete experience of Dubai!
Jumping from a plane above Dubai, was one of my dreams since watching the video of Flo Rida song “Wild Ones” back in university, and I can say it’s absolutely a blast!
Among all the experiences available in Dubai, skydiving stands out as one of the most intense and visually distinctive, especially when done over Palm Jumeirah, the artificial island shaped like a palm tree that extends into the Arabian Gulf!
Jumps are typically organized by specialized operators such as Skydive Dubai, and take place from an altitude of around 4,000 meters, which provides approximately 60 seconds of free fall before the parachute opens!
During that time, the speed can reach close to 200 km/h, making it one of the most physically intense experiences you can have in a controlled environment.
Of course, tandem jumps are available (jumps with an expert instructor which takes care of everything!), which make it a no-brainer for adrenaline seekers:)
The location of the bay of Palm Jumeirah is gorgeous, the coastline is breath-taking, the far away open sea stunning, and seeing it while dropping from the sky? Just pure peak! 😀
Conclusions 🙂
And here we are at the end of this article :)
In this article we’ve seen 7 of the most incredible and unforgettable experiences you can do in Dubai: whether it’s sailing with an historic Dhow on a romantic cruise, to a camel or quad ride in the desert, to renting a Lambo and exploring the avant-garde buildings of the city to climb the Burj Khalifa or go even higher with a parachute jump, in Dubai it’s impossible to get bored!
Before going, as always, I would be curious to hear your perspective:
- Which of these experiences would you try first? 🙂
- Would you go for something extreme like skydiving, or something slower like the desert and dhow cruise?
- And when you travel, do you prefer comfort, adrenaline, or experiences that help you better understand the place you are visiting?
Let us know in the comments below! 😀
Hereafter, I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:
Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article! 🙂
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