Dubai in 7 Days: tips and itinerary to make the most of your visit

Dubai is known as an oasis of modernity and luxury in the middle of the desert, boasting world-record-breaking architectural gems that combine luxury and technology whilst honouring the rich Arab tradition in the heart of the Arabian Gulf desert. Thanks to its incredible transformation in recent years, Dubai has established itself as the safest city in the United Arab Emirates.

Are you visiting Dubai for a week and don’t know where to start? In the following 7-day guide to Dubai, you can plan your itinerary and enjoy magical desert adventures, see the city’s most iconic sights and discover hidden gems, without missing out on anything there is to do in Dubai.

Welcome to your first day in Dubai. With this itinerary, you’ll visit the world’s tallest skyscraper, spend an afternoon shopping at the Dubai Mall, and enjoy dinner accompanied by the world’s best water and light show at the Dubai Fountain. Shall we begin?

A stroll through the gardens and parks at Burj Park

Your first stop in the city of the future will be in Downtown Dubai. Be dazzled by the incredible views of the futuristic skyline and enjoy a morning stroll through the parks of Burj Park.

There, you can enjoy its incredible art installations such as: Wings of Mexico, a sculpture created by Mexican artist Jorge Marín, located opposite the Burj Khalifa where you can pose for an incredible photo for your social media.

Climb the Burj Khalifa: the world’s highest observation deck

Recognised as Dubai’s most important tourist attraction, going up the Burj Khalifa—the world’s tallest building—is a must if you’re visiting Dubai; it rises to 828 metres, allowing you to practically touch the sky with your hands from its observation decks.

You can choose between the two observation decks inside the Burj Khalifa and enjoy unrivalled views of the city of Dubai. The 360° ‘At the Top’ viewing platform is located on the 125th floor and costs from approximately €50. A few floors higher, for around €110, you can access the 148th floor, home to the world’s highest viewing platform – perfect for seeing Dubai from above the clouds.

Explore the Dubai Mall and go skiing at Ski Dubai

The best way to spend the afternoon of your first day in Dubai is to visit the world’s largest shopping centre, the Dubai Mall. A shopping complex situated right next to the Burj Khalifa, it’s ideal for shopaholics thanks to its 1,200 shops, where you’ll find luxury brands, international fashion chains and homeware, amongst many others.

If you’re not a fan of shopping, don’t worry, as the Dubai Mall has endless leisure and entertainment options to keep you occupied for hours, including:

• The Dubai Aquarium, featuring sharks and various marine species
• Theme parks
• Dubai Dino, a 155-million-year-old dinosaur fossil
• Ski Dubai, where you can go skiing and visit the penguins.

Enjoy dinner at the Time Out Market with views of the Dubai Fountain

After a busy afternoon of shopping in the Dubai Mall, head to Time Out Market Dubai and enjoy a delicious dinner at one of its 17 restaurants, with no booking required.

Whilst enjoying your dinner, round off your first day in style with the best musical light and water show at the Dubai Fountain, highly recommended if you’re visiting the Burj Khalifa at night. The world’s largest dancing water fountain, thanks to its jets reaching a height of 150 metres.

On your second day, I suggest travelling back in time by visiting the Heritage Village and enjoying an authentic experience as you wander through the souks and eat like a local, all in the old Deira district.

Visit Heritage Village and Heritage House

On your second day, I invite you to travel back in time and discover what Dubai was like before it modernised. The best way to do this is to visit the Heritage Village and the Heritage House.

Both are open-air museums, where you can experience first-hand family life in traditional Dubai homes during the 19th century and discover the traditional work of the craftsmen and weavers who made textiles or fishing boats. Before you leave, remember to visit the shops inside to pick up an authentic souvenir.

Also at the Heritage Village, you can interact with and pose for a souvenir photo with animals emblematic of Dubai, such as falcons, and go for a camel ride.

Tour of Dubai’s traditional souks

Enjoy a tour of the Souks, historic Arab markets located in the traditional Deira district, where you can lose yourself in the winding alleyways filled with shops where traders will be happy to haggle over a good price for the various items of Arab and Asian culture they have for sale.

As you wander through the various souks, you can sample a range of traditional dishes at the street food stalls found in the markets and eat like a true local. Don’t worry about getting your hands dirty; eating at these stalls guarantees a unique and affordable experience in the traditional Deira district, one you wouldn’t get in a restaurant.

My favourite souks

• Gold Souk: if there’s one word to describe this market, it’s luxury. Visit it and discover the true meaning of the saying “worth your weight in gold”
• Spice Souk: located on Old Baladiya Road, this is a dream market where you’ll find spices beyond your wildest imagination.
• Bur Souk (fabrics): don’t be put off by its small size; it’s the ideal market for tourists looking for the perfect souvenir. Find textiles of all kinds with exquisite embroidery and in every colour.

Dinner cruise on Dubai Creek

End your day exploring the banks of Dubai Creek, a 10-kilometre-long estuary that once served as a maritime trading hub for goods from Africa and India, which were then sold in the souks.

The best way to enjoy this area is by taking an evening cruise along Dubai Creek and savouring a traditional Arabic dinner aboard a dhow, a traditional Arabian sailing vessel.

You can start your third day in Dubai at a leisurely pace with a stroll along Marina Walk, but don’t forget your swimwear, because later on it’ll be time to have some fun in the water at Atlantis Aquaventure, the world’s largest water park.

Sightseeing by ferry or on foot along Marina Walk

Start your third day in Dubai with a morning stroll along the Promenade, which winds its way around the 3.5-kilometre-long artificial waterway of Marina Walk, and be dazzled by the incredible views of Dubai’s most modern and cosmopolitan area.

Enjoy the rest of the day at Atlantis Aquaventure

Enjoy a full day packed with thrills and adventure at the world’s largest water park, Atlantis Aquaventure. Located within the grounds of the famous Atlantis hotel on the iconic Palm Jumeirah artificial island, you can reach it via a monorail that runs every 23 minutes, with a return ticket costing approximately €2.40.

Get your swimwear out of your suitcase and enjoy an unforgettable day on the park’s various attractions, including:

• Whizz down the 79 slides at Aquaventure Waterpark
• Surf on a wave simulator
• Swim with sharks and rays in Shark Lagoon or with 65,000 species of colourful fish whilst snorkelling in Lost Chambers
• Sunbathe and swim on its private beaches

If you’re travelling to Dubai, you simply must go on a desert safari and let yourself be enchanted by its magic, living a nomadic experience like the Bedouins on camelback and, of course, trying out extreme sports in the sand such as dune bashing or sandboarding.

Race through the desert in a 4x4

On your fourth day in Dubai, I suggest an itinerary that will take you away from the modernity of the skyscrapers for a journey into the past to discover the magic of the desert with the region’s most popular and famous activity: a desert excursion in Dubai.

The best way to explore the desert and ride the dunes is through dune bashing, an adrenaline-fuelled activity perfect for speed lovers, which involves racing up and down the dunes at full speed in a 4x4 Jeep.

Try extreme sports on a quad bike or glide across the sand on a sandboard

Another activity to enjoy on your desert safari if you’re a fan of adrenaline and extreme sports is sandboarding on the dunes; much like snowboarding, it involves sliding down on a board, but instead of snow, it’s desert sand. You can also use the board as a sledge if you’ve never tried snowboarding.

If speed on wheels is more your thing, enjoy an extreme experience as you drive through the sand dunes, taking part in an off-road quad bike race through the Dubai desert from around €50.

Camel ride like the desert nomads

If you’re travelling to Dubai, you definitely must go for a camel ride – and what better place to do so than in the desert, whilst taking some wonderful photos at sunset, perched on the humps of your travelling companion?

A camel ride is definitely the most popular and relaxing activity to enjoy after a day full of adventures on the Lahbab Desert tour, with prices starting at around €50, including pick-up and drop-off at your hotel in Dubai.

Dinner under the stars with the best buffet and live entertainment

Round off your desert safari day with a trip to the Dubai desert including dinner and a live show, where you can relax and enjoy the finest selection of traditional Arabic cuisine whilst watching a live performance such as belly dancing or fire shows under the starry sky in the heart of the Dubai desert.

During dinner, the buffet menu features the star dishes of Arabic cuisine, starting with chickpea hummus and baba ghanoush aubergine dip, which you must eat with khubos bread. Following this, you can choose between grilled fish, chicken or lamb, served with potato salad or couscous salad, better known as tabbouleh.

To round off your meal, you can sample delicious Arabic sweets and accompanying drinks such as:

• Dates or fruit
• Baklava, the famous pistachio and honey dessert
• Luqaimat (fried dough with cardamom and saffron)
• Mint tea to aid digestion
• Traditional Arabic coffee, prepared with saffron or cardamom

Enjoy a cultural day visiting the Dubai Museum in the traditional Al Fahidi district, visit the Jumeirah Mosque and finish the day at the Dubai Frame viewing platform to see the two sides of Dubai, the modern and the traditional.

Visit the Jumeirah Mosque

Start your fifth day in Dubai with a visit to one of the city’s most important cultural and religious centres, the Jumeirah Mosque. Located in the main residential area, Jumeirah is considered an architectural gem near the sea that you can visit from Saturday to Thursday. It is the only mosque in Dubai that allows non-Muslims to enter for one-hour guided tours, at 10 am only.

If you are visiting the mosque, you must adhere to the following dress codes, which apply to all mosques in general:

• Men must wear long trousers to cover their legs, as well as covering their shoulders
• Women must cover their hair with a scarf and cover their arms and legs completely.

Cultural stop at the Dubai Museum and traditional Arabic food

Following the cultural itinerary for the fifth day, I recommend visiting the Dubai Museum, located right inside Dubai Fort in Al Fahidi, the second traditional neighbourhood of old Dubai.

You’ll discover the history, origins and cultural essence of Dubai from a different perspective thanks to its incredible exhibition of historical artefacts arranged chronologically, including dhows dating back over 1,000 years, antiquities and architectural pieces.

After exploring Dubai’s history, head to the Arabian Tea House, just a few metres from the museum, and try the Tahta Laham, the restaurant’s signature dish made with meat, rice and spices – a delicious traditional Arabic meal with an average price per person of between €10 and €30 approximately.

End your day at Zabeel Park and head up the Dubai Frame

After a day of cultural exploration in the old Al Fahidi district, head to Zabeel Park and enjoy the sunset in Dubai’s largest green space, where you can have picnics in the winter months whilst enjoying live music and exhibitions such as the Dubai Garden Glow.

To round off the day, head to the Dubai Frame, two 150-metre-high towers connected by a 93-metre-long glass viewing platform offering an incredible panoramic view of the city: on one side, you can see modern, high-tech Dubai, and on the other, the old, traditional Dubai, from approximately €13.

Before leaving Dubai, make the most of your visit and take a day trip to Abu Dhabi to visit the most beautiful mosque in the world and enjoy a day of adventure at Ferrari World.

Take a trip to Abu Dhabi and head up to the Etihad Towers observation deck

Before leaving Dubai, make the most of its proximity to the capital of the United Arab Emirates and book an organised day trip to Abu Dhabi from Dubai from around €50. The journey takes about an hour and you’ll be able to visit the city’s most iconic landmarks, such as the Etihad Towers.

In the most iconic part of Abu Dhabi stand the Etihad Towers, where you can enjoy unique views of the city from the Observation Deck at 300 for around €20.

After soaring above the clouds, walk to Qasr Al Watan Palace and visit, for approximately €15, its incredible library, whose collection of historical artefacts includes the famous Birmingham Quran.

Visit the world’s fastest rollercoaster at Ferrari World

If you’re a fan of adrenaline and high-end cars, you must head to the artificial island of Yas and visit Ferrari World, where you can enjoy an afternoon of adventure inside the world’s largest indoor theme park.

It features 19 attractions, including the Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest rollercoaster. You can also visit the Ferrari car museum and dine at its themed restaurants.

Visit the most beautiful mosque in the world: Sheikh Zayed Mosque

After a day out exploring Abu Dhabi, round off your day with an unmissable stop and visit the third-largest mosque in the world, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque.

To visit the interior of the mosque, it is important to follow the dress code out of respect for its inhabitants and worshippers.

Women must cover their shoulders and arms, wear loose-fitting clothing with long trousers, and cover their hair completely, with a tunic or pashmina over it.
Men must cover their shoulders and legs; for this, I recommend wearing long trousers.

I advise you to walk for about 15 minutes to the Oasis of Dignity viewpoint before the sun goes down. From there, you’ll witness a truly spectacular sight; the white of the mosque will contrast beautifully with the stunning sunset, and you’ll see it reflected in the pools – I promise it will leave you speechless.

If you haven’t brought anything to cover up with, the mosque will lend you something completely free of charge.

What better way to round off your week in Dubai than with a full-day cruise aboard a dhow, a traditional wooden Arabian boat, sailing along the stunning coastline of the Arabian Sea at Mussandam Dibba, in the Gulf of Oman.

Enjoy water activities perfect for friends and family, such as snorkelling, swimming in crystal-clear waters, or simply relaxing whilst sunbathing on board the cruise. The excursion includes a delicious buffet featuring traditional food and drinks such as Arabic tea and coffee.