5 days in Dubai as a tourist. Things to do.

We spent a week in Dubai over Easter, it was also Ramadan but every year since we lived there 2015-2021 restrictions have been eased and now apart from the decorations, coffee cups, Iftars and sales you wouldn't know it was taking place if you were visiting.

Our week in Dubai was to chill out and relax, a beach hotel was important to us and we opted to spend our time at The Hilton The Walk Jumeriah Beach Residence (JBR). You'll find cheaper hotels inland but we wanted beach, walking distance to a variety of restaurants and proximity to the tram and metro to get around easier.

It's coming to that time of year when you'll get some great offers for hotel stays but this is due to it being summer and most days it reaches the mid 40s but with humidity the humid factor can add 10c to the 'feel like' temperature.

As we've already done the tourist things with family and friends many times, we just had chilled days, leisurely breakfasts, beach time as well as shopping and exploring further a field.

If you want to pack everything in I can strongly recommend you see the following attractions. Each day would be a long day, take some bottled water with you, buy a silver nol card from the metro (25AED for the card with 19AED credit and top up as necessary, no more than 9 AED per journey.

It's worth a trip on the Metro just to experience the size of Dubai alone. The building on the left is 4km from the one on the far right.

You'll need to book the Burj Khalifa in advance, the Desert Safari companies will collect you and return you from your hotel. Brunch can be booked at any hotel which take place on Saturdays. Taxis are the only option for The Souk Madinat, The Frame, but there is a bus from the Mall of the Emirates to the Miracle Gardens.

There are so many other places to visit, things to see and to do. The Dubai Red Bus Hop on - Hop Off is also an option. There are outlets malls and bird sanctuary's as well as visiting The Palm, Blue Waters and The Museum of the Future which I've yet to visit as we should've booked before we arrived.

These are my Top 5 things to do in Dubai in 5 days

Day 1 Take the Ferry from Marina to Creek, you get a trip in the Arabian Gulf, ride an Abra and explore the gold and spice souks then taxi to The Frame, 

Day 2 Visit Dubai Mall take in the view of the World's Tallest Building The Burj Khalifa, go ice skating, take a look at the Aquarium from the outside if you don't have time to go in, browse the shops in the Fashion Mall, enjoy a variety of restaurants and food halls and watch the World's Largest Fountain in action.

Day 3 Spend the morning at JBR, explore the shops and beach front restaurants, hire sun loungers and towels or just sit on the public beach. In the late afternoon go on a Desert Safari

Day 4  Visit The Mall of the Emirates, book a penguin or ski experience in the Snow Dome, take a bus or a taxi to The Miracle gardens, then visit the Souk Madinat for dinner and a view of The Burj al Arab

Day 5 Brunch days are all day affairs, you arrive around midday then it's all you can eat and drink (different alcohol packages available) for around 3 hours. You can pay an additional amount to extend the drinks or add a beach/spa experience. 

We didn't brunch on this visit or pay for any attractions, we took in the sights, I photographed the changing skyline and we visited our old neighbourhood which has double in size in under 2 years.

You can do as much or as little as you choose in Dubai and there are plenty of things to see without paying any money to do so.