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‘Whatever
you want ...’
Anything and everything is on offer in Dubai, as Annie
Reid and her family find out.
Dubai
may not be the world’s best-kept secret. You don’t have to
look far for Burberry bikinis, boob jobs and tattooed bodies. But it is
a fabulous place for easy winter sun. Just feeling the sand between your
toes and the warmth in the air on what back home is a bleak, freezing
winter’s day is lure enough for me. And when you are travelling
with children, the 6-hour flight and 30-minute transfer the other end
is far less excruciating than going long haul.
The place has changed a lot in the two years since I last visited. The ruling sheik is so eager to put Dubai on the map that he is creating a sandy paradise in the shape of the world (see tanker above, one of a hundred working round the clock) alongside the nearly completed Palm, a plot on which David Beckham will soon have a luxury villa. But Dubai is all about excess. The Burg Al Arab is billed as the only 7* hotel in the world. It is truly awesome. A row of white Bentleys is on call as you pass the high security entrance. The atrium reaches to the top of the jewelled ceiling, lining the escalators to the first floor are mega fish tanks housing all kinds of tropical fish and the computer-synchronised fountain plays Riverdance style tunes with drumming water.
All the holiday hotels are along the Beach Road and new hotels are being built all the time. The newest venture is the Madinat, which is basically a vast Disneyland-style version of Venice, complete with water taxis (in what basically is the desert!). It houses 26 restaurants (we had a really delicious meal in the Moroccan one). Most of the older hotels are huge, high-rise buildings. The nicer hotels are the lower levels ones, which are all 5* but vary considerably in price. We stayed at the Jumeriah Beach Club, which as the name suggests is a club on the beach – mainly for ex-pats on good packages. Equally luxy without being too over the top are the Ritz Carlton and the various hotels comprising the Royal Mirage (although if you choose to stay at the beautiful One&Only Royal Mirage, at the moment you will be looking out onto the Palm building site). The Ritz Carlton and the Jumeriah Beach Club both have waterslides, which can be a draw for kids.
That’s before you experience the thrills and spills of the Wild Wadi waterpark, complete with the Jumeriah Scream for the brave-hearted. For all but one of the rides kids must be 1.1m tall (and they are very strict about this requirement). However for small children, the family ride, wave machine pool and slides provide decent consolation. If you stay in any of the Jumeriah International hotels you get free entry, and more importantly exclusive entry for the hour before the park opens to the public at 11am.
For me, the wide open beaches, clear, warm water with fish swimming right up by the shore, combined with excellent international standard food and service at your fingertips, are why I would return. Added to this, most hotels have kids’ clubs so you really can take a few hours to soak up the rays and read a book. The Ritz Carlton kids’ club is very well run and our kids loved it a few years ago. This year, we went during half term so our kids found lots of other children to play with on the beach and in the swimming pools. They were having such fun that we didn’t even have time to check out the kids’ club but the activity timetable looked action-packed. At low tide there is a wide expanse of beach in which to play cricket, build forts and there are pools of water for little ones to splash around in – all looked on by the beady-eyed lifeguard. Watersports on offer include sailing, kayaking and rides on banana boats and rubber rings. The sea tends to be calm in the morning and rougher later on in the day.
By chance, we have only been to Dubai during the month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Muslim year, when Muslims fast during the day and feast from sunset). All visitors must adhere to the rule of not eating or drinking in public during the day (children, pregnant women, the mad and menstruating women are exempt!) and no alcohol is sold. At Dubai airport you can stock up on bottles of Sancerre and Heineken, which we enjoyed on the terrace of our room after the children’s bathtime rigmarole. It is very easy (and cheap) to get a babysitter and you can usually request the same person each night. The restaurants and bars (mostly in other hotels) are very good. My favourite evening was spent having cocktails at the Rooftop bar followed by dinner at the Beach restaurant at the Royal Mirage. There is even a Gordon Ramsay restaurant here, The Glasshouse, which looks out along the Creek.
After dinner it is very romantic to head down to the beach to lie on a carpet, look up at the stars and smoke a shisha. The Sunset Bar at the Jumeriah Beach Club is a particularly lovely spot for this. From our extensive research, we found the apple and grape varities the best.
No trip to Dubai is complete without a bit of shopping. Historically, Dubai has made its vast wealth from being a trading, rather than oil, emirate. Today it is no different and there are countless shopping malls to get lost in. For rip-off designer bags and pashminas by the dozen, ask a taxi to take you to the Korama shopping district – my current season ‘Tod’s’ handbag from Green Eye is to die for.
Just a few miles beyond the city, past the camel race track, lies the desert. Experience proper Lawrence of Arabia sand dunes and a stunning sunset and you really will feel grounded by the beauty and calmness of the place. You can rent 4x4s from your hotel but be sure to go with at least one other car (in case you get stuck!). If you really want to see the desert in style, the Al Maha Desert Resort looks fabulous with its 40 tented Bedouin villas.
Sounds wondeful? It is. I am laying the groundwork for our third visit. But my husband has still to be persuaded. He found spotting the good versus bad boob jobs far too distracting.
Dubai fact file
Weather: hot all year round - virtually no rain.
Best time: late October–April (23°–35°)
Time difference: 3 hours ahead of UK
Flight time: 6–7 hours
Airlines: BA, Emirates or Gulf Air
Prices for one week Feb half term ‘05 Ritz Carlton: Adult £1219, Child £349 (based on 2 children under 8 sharing room) each B&B deluxe room, direct flights and private transfers
Al Qasr Madinat Jumeirah 5* B&B Arabian deluxe room, direct flights and private transfers. Adult: £1825 Child: £339 (based on twin/dbl occupancy) from family tour operator Baby Goes Too, 01273 230669
First published in angels & urchins, Christmas 2004