Trips to Dubai

I have been fortunate to visit Dubai now on 4 separate occasions with Travel Counsellors on their Gold conference weekends and with my family, and it is becoming one of my favourite places. The first visit was back in 2005 with Travel Counsellors and we stayed at the Al Qasr Hotel part of the Madinat Jumeirah Group of hotels and this hotel was a real treat, right on the white sandy beaches and overlooking the magnificent Burj Al Arab Hotel which is recognised by its very distinctive sail shape. During this trip we had a visit to this hotel, it was certainly something to be seen..very palatial, and had fantastic views from its hotel rooms right down the coastline of Dubai. Since that first visit Dubai has grown at a rapid pace so much so that on our next visit in 2009 we hardly recognised it. The Palm development had been completed, the skyline was now filled with skyscrapers and the tallest tower in the world was nearly complete. On this occasion we stayed at the Atlantis on The Palm Hotel, which had opened a year earlier. This hotel is fantastic if you like a busy, buzzing property. It features a great choice of restaurants, houses its own Aquarium and has a waterpark next door called Aqua Venture, which is complimentary to all guests staying at the hotel. We made good use of the water park during our holiday as we chose to stay at the hottest times of the year - August! I don`t think the heat at that time is any hotter than Cyprus or Turkey, and it is worth considering visiting then to take advantage of low season hotel rates and extras that the hotels provide! The Atlantis also has Dolphin Bay were you can arrange to swim with dolphins in a small group this had to be one of the highlights of the holiday for Charlotte & Harrison our children! Our next family visit was the following August 2010 and we chose a much smaller family hotel on the beach: The One and Only Royal Mirage which was again superb. The One and Only is split into 3 hotels on the same stretch of beach: The Arabian Court which is really well suited to families and where we stayed, the Residence & Spa which is adults only and the Palace Hotel, we were able to dine in the evenings in restaurants in the other 2 hotels as well as our own and this gave us a good choice of dining venues. On this trip we decided to see a bit more of Dubai and did a city tour one afternoon, this took us to the Mosque, the Gold and Spice Souks and the Dubai Museum, we also experienced an Abra on the Creek, however it was very hot on this particular afternoon as we waited for the coach to collect us from the Souks and our only saving grace was an air conditioned bus stop!!! On this visit we were able to book to go up the tallest tower in the world the stunning Burj Khalifa which was the highlight of my trip. We aimed to get to the top before sunset and travelled by a super fast elevator to the observation deck on level 124, the views were amazing and you realise what a feat of engineering this building is!! Michael my husband and my daughter unfortunately did not share my enthusiasm and could not wait to get back down!!!! On ground level is the new downtown area that features the Dubai Mall, which is currently the largest shopping mall in the world, a host of restaurants, the superb fountain show and hotels. The downtown area was about 20 minutes from our hotel and cost about £10 in a taxi to get to, and is great for an evening out or for shopping! My latest visit was in May 2011 on the Travel Counsellors Gold Conference weekend and again we were spoilt! We stayed in the beautiful Westin Mina Seyahi Hotel right on Dubai beach and with great views across to the Palm. The hotel kindly invited us to experience their Friday brunch "Bubbalicious", with show cooking and buffets across 3 of their restaurants & unlimited complimentary champagne...fantastic! During our weekend we were treated to a trip out to the desert to experience a traditional dinner, belly dancing and camel rides. Dubai is an all year round destination and offers something for everyone!