Dubai & Abu Dhabi

Well the one thing I can never be sure to guarantee when I arrange your holiday is sunshine. But I knew the chances of blue skies were pretty high when I jetted off to the United Arab Emirates in February.

Just over a seven hour flight from the UK takes you to Dubai, and a swift taxi transfer to Abu Dhabi found us in our hotel, and more importantly glorious temperatures, less than 10 hours later.

We stayed outside of the city because it allowed us to be by the beach and taxis are cheap and plentiful in the UAE. The first day was about settling in. Instead of a full day hop on – hop off style tour, we chose to do the sights independently because we only had two nights there. But a visit to Abu Dhabi is not complete unless you visit the simply stunning Grand Mosque. Ladies must be covered head to toe but they provide a complimentary Abaya for you to change into to go inside the Mosque.

For the children we swung by the beach before heading to the Heritage Village, an open museum providing an insight into the Emirate’s past where craftsman showcase their skills such as pottery, wood carving and glass blowing. The nearby Corniche area is a fabulous place to stroll or from which to dip your toe in the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf, and for those of you with young children, play parks and green areas are frequently dotted around too.

It’s then around an hours transfer back to the beach area of Dubai and Jumeirah Beach Walk – an up market promenade of restaurants and shops set back from the beach, where you can sit and watch the world go by and recharge your batteries before you choose your next activity.

For beach lovers this is the place to stay. It’s easy to get around from here by taxi and the exceptionally clean and efficient metro to downtown Dubai for more shopping, restaurants and the Burj Kalifa standing 828 metres tall – the highest in the world. You can dine here and view the exceptional water fountain display regularly in the evening.

You can enjoy a huge range of international cuisine in Dubai and we found it to be very reasonably priced.

We also did a desert safari, ice skating and spent a full day at the water park and still feel we could go back and fill a week with things we didn’t experience. Dubai offers something for everyone and makes a great destination for a family holiday.