4 Days In Dubai, Mostly Metro Rides And Creek Abras

I went to Dubai expecting to be flattened by it. All that glass, all that scale, the way everyone describes it in superlatives. What I found instead was a city that lets you go quiet if you want to, as long as you pick your hours carefully and are willing to walk in the shade.

Four days. I did not rent a car. I used the metro, the abras across the creek, and my own two feet, and I only took a taxi when the distance made a fool of me. Some of this itinerary is the Dubai everyone photographs. Some of it is the Dubai nobody bothers to photograph, which turned out to be the part I keep thinking about.

Here is how the four days went, in order, with the walking written in.

Day 1, Downtown and the Old Quarter

The first day is the obvious one, and I decided not to fight that. Downtown is where the city shows off, so I let it. Aquarium, the enormous mall, the souk across the bridge, the tower, the fountain. Then I got out. I ended the day in Al Fahidi, in the old wind-tower lanes, because I wanted something at the other end of the scale before I went to sleep.

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo

I started earlier than I usually move, mostly because I wanted the tank before the crowds arrived. You can see it for free from inside the mall, that enormous wall of water with rays drifting past shoppers who barely look up, and I stood there a while doing exactly that. Then I bought the ticket anyway.

The 48 metre tunnel is the part everyone talks about, and it earns it, sharks passing overhead in a way that makes your neck ache from looking. But the upstairs zoo surprised me more. Penguins, otters, crocodiles the size of a sofa, and it is properly cold in there, which after Dubai air feels almost like a joke. Regulars kept telling me to book online in advance, and they are right, the queue at the counter moves slowly.

It is not a place you rush, though an hour and a bit was plenty for me. From there I did not have to go anywhere at all. The next stop was the building I was already standing in.

Dubai Mall

I am not really a mall person. I want that on the record before I admit that an hour disappeared here and then another one after it.

The scale is the point. Over 1,200 stores, a new Chinatown section that feels almost science fiction, an ice rink, a waterfall of falling human figures that people crowd around with their phones up. I used the app to navigate and I was still lost twice. What I actually came for was the food, which is the honest answer for most people, and the range is ridiculous in the best way, from a quick counter meal to a proper sit-down table facing the fountain.

One small warning from the reviews that turned out to be true. There are almost no places to just sit and rest without buying something. Wear the comfortable shoes.

From the lower level I followed the signs to the bridge across the water, a few minutes on foot, and the noise dropped away almost immediately.

Souk Al Bahar

Crossing that bridge is the single best transition in Downtown Dubai. One minute you are in the mall, all light and noise, then you step out and the whole thing opens up, water below, the tower straight ahead, stone lanes and archways under your hand.

Souk Al Bahar is calmer than its neighbour, which is the entire reason to come. Winding paths, courtyards, small boutiques and a lot of terraces facing the lake. The Time Out Market is here if you want a dozen kitchens under one roof, dim and pub-like inside, with outdoor seating over the water. I sat with a cold drink and did nothing for a while.

It fills up before each fountain show and empties out after, so there is a rhythm to it you can work with.

From there I wandered back around the lake toward the base of the tower, a slow ten minutes with the water on my left.

Burj Khalifa

Standing at the bottom and looking straight up is, honestly, almost as good as the view from the top. Nobody tells you that. The thing simply does not end.

I went up in the late afternoon, which everyone recommends and which is correct, because you get daylight and then the whole city switching on beneath you. Before the lifts there is an exhibit about how they built it, and I usually skip these, and I did not skip this one. The lift itself takes about a minute to reach the 124th floor and your ears pop on the way.

One honest note. The queues are long even outside peak hours, and I heard from more than one person about waits pushing two hours. Book a timed slot online and do not be casual about it.

Coming down, I did not have to go anywhere. The show starts at the base, and I just walked toward the sound of the water.

The Dubai Fountain

As the sun started slipping, the crowd along the lake edge thickened into something solid. The show runs every half hour into the evening, it is free, and each performance uses different music, so if you stay for two you get two entirely different things.

Water going up several hundred feet, lit, timed to the beat, with the tower lit behind it. That is the whole description and it is enough.

Down at the railing you are packed in tight. If you would rather not be, take one of the terraces at Souk Al Bahar or a table on the upper mall floors, where the angle is honestly better and you get to sit. I did the railing first, then the terrace on a later pass, and the terrace won.

Afterward I got a taxi over to Al Fahidi, which took about fifteen minutes at that hour, and the change of scenery was total.

Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

The lanes here are narrow enough to hold shade, wind-tower houses on both sides, coral and gypsum walls, courtyards opening off passages you nearly walk past. After the glass and the fountains it felt like the volume had been turned all the way down.

It is free to wander, which surprised me. Galleries, small museums, the Coffee Museum, souvenir and spice shops, cafes with tables set out in the courtyards. Several people told me the best hour is between seven and nine in the morning, before the tour groups, and I believe them, but the evening has its own thing going, the lamps on, the stone still warm.

It is small. You can cover it properly without hurrying, and hurrying would defeat the purpose entirely.

I walked out toward the creek at the end of it and got a car back to the hotel with sand in my shoes and a very strange sense that I had been in two different cities in one day.

Day 2, Al Fahidi and Across the Creek

Day two belongs to the water and the old side of things. A long breakfast in a courtyard, a fort, then a one dirham boat across Dubai Creek that ended up being my favourite thing in the whole city. Spices, gold, and a kebab house that has been feeding people since the seventies.

Almost none of this involves air conditioning. Plan accordingly.

Dubai Opera

Day two began back in Downtown, earlier than most people were moving, standing in front of a building shaped like a traditional dhow. The curve of it only makes sense once you have seen the boats on the creek, which I had not yet, so I came back to this thought later.

If you can get a ticket to anything at all here, do. The acoustics are extraordinary and the seating is designed so that nearly every seat has a clear view of the stage. I heard the same thing from several people, that the venue itself elevates whatever is on it, whether that is an orchestra or a stand-up comic. The chandelier in the foyer is worth the walk in on its own.

Food options inside are limited, which is the one honest complaint. Eat before.

From the boulevard I took a car down toward Al Fahidi for a proper breakfast, about fifteen minutes with the morning traffic.

Arabian Tea House

White wicker chairs, blue and white everywhere, a courtyard floored with fine white gravel that crunches under you and somehow keeps the air from going heavy. It sits opposite the post office on Al Fahidi Street, and I would have walked straight past the entrance if I had not been looking.

I ordered the Arabic breakfast platter, which came generous and beautifully set out, with flatbread that they keep refilling without you asking. The Moroccan tea is the thing to get with it. Regulars swear by the mutabal and the mint lemonade, and one table near me was brought complimentary luqaimat, warm and sticky, which seems to happen fairly often.

Prices are gentler than the setting suggests.

I sat for longer than I meant to. Then I walked out into the lanes and toward the fort, which is only a couple of minutes away through the alleys.

Al Fahidi Fort

The oldest building in the city, squat and pale, with round towers at the corners and walls thick enough that the temperature drops the moment you step inside the gate.

It is not a big place and it does not pretend to be. What it does is put a hard edge on everything else you have seen. This was here first. Everything Downtown came after, and came fast.

Inside the courtyard there are old boats and cannon and the shade is deep. I stood there for a while trying to hold both versions of the city in my head at once and did not quite manage it.

Half an hour is honest. An hour if you read everything.

From the fort I walked north toward the water, maybe ten slow minutes through Bur Dubai, until I could see the boats.

The abra across Dubai Creek

One dirham. One.

The abras leave from Baniyas Road when they fill up, about twenty passengers, no timetable, and you sit on a wooden bench along the middle with the engine chugging under you and the water very close. The crossing takes five to ten minutes. Traffic on the creek looks like chaos and the drivers handle it like it is nothing.

Of everything in Dubai, this is the thing that stayed with me. Wooden boats and dhows loaded with cargo, the old warehouses on both banks, the towers far off behind them. It is the city before it decided to become the city.

Small warning, have exact change. I watched two passengers have to work quite hard to get theirs back.

I stepped off on the Deira side and the smell hit me before I had walked thirty seconds. The spice lanes start right there.

Dubai Spice Souk

Cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, dried hibiscus, sacks of it open to the lane so the whole alley smells like a kitchen. Saffron is the thing everyone comes for and every shopkeeper will tell you theirs is the best.

You will be approached constantly. Not aggressively, mostly, but constantly. One vendor offered me saffron tea while I was browsing, spicy on the nose, closer to a spiced milk tea than I expected, and that small courtesy is very much part of how the place works. Compare prices between a few stalls before you commit, they vary more than you would think.

It is less a tourist attraction than a working wholesale market that tourists happen to walk through, and it is better for that.

The gold lanes are only a couple of minutes north from here, so I drifted that way without really deciding to.

Dubai Gold Souk

More than 380 traders under covered wooden lanes, and every window is a solid wall of yellow. It is genuinely disorienting. Traditional Emirati pieces next to modern designs next to a display holding what is billed as the world’s heaviest gold ring.

I did not buy anything. A few reviewers said they found it overpriced and I would half agree, though prices are negotiable and the negotiating is expected, almost welcomed. If you are serious about buying, check purity, compare across several shops, and give yourself proper time. There are far too many for a quick decision.

Even browsing, it is worth it. The evenings are when it comes properly alive, all that light bouncing off all that metal.

From here I walked back down toward the water and crossed by abra again, then made my way inland toward Al Hamriya for dinner, twenty minutes or so on foot.

Al Ustad Special Kebab

Walls covered floor to ceiling in photographs of everyone who has eaten here since 1978. Presidents, film stars, people nobody would recognise. The place is small, busy, loud, and there is a separate family section.

I had the lamb kobideh with saffron rice, grilled tomato, yoghurt and bread that came out still hot from the oven. The meat was the kind of tender that makes you slow down. The Iranian tea afterwards is worth staying for, several people told me it is the best in the city and I have no argument.

An honest note. One person I spoke to found the mixed grill too heavy on vinegar and thought the hype had carried them there. Prices are on the higher side for what looks like a neighbourhood place. I still think it is worth it.

It is about ten minutes on foot from Al Fahidi Metro Station, and after that walk and that food, the metro home was the easiest decision of the day.

Day 3, The Coast and the Palm

West, toward the water. Beach in the morning, a long promenade, the huge wheel on Bluewaters, then up the Palm for the view that puts the whole shape of it in front of you. I finished at the mosque on Jumeirah Beach Road as the light went gold, which I did not plan but would plan again.

The Beach at JBR

I got out to the coast when the cafes were still putting out chairs, and the sand was almost empty. White, clean, the water flat, and that big wheel standing out across the channel on Bluewaters.

The strip behind the beach is all cafes and restaurants, Starbucks Reserve, Cheesecake Factory, a carousel and arcade for kids, and a slightly absurd parade of supercars idling past. In early winter there is a breeze off the water that makes the whole thing easy. Later in the year, less so.

It is a seventeen to twenty minute walk from DMCC metro station, which is fine in the morning and less fine at midday. Parking is expensive if you drive. Swimming is not allowed at night, which caught a few people out.

An hour disappeared before I noticed. From the far end of the beach I picked up the promenade and followed it inland along the water.

Dubai Marina Walk

Seven kilometres of promenade curving around the marina, yachts on one side, towers leaning over you on the other. I did not walk all of it. Nobody walks all of it.

What I did was pick a stretch and take it slowly, then sit at one of the waterfront cafes and watch the boats for a while. The reflections at night are the thing people rave about, all that light on flat water, and I understand why. During the day it is quieter and you get the architecture instead.

One thing to brace for. Tour operators selling cruises will approach you repeatedly along the promenade. Not unpleasant, just relentless.

I liked it more than I expected to. I thought it would feel like a brochure and it mostly felt like a neighbourhood.

From the marina it is a short walk over the bridge to Bluewaters Island, maybe fifteen minutes, and the wheel gets larger the whole way.

Ain Dubai

It is absurd up close. The largest observation wheel in the world, and the scale only registers when you are standing at the base of it with your head back.

A full rotation takes around 38 minutes. The cabins are large, air-conditioned and comfortable, and from the top you get the marina, the Palm laid out below, Bluewaters and the coastline running away in both directions. Sunset is the moment everyone aims for, and everyone is right, though it does mean company.

Even if the wheel is not turning when you visit, and it sometimes is not, Bluewaters itself is worth the walk. Waterfront restaurants, a drone show in the evenings that people plan whole nights around, the whole island well lit and easy.

From Bluewaters I got a car up to the Palm, about twenty minutes along the coast road with the sea flickering past the window.

The View at Palm Jumeirah

Fifty-two floors up in the Palm Tower, and the whole point is that from here the Palm actually looks like a palm. From the ground it is just roads and villas. From up here it clicks into shape and you finally understand what they built.

The observation deck runs 360 degrees, glass all around, with the Gulf on one side and Burj Al Arab and the distant spike of Burj Khalifa on the other. On the way up there is an exhibit about how the island was made, which is more interesting than it sounds.

An honest caution I picked up from a reviewer and then confirmed. The indoor restaurant area is not properly air-conditioned, just misting fans that are noisy and not very effective. The view is spectacular. Skip the food package.

You reach it through the mall at the base, so I went down and drifted in there next.

Palm Jumeirah Mall

A community mall rather than a spectacle, and after two days of spectacle that was exactly what I wanted. Bright, spacious, pale interiors, and genuinely quiet on a weekday.

Supermarkets, clothes, a cinema, a food court and a scattering of small cafes with good coffee. Two or three hours is the ceiling here, and that is fine, it is not trying to be more than that. The rooftop is worth checking. Outside there is the Golden Mile with parks and a running track if you want air.

One reviewer flagged pillars everywhere making the layout hard to read, and they were right, I lost my bearings twice in a mall a fraction the size of the one Downtown.

Late afternoon I took a car back along the coast toward Jumeirah Beach Road, about twenty minutes, to catch the last of the light on the mosque.

Jumeirah Mosque

Yellow-pink sandstone, two minarets, a central dome, deep relief carving across all of it. As the sun dropped it went gold and then a kind of warm rose, and I sat in the shaded courtyard and did not move for a while.

It is one of the few mosques in the UAE open to non-Muslim visitors, with guided tours run under an open doors and open minds policy. Visits generally open at ten and twelve, so check before you go, I turned up outside those hours on my first attempt and had to make do with the outside. Which, to be fair, is beautiful.

There is an old tree in the courtyard and a small pool beside it, and a cultural museum on the other side of the grounds showing older Emirati life.

I walked out onto Jumeirah Beach Road afterwards with the light gone and the minarets lit, and got a car back with nothing left to say about the day.

Day 4, Art, Coffee, Then the Desert

The last day is the odd one. It starts with a gold picture frame and ends with sand. In between, the warehouse district in Al Quoz, where the galleries are free and the coffee is genuinely good. Then out of the city entirely, to the reserve, because I did not want my final Dubai memory to be a mall.

Dubai Frame

I started the last day in Zabeel Park, in front of a 150 metre gold picture frame, which is a sentence I did not expect to write.

The idea is simple and it works. Old Dubai on one side, new Dubai on the other, and you stand in the middle looking through. The glass lift up is scenic in itself. At the top there is a glass floor walkway, smaller than the photos suggest, and a queue for it because everyone wants the same shot. The exhibits below cover the city’s transformation and are better than I expected.

Two small warnings. Buy tickets online, they are cheaper and you skip the counter. And there are two separate photography teams, one at the entrance and one at the top, selling their photos separately and expensively. Say no twice.

From Zabeel I took a car out to Al Quoz, about twenty minutes, and the city turned industrial along the way.

Alserkal Avenue

Warehouses. Actual working warehouses in Al Quoz, converted, painted, and filled with galleries and studios and coffee. It looks like nothing from the road on 17th Street and that is half the charm.

The galleries are free, which still surprises me. I wandered into three without a plan and came out of Zawyeh with a headful of things. There are artisan shops, design studios, a small street market with food producers on weekends, and it never once felt crowded even when there were plenty of people around.

It is dog friendly and child friendly and the streets are wide. The two honest complaints are parking, which is genuinely difficult at weekends, and shade, of which there is not enough for a hot afternoon.

This is the Dubai I would come back for.

Coffee was about ninety seconds away on foot, in warehouse G62.

Nightjar Coffee Roasters

Dark inside, industrial, a long bar and a playlist that suggests they sell something stronger than coffee, which they do not. It reads as a pub and functions as a roastery.

The cold brew is the thing to order. Refreshing without losing the kick. I also had the cheesecake, which everyone who reviews this place mentions and which deserves the attention, and the baked goods generally are the strongest part of the menu. The Spanish latte is good coffee though not quite a Spanish latte, lacking the condensed milk sweetness. Food is decent rather than remarkable, and the smash burger is small for what it costs.

Staff are relaxed and funny. The day I was there the QR menu was broken and they handed out paper ones, which felt like a small gift.

I sat outside in the end, watching the avenue. Then I wandered a few streets over on Street 8 to see about lunch.

Wild and The Moon

Plants everywhere, earthy tones, a calm minimal room in the middle of a warehouse district. Everything on the menu is organic, plant-based and gluten free, and no, you do not need to be vegan for this to be worth your time.

The date cookies and the brownies are the standouts, soft and rich without being heavy. Cold-pressed juices are excellent, the one with activated charcoal in particular. I had a bowl and a golden mylk and left feeling like I had done something useful for myself.

Honest note. Several people, and I agree, mention a strong cooking smell that hits you at the door, ventilation not quite keeping up. Some items are pre-made and pulled from a fridge. It is not a flawless place.

But it is dog friendly, the staff are lovely, and it suited the mood of the day.

Then out. A long drive south, about forty minutes, until the buildings stop.

Al Marmoom Conservation Reserve

As the sun started slipping, I was standing in sand looking at a lake that should not exist, with flamingos on it.

Al Marmoom is enormous. Artificial lakes, dunes, cycling tracks running eighty kilometres, an oryx observation deck, campgrounds and stables. Al Qudra lake and Love Lake sit inside it. Bird life is the reason to come if you are that way inclined, and winter is when it is properly good.

You can ride horses or camels, take a safari through the dunes, or do what I did and simply sit. There is a cafe on site that runs a paid entry including coffee and dessert, which is either steep or fair depending on how much you want to sit somewhere beautiful with something warm.

One honest thing. Near the Expo lake, people picnic with music turned up loud, which undoes the point rather.

I stayed until the light went. Then the long dark drive back into all those towers, and that was the four days.

Four days is not enough for Dubai and it is also exactly right, if you accept that you are seeing a version of it and not the whole. What I took away was not the tower or the wheel. It was a one dirham boat with a wooden bench, and the smell of a spice lane in Deira, and a warehouse gallery in Al Quoz with nobody in it.

If you have been and there is something you would swap in, tell me. I am especially interested in the parts of the city that do not photograph well, since those turned out to be the ones I miss.