… And Don’t Forget Your Credit Card! ~ Dubai, Day 2

The city of Dubai is most famous for its whole year long warm weather, the desert and most of all – the fascinating beaches. But there is no doubt – the one thing that makes this metropolis stand out from the competition is the shopping malls! The well-known “secret” of Dubai is the struggle to have the biggest and best of everything! Furthermore, here is the tallest building, the first and the last 7 Star Hotel, the biggest flower garden …

And of course the largest shopping centre in the whole entire World! But it seems like Dubai didn’t get enough with having the biggest mall on Earth. Furthermore, the desert city became the “Shopping Capital of the Middle East” during the last couple of years…  Dubai has more than 64 registered shopping centres and 8 more which are still under construction.

These malls are more than just some buildings, as they usually have some ultramodern, luxury architecture which offers a good escape opportunity during the average 40° Celsius for more than half of the year in Dubai. Some of the top malls are Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Marina Mall, Burjuman Centre, Deira City Center, Jumeirah Plaza, Mercato Shopping Mall and Festival Centre. All these are typically open from 10 am to 10 pm.

The Mall of Emirates, shopping in Dubai

The Mall of Emirates, shopping in Dubai

Mall of the Emirates

Mall of the Emirates is for me more than just a shopping centre. This building is an architectural masterpiece and definitely the most beautiful and luxurious one of all that we visited during our stay in Dubai. There are 466 retail stores to choose from, an entertainment amusement park for families, the Kempinski Hotel, and the most interesting of all attraction. And don't forget the indoor ski resort! The “Little Tirol” as I call it, is the first ski slope in the Middle East! “Ski Dubai” is a place where you can do some wintery themed activities, like snowboarding, skiing and tobogganing. But for someone who lives in the real Tirol and wants to rather escape the long Winter and continuously bad weather conditions (I just don’t like the winter) – not a must-visit-place.

The Mall of Emirates, shopping in Dubai

The Mall of Emirates, shopping in Dubai

Ski Dubai

Ski Dubai

Shopping in The Dubai Mall

Being the number one in any category is a must thing in Dubai. Therefore our next stop is “The Dubai Mall” – the world’s largest shopping center! The Dubai Mall offers you more than 1.200 shops (without the pop-up ones) to explore from while walking through 1.124.000 square meters – a total area equivalent to 50 football pitches! Nowadays, this place is the most beloved entertainment area for locals and tourists. We spent the whole day in this area, but not for shopping (we had more than 3 weeks to travel through Malaysia, so having a huge bag was NOT an option for us), but rather to experience the everyday life of Dubai.

Most of all I had the feeling, that Shopping as an activity is a big part of the culture here. We saw so many families with their kids who were probably spending their weekend inside the malls. I would say that shopping could become a really expensive hobby here in Dubai! The only thing I bought on that day, was a lipstick from Sephora. But the woman right in front of me paid a 1.300 € bill for the several items in her basket …

“The Illusion” Waterfall

“The Illusion” Waterfall

Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa Lake

But there are so many things to do, except shopping, in this huuuge entertainment complex, full of never-ending surprises for its visitors! Starting with the restaurants (more than 120 restaurants inside the building) – there is nothing from the World’s Cuisine you cannot find here!

Burj Khalifa Lake

Burj Khalifa Lake

 Let's talk about all the other main shopping attractions of “The Dubai Mall”

• Dubai Ice Rink is the place for those of you who want to do some ice skating in the desert city. The Olympic sized ice skating rink is the most favourite attractions among the “Young-sters” and locals… Probably because of the cool temperatures inside this area. You can book a skating lesson or visit one of the disco-and-skate parties in the evening.
• Another fact is that the Biggest mall in the World has its own luxury hotel (250 rooms) and a parking facility that houses 14.000 cars across 3 different car parks!
• Also, you can also shop in the world’s largest candy store “Candylicious” (ca 3.000m² ).
• For all “Sega Republic” fans there is a theme park inside the mall where you can choose from numerous different games.
• “The Illusion” waterfall: the diving statues are the special part of it – if you stare at only one diver, all others disappear!
• The Dubai Aquarium has the World largest acrylic panel! It made it right to the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s largest indoor aquarium (32 m wide, 8,5 m high, 29. 5 inches thick and weights ca 245.847,00 kg). The Dubai Aquarium is home to numerous underwater creatures which are the main reason for the 75 million visitors per year. You can also take a ride on a glass bottom boat in order to see all these 33.000 aquatic animals or just go diving with sharks (why not)!
• Same here – the Dubai Fountain is the largest fountain in the World!
• …and finally –  the tallest building on Earth – Burj Khalifa, but more about it in the next blog post!

Burj Khalifa Lake

Burj Khalifa Lake

The Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa Lake

The Dubai Fountain is the world’s largest dancing fountain and is designed by the creators of the Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas. Dubai Fountain is set to dance to the Arabic classical Music. It is open from 6 pm to 11 pm (the evening shows: every 30 min; the afternoon shows at 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm; the Friday afternoon shows at 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm). We watched the first show in the afternoon from the waterfront promenade outside of the Dubai Mall. But it seems like that the best place for watching the show was from the balconies of the souk hence there were not so many people in the first raw.

The show is one of those rare places to visit in The Dubai Mall for free (surprise, surprise!). I prefer watching it the evening (25 colour projectors and 5.000 large “state-of-the-art” incandescent lights are used to illuminate the water show) compared to the afternoon!

The Dubai Fountain is the world's largest dancing fountain with a length of 275 m and nozzles capable to shoot water sprays up to 155 m high. But for me personally, the Dancing Fountain at Bellagio was and is my favourite! I can hardly compare the atmosphere of Las Vegas and Dubai.  Las Vegas is absolutely different City! Furthermore, it was the place where I felt absolutely “free”, happy and welcomed, and where everybody is treated absolutely equally! Anyway, the evening shows in Dubai were gorgeous. But again – the atmosphere of Vegas and the dancing fountains of Bellagio is my Number One thing to experience when it comes to dancing fountains.

In the next post, we will visit the tallest building in the World “Burj Khalifa” where I will share my tips and experiences with you!

Burj Khalifa