How to cheaply go on vacation to expensive Dubai? Easily! I share my experience of budget travel to the United Arab Emirates. Find out 10 secrets to help you save money: how to buy cheap tickets or a tour, book a budget hotel, eat tasty and inexpensive food, find free entertainment and attractions.
Exchange rate: 1 UAE dirham (AED) ≈ 19 RUB.
Take a look: How to go to Dubai now (fresh reviews of tourists and conditions of entry in case of a pandemic).
Low season holidays
The most comfortable months for a vacation in the United Arab Emirates: October-November and March-April - not too hot, not too cold, you can swim and not suffer from the heat. At this time, prices for hotels and tours are the highest.
If you want to save money, come to rest in Dubai in winter: the air temperature is comfortable + 24 ° C, but the water is cool - only + 20 ° C. Winter is ideal for sightseeing holidays and shopping, and you can swim in the pool.
In summer it is better not to meddle in the Emirates: the heat is under + 50 ° C.
How to buy cheap tickets to Dubai
Attention! Not all travel options are available during a pandemic. The safest way now is to take a direct flight from your home country, avoiding transfers.
It is quite cheap to fly to Dubai from cities in Russia and Europe.
- Cheapest tickets from Moscow to Dubai and back usually cost from 14,000 rubles - Aeroflot, Ural Airlines, flyDubai and others. This is a great price for Aeroflot. Charters can cost as little as 10,000 rubles (Russia, Ural Airlines), but such options are rare.
- Regions... You can fly inexpensively from Mineralnye Vody, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Makhachkala, St. Petersburg - tickets cost from 17,000 rubles.
- Very cheap charters in Dubai are from Helsinki (6000 rubles round trip), but you need to buy tickets on the Finnish websites of local tour operators (can you? If so, try to search here: www.tui.fi). Alas, such options are rare.
I will list European cities from which cheap tickets to Dubai can be found... What for? It's simple: you can combine visiting several countries in one trip and save on air tickets. For example, fly from Moscow to Istanbul or Stockholm, then fly from there to Dubai and only then return home. For the same 14-20 thousand, which cost Moscow-Dubai-Moscow tickets, you will additionally visit one or two European cities. Here is a list of cities from where you can fly inexpensively to Dubai: Kiev, Sofia, Istanbul, Stockholm, Prague, Bucharest, Katowice, Oslo, Budapest.
Look for inexpensive tickets to Dubai on Aviasales - it compares the prices of all airlines. If you are flying during high season and over the holidays, buy a few months before your trip. Find out the secrets of finding cheap flights.
Calendar of current prices for tickets to Dubai
How to fly for free
You can also fly to the United Arab Emirates for free! Don't believe me? And in vain, our flight was just like that.
The secret is simple. From Moscow, you can fly cheaply to cities and resorts in Asia and Africa with transfers to Abu Dhabi on Etihad and Emirates flights. Such tickets to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, India and other countries cost 25-40 thousand rubles (round trip). If you are flying to one of these countries and have a desire to visit the Emirates, then just buy tickets with a stopover for a few days in Abu Dhabi.
Finding such tickets is easy on Aviasales - choose a difficult route: for example, Moscow - Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi - Bangkok, Bangkok - Moscow. Usually, tickets with a stopover cost exactly the same as ordinary ones, with a simple transfer, or two or three thousand rubles more.
We used this trick when we flew to Thailand - in the end we were in the Emirates for free!
The pleasant does not end there! Etihad is so great that all its passengers are provided with a free transfer on a comfortable bus from Abu Dhabi Airport to Dubai and back - it takes only an hour to travel. It is very convenient! Emirates seems to have the same bonus, but needs to be clarified.
Another way to fly for free - collect miles using your Tinkoff All Airlines card. This is a very profitable card for travelers: free annual insurance, 10% cashback from hotels, 3% from tickets, 2% from any other purchases. I have been using it for three years and have already received free tickets several times. Read my detailed review of the Tinkoff map.
How to buy a cheap tour to Dubai
Last Minute Tours search on the services Level.Travel and Travelata - they will find the best deals among different tour operators. Want to save money? Check out our 7 rules for buying tours online.
A package tour can also be budget friendly if you successfully purchase a last minute tour.
Usually, the cheapest tours to Dubai from Moscow for two people cost as much:
| 3 nights | RUB 33,000 |
| 7 nights | RUB 38,000 |
| 11 nights | RUB 53,000 |
These are good prices - the price already includes flights, transfers, insurance and hotel accommodation for two people. But! Keep in mind that the cheapest packages usually include accommodation in mediocre hotels and far from the beach (5-10 km). There are even hotels 30 km from the beach! However, most hotels offer a free shuttle to the seaside.
Tours to the hotel closer to the sea are 15-25% more expensive than the minimum prices in the table. That is, for 50 thousand you will definitely buy a tour to Dubai for 7 nights in a decent hotel with good reviews from tourists.
If you only need a beach holiday, then choose Sharjah or Ras al-Khaimah - these are cheaper emirates for vacation than Dubai. If you still want to see Dubai, then buy a tour there. Of course, you can go on an excursion to Dubai from a hotel in Sharjah, but do not hesitate - the tour operator will take you exorbitantly for it.
How to find cheap hotel in Dubai
Dubai has some of the most expensive hotels in the world: I found options for 300 thousand rubles per day (villas and yachts), but usually luxury villas, hotels and apartments cost 20-90 thousand rubles per day. Okay, so let's rest some other time, but for now let's talk about budget housing.
The cheapest hotels in Dubai cost from 2500 rubles per day for two people - they usually have modest ratings, inconvenient location and many other disadvantages, which are written about in reviews. Rest in such hotels is unlikely to be pleasant.
Decent hotels with a rating of 8 and higher on Booking start from 4000 rubles per day. This is a good price for Dubai. I recommend booking a hotel in this category. Do not pay attention to the stars - they say little about what, it is better to carefully look at the reviews of the guests, appreciate the convenience of the location and the availability of breakfasts.
We stayed at the Orient Guest House - a rare example of a traditional style hotel in the Emirates. Located in the Old City, close to the metro and inexpensive Indian cafes. Nice and helpful staff (helped with ticket prints, stored our luggage after check-out), very hearty breakfasts. They paid 3800 rubles a day. Recommended, this is a great hotel.
How to book an inexpensive but good hotel:
- Choose a hotel with a score of at least 7 out of 10.
- Read the reviews carefully - there are disadvantages even in expensive 4-5 star hotels.
- Find out if there is a free shuttle service to the beaches.
- Check if the metro is close.
- Take a hotel with breakfast.
- Convenient if there are supermarkets and inexpensive cafes nearby - look at Google Maps or Maps.Me.
Book hotels on Booking.com, but first compare the prices on Roomguru.ru - the service may find a lower price on other sites. Book in advance during high season. Learn more about how to find and book accommodation correctly.
Where to eat cheap in Dubai
Dubai is the perfect place to experience the cuisine of different Asian countries. Forget about pretentious, European-style restaurants - our prices are too high. Choose inexpensive cafes and restaurants opened by expatriates for expats.
90% of the population of the United Arab Emirates are migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other countries. All of them need somewhere to eat inexpensively, so they open up for their compatriots budget restaurants with national cuisine. A multi-course lunch or dinner at an inexpensive café will cost AED 40-50 for two. Trying the cuisine of a new country every day for only 300-500 rubles per person is an excellent alternative to senseless waste in ordinary and expensive restaurants.
But, of course, the queen of a hearty and inexpensive lunch in Dubai is Her Majesty Shawarma! The average portion costs about AED 10. For sophisticated gourmets, chefs from neighboring countries are ready to offer a more refined variation of the famous dish - shawarma on a plate for 12-15 dirhams.
In large supermarkets you can buy prepared food: salads, meat, desserts, juice. Such a dinner for two also costs 40-50 dirhams, but it is not easy to bring the idea to life: it is incredibly difficult to find a large supermarket in Dubai, but it is inconvenient to eat on the street.
Special many inexpensive cafes in the areas of Bur Dubai and Deira, but in Downtown and Dubai Marina you will not find them with fire during the day.
Try to book hotels with breakfast included - you will save a lot of time and money.
For four days in Dubai, we spent 300 dirhams ($ 80) on food for two.
Inexpensive transport
Enjoy your holiday in Dubai by public transport: metro, buses, trams and water transport. It is inexpensive and relatively convenient. You can get to almost any area of the city by metro, travel costs from 4 dirhams, there is a daily pass for 20 dirhams. The metro is modern, technological, beautiful, comfortable, but due to the huge size of Dubai, it takes a long time to travel - on average, it takes half an hour for each trip. You cannot get to the beaches by metro: you need to combine it with a tram, bus or taxi - depending on where you need to.
The cheapest and most interesting transport in Dubai - abra... These are traditional open boats that ply the Dubai Creek and connect Deira and Bur Dubai. There are a lot of them, they are cheap (from 1 dirham) and round the clock. Cash payment. Often used by tourists as an attraction. Be sure to take a ride!
Trips to Taxi: landing - 5 dirhams, kilometer - from 1.7. If you are on vacation with your family or company, it will be even cheaper to travel by taxi than by buses or metro.
There is no point in renting a car in Dubai - it is cheaper and more convenient to travel by taxi or public transport, without thinking about traffic jams, gasoline, parking lots and fines.
For transport in Dubai in four days, we spent 1,700 rubles for two.
What you can see for free in Dubai
You can go broke on sightseeing and entertainment in Dubai! Here they are either expensive or very expensive. However, you can always find loopholes. For the budget conscious, I have compiled a list of free places of interest in Dubai.
- Burj Khalifa and other skyscrapers - we look for free only from the side, entrance to the observation deck is paid.
- Dubai Mall.
- Jumeirah Mosque - Free guided tours in English at 10am daily, except Friday.
- The aquarium is a paid entrance, but you can see part of the aquarium while walking around the Mall.
- Singing and dancing fountains in front of Dubai Mall.
- Beaches - many of them are free: for example, Jumeirah Open Beach, Jumeirah Beach Park, Kite Beach and others.
- Picturesque Dubai Creek.
- Tidy and refurbished Old Town.
- Markets: gold, fish, spices.
- Dubai Marina and Dubai Lake Towers districts.
- Dubai Museum at Al Fahidi Fort - See what Dubai was like during the Bedouin and Emirs.
- Al Qouz Pond Park.
- The Ras Al Khor Nature Reserve is a huge park, a wintering place for migratory birds. Here you can see pink flamingos, herons, sea hawks and other species. You can visit the reserve from Saturday to Thursday from 9:00 to 16:00, bird feeding - from 9:00 to 9:30. The entrance is free.
Cheap things to do in Dubai
- Try the cuisine of different nations of the world.
- Take a ride on the metro - it is technologically advanced, beautiful and modern, trains run without drivers, travel is cheap.
- Ride traditional abrah boats on the Dubai Creek
- Visit Alfa Safa Park, the largest park in Dubai. All covered with greenery, absolutely all - and this is a miracle for the desert and a real joy in a dusty and noisy metropolis. There are free barbecue areas, playgrounds, a ferris wheel, a soft surface treadmill. Every first Friday of the month, a flea market is organized in the park. The entrance costs 3 dirhams.
On sights in Dubai, we spent 6,000 rubles for two - this is how much it cost two combo tickets to the Burj Khalifa, to the aquarium and zoo in Dubai Mall.
How to save on excursions in Dubai
If you are vacationing in the United Arab Emirates on a tour, in no case buy excursions from your operator. In general, never buy excursions from a tour operator - you can hardly find higher prices than theirs. Inexpensive excursions can be bought either at local offices (but this is somewhat steamy and not always reliable), or on the Russian service Tripster - there are many interesting author's proposals, there are reviews, there are discounts. This is the best variant.
We advise you to take only those excursions that you cannot organize yourself: for example, desert safari, night crab hunting, deep sea fishing, helicopter or hot air balloon flight, boat trip. Everything else is cheaper to organize yourself. Check out our selection of cool Dubai tours.
Interesting video! TV presenter and blogger Anton Ptushkin conducts a video tour of the rich life in Dubai:
