Best Tours in Dubai
Here I am finally with the best tips from Dubai. I must say Dubai is a special place and I would recommend every one to travel there at leas once – especially if you have a lot of pretences 😉
I am starting with the best tours in Dubai, that you should definitely not miss while travelling in this beautiful city, so get ready for the fun part! You could also ask some luxury travel advisors on how to make the most out of your trip.
Dubai Helicopter Tour
This tour is my absolute favourite. In only 15 minutes you can see more than you’ll ever understand and see from the ground.
Dubai is an incredible place that is offering so many incredible places for example “The Palm” and “The World”. Both of them you simply can not see as good, or understand as good, when travelling on the earth.
I took the helicopter tour from Alpha Tours. The pick up is on time and brings you directly to the helicopter start area. The personnel is friendly and wifi was available even in the waiting room. Before you can start you will be shown the security information, which does not take more than 5 minutes of your time.
Lockers are available, where you can leave your things, yet you are free to bring your mobile phone and/or camera to take photos.
I remember, I was once before in an helicopter and I did not feel very well up there – this time however I felt perfectly normal and it was a great experience.
It is exiting to see the city all from the top and really understand and see how Dubai is build.
The Tour
In the 15min tour you are going to pass by the Atlantis Hotel, which allows you to see “The Jumeirah Palm”, then you fly past the coast till nearly downtown. Here you’ll be able to see the highest building of the world, the Burj Khalifa.
On the way back the most interesting thing to see for me was ‘The World Dubai’, a by men created world in miniature. From the hight you can actually recognise some of the continents and see the full structure. It is impressive with its circa 300 islands.
I was travelling in Dubai in May with around 40 Degrees every day. The tour was scheduled for 2pm, the hottest time of the day. However the helicopter tour was still great and it was not way to warm at any time. Luckily the helicopter had its own cooling system – I was already expecting me to melt during my travels 😉
During the tour, before and after it, the organisation is taking photos from you, that you can buy afterwards. Also during the full travel there are photos been taken from the helicopter that you can get as a souvenir after the tour.
All in all, definitely a tour that you should not miss out!
Details
- The Organisator: Alpha Destination Management
- Pick up service? Included
- Contact: info@alphatoursdubai.com / (+971) 4701 9111
- Price: 15 min 795 AED, which are circa 200€ per person
- Website
Yellow Boat Tour
The Yellow Boat Tour is another one of the greatest tours in Dubai that lets you live the Dubai experience from another perspective. If you have never been on sailing trips, then this might prove to be a mesmerizing one–who knows you might like the journey on the water so much that you end up looking for air boats for sale. So, if you are in Dubai, do not miss this one! It is a must and has been recommended by many tourists who have been to the place.
Anyway, the starting point is in Dubai Marina and unfortunately there is no pick up service offered. You could book a pick up and drop off service with the help of firms like Comfort Drive.
Depending on the time of the year you are travelling I would suggest you to take one of the earliest tours – or the latest tours that are offered. I was travelling in May and the heat with over 40 degrees was becoming insupportable after 11am even while on the sea.
Tip: Don’t forget the sun creme! Also if its just 1:30 h you will get burned easily on the water!
The tour
Driving through Dubai Marina you can discover this beautiful place directly from the sea. Passing along the Yumeirah Palm, where unfortunately the organisation is not allowed to enter. You will still have some amazing views on the private villas.
The driver is fun and happy to answer all the questions you have. Passing by the famous Atlantis Hotel the tour went along up till the Burj al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world and then going back another way, passing by all the private islands.
The tour takes around 1:30 h and is a great solution, if you’d like to see the beautiful city of Dubai from the sea! It is a totally different view then from the hight and definitely as from the city itself!
Details
- The Organisator: Yellow Boats
- Pick up service? No.
- Contact: book@theyellowboats.com
- Prices: 280 AED, which are circa 70 € per person
- Website
Desert Tour
After all the city sightseeing there is another of the best tours in Dubai that I have to tell you about: the Desert Tour, which often goes by the name of the best desert safari dubai!
I have been travelling in the desert before, in Egypt and in Tunisia, but I was never that impressed from it like this time! In Dubai you can find the REAL desert. – I know scientifically all of the deserts are real ones, but I am speaking about what you are expecting from it and how you can enjoy its beauty !
But let me start from the beginning…
Pick up is from your hotel at around 4:30pm. Depending on how many people are travelling with you and where they are staying at, this maybe will could cost you some time. I was lucky and had only one stop to go with.
Tip: Go with closed shoes, the sand can be really hot upon arrival and bring a jacket for the ride back, the air conditioning could be cold after the day in the desert!
The drive from the city center to the desert meeting point is taking more or less 1:30h. Luckily the Rovers are comfortable and the air conditioning is working well. While seeing the heat jumping up from 37 degrees in the center to over 43 in the dessert believe me, you’ll really appreciate this!
The drive is passing by fast and while passing the white dessert it brings us to the deeper, red coloured desert. Upon arrival the first thing to do, is to let some air out of the tires. Of course you don’t have to jump into the sand yourself – at least not yet 😉
The Tour
Then the fun part starts.
30 min of dune bashing making you feel like you’re flying over the dunes. Unfortunately you’re all the time within the group of cars, so there is no real speeding up possible. After a short time one of the girls in the car was feeling sick and due to that we weren’t able to drive the fun way anymore. This makes things difficult because only with speed you can get up the dunes. It gave you a weird feeling to not getting up the higher dunes at once, but our driver was very professional and always found a way around without going into the extremes.
He explained me afterwards that they had a special driving license to be able to bring people in the desert.
The tour brings you into the protected are of the desert, where the desert camp is waiting for you to be explored.
The organisers talk about a full offering of activities in the camp: camel riding, henna tattoos, dance performance, dune boarding, typical clothing and dinner buffet. All of the activities were included in the price, which I did not expect.
Henna tattoos were made free handed and with quite nice designs, the dance performance was impressive. I mean who hasn’t sean a woman doing belly dance before? But the guy dancing the local dance was ‘WOW!’
I tried the dune boarding, but this activity was a bit disappointing. Basically you found some broken snowboards lying at a dune to try. No instructions, no help, no explanations. So I did try my best (being quite afraid of driving directly into the camp*haahha*) when figuring out, that the board is not moving very well …
The camel riding was the only thing however I did not approve of at all. There were 3 camels doing a walking tour of 10 meters for the 200 guests in the tent. Can you imagine going up and down 100 times? I felt so sorry for the camels that I did not even try this experience.
And last but not least, the dinner was surprisingly good. A huge buffet offering lots of different cuisines and dishes. Tip: Try the chicken curry ! 😉
Details
- The Organisator: Alpha Destination Management
- Pick up service? Included
- Contact: info@alphatoursdubai.com / (+971) 4701 9111
- Price: 290 AED, which are circa 75 € per person
- Website
Desert Quad Sandbording / Dune Drive Tour
Thinking of Dubai, you will surely have in mind the wide-ranging desert landscapes, right? The team of Khattourism has several exciting activities for you that will make your stay in Dubai unforgettable!
So if you’re up for a unique desert experience, you’ve come to the right place!
The Tour
We start the drive at 8:00 in the morning to the Dubai Desert point. From there it’s straight to the beautiful high red sand dunes, which build up in front of you. An amazing view!
The time doing dune bashing as well as sand boarding felt just thrilling. Yes, it‘s just as much fun as it looks!
Because the tour is packed with so many different activities, it definitely never gets boring. However my personal highlight was to see the free running camels and how trusting they actually were.
The whole tour lasts about 4 hours. And trust me: When you get back to your hotel at noon, you will need a nap 😉
Details
The Organisator: Khattourism
Pick up service? Included
Contact: info@khattourism.com
Prices: 549 AED, which are circa 105 € per person
Website
I hope you’ll enjoy the tours as much as I have!
Best, Be-Sparkling!
19 comments
Your pictures are amazing! I’m not sure which tour I’d like most – that’s an impossible decision. Such a contrast between the water tour and the desert!
I normally jump at any boat rides, but here I think the helicopter tour would be a shame to miss out on. Such a magnificent city! I hope I get to go there someday.
I lived in Dubai for a while and I did not take any of tours. Looks like you had loads of fun, but I’m not sorry I skipped them.Never managed to like Dubai 🙂
I used to live in Dubai long time ago. and it amazes me how the place has changed since i relocated. I remember taking the desert tour. It was nice.
I love the pictures. And sure I’d love the water tour 🙂
So many fun tours!! I would love to take the helicopter tour – you can get such a cool perspective of a place from the air
That all sounds fantastic! I know Dubai is a great destination for luxury travel. I think I would like the desert tour the most because it seems the most adventurous! I’ve only seen the desert in the American Southwest.
I’d love to go to Dubai!! I definitely want to try the helicopter and desert tours!! They seem like they would both give you a different view of Dubai than most.
Amazing!!! There are so many cool stuff to do at Dubai, thanks for creating this guide! 🙂
I think I’d certainly want to do the helicopter tour – I’ve never been on one, and I really love bird’s eye views of places 🙂
This is cool, and looks like you have a blast! Ah I want that helicopter tour – I’ve never been tired even here in Manila, I want it I find it romantic 😀
These are some pretty amazing tours to explore this city. I would skip the helicopter tour though and choose something thats more on the ground or even the yellow boat tour
I’d love to try sandboarding. That desert tour would be perfect for me!
Dubai seems like a place out of nowhere – literally! There are so many tours! But I have to say that the one who’s just making me excited is the Desert one. I have a love for the Desert more than anything else, so that’s why! I love the infos and I’ll keep those in mind!
When I visited Dubai last year I only had a mere day and a half to explore it! I would definitely love to visit again though, as I had falconry and a little dune bashing on my list. The beaches look incredible too and Dubai has such an interesting feel to it – the architecture is almost Science-Fiction but the souqs are so traditional and cultural, it’s really great. Your photos are amazing too by the way, it’s got me missing Dubai 🙂
I feel with you, every time I have a look at them I want to go back! Wait till you see the photos of ‘Dubai’s the World!’ next week these beaches are gorgeous ! 😉
Ever since I’ve started to see more and more of Dubai in movies I’ve wanted to visit. My sister and I are planning a birthday trip there soon. I’ll have to save this list to check out activities while we are there.
Your photos are beautiful! I so badly want to visit Dubai! It just seems like something out of a book; so beautiful, it seems unreal.
I totally love Dubai! You look so happy in your pictures!
I think there 3 best ways to explore Dubai and its surroundings: by air, by sea and in the desert