As I have been for years visiting the UAE and Dubai, many friends have asked me to write a short crisp guide for a holiday to this exotic place. Dubai is 3.5 hours away by air from Mumbai and about 7 hours from London. Dubai is the second busiest airport after Ney York airport and 61 million passengers passed through its portal last year. Getting vis is easy for Indians and in case you have a US visa you can get a UAE visa on arrival. Otherwise, a visa is issued in 3 days generally and costs Rs 6000 for a 30-day
visa and 4500 for a 15-day visa. There are hundreds of flights from India to the UAE and the airfare varies from 14-2000 ( economy v class).In case you want a longer visa, a 90-day visa is available for 20,500 and in case you travel by Emeritus airways, there is a concessional
charge of Rs 12,500.One can book accommodation in hotels, villas or hostels and rates vary a lot. But one can safely geta budget hotel for about Rs 6000 a day. This is a good three-star accommodation and Dubai has hundreds of such hostels. I suggest that person going on holiday plan for at least a weeks stay for anything less than that will only tickle the palate.
Dubai has so much to see from snow-covered skating and skiing rinks, to camel racing, mountain resorts, exclusive beaches( yes you can wear a bikini) and exotic bars and a wonderful nightlife. There are museums, eating joints and the worlds biggest shopping malls. It all glitters and I have no doubt that this is the city of gold. More on my subsequent posts on Dubai.
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