Scaling heights in Dubai

Gold Souk

Attraction | "Gold as far as the eye can see"

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The Gold Souk – DubaiThe Gold Souk is in the Deira part of Dubai and is easy walking distance from the spice souk and the Dubai Creek crossing. This makes it a great place to wander around as there is so much to see.We were not in the market for gold buying and despite quite like jewellery I am not really into spending a lot of money on this sort of thing when on holiday and my husband is even less interested.There are a number of small alleys with small shops each selling very similar things. The souk is a very traditional type of shopping area and consists of over 300 retailers all selling gold and jewellery. The shop windows are just full of gold. It really is go...Read More

The Gold Souk – Dubai

The Gold Souk is in the Deira part of Dubai and is easy walking distance from the spice souk and the Dubai Creek crossing. This makes it a great place to wander around as there is so much to see.

We were not in the market for gold buying and despite quite like jewellery I am not really into spending a lot of money on this sort of thing when on holiday and my husband is even less interested.

There are a number of small alleys with small shops each selling very similar things. The souk is a very traditional type of shopping area and consists of over 300 retailers all selling gold and jewellery. The shop windows are just full of gold. It really is gold in most shops despite the fact that silver is found in the region it seems that gold is the metal most desired The gold is hanging in such quantity that it almost looks false like painted paste stuff used in films etc.

We went into a couple of the shops but in reality you do need to have an idea of prices and what you want if you want to buy something. Bartering is always necessary and obviously if you want to buy a few things then you have more bargaining power.

It is quite a sight to see the huge variety of gold on offer it is impressive – you can see huge displays of earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets & pendants. What is also unusual is that you can get so many different shades of gold from: white, pink, yellow and even purple gold glistens and sparkles in the windows.

The prices of the products are mainly determined by the weight of the gold and the gold prices here are among the lowest in the World. The pieces of jewellery are also priced according to whether it is machine-made or by a craftsman. So it is a combination of gold weight and craftsmanship.

The local laws in Dubai are very strict and the Dubai municipality regularly performs quality checks. This means that you are as safe buying gold here as many other places in the world. When buying any gold jewellery you will get a detailed invoice, a certificate of authenticity as well as the gold purity hallmarks. The fact that Dubai is duty free means that you will get a good price as tax and duties are often quite a big percentage of any jewellery prices.

According to reliable estimates approximately 10 tons of gold is present at any given time in the souk. One shop in the souk had a huge gold ring that is in the Guinness book of records as it weighs something like 80kg.

One shop in the souk had a huge gold ring that is in the Guinness book of records as it weighs something like 80kg. It was pretty impressive – totally useless apart from being a record breaker – certainly too big for anyone to wear!

So in short if you are in the old part of Dubai in the Diera area this souk is certainly worth a look. If you are in the market for buying then go prepared to shop around and bargain and if paying by credit card you will have to pay a bit extra.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 2, 2025

Gold Souk
Deira
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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Skyview Bar at Burj Al Arab

Restaurant | "Tea for Two Arab Style - part 2"

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The Skyview Bar:When our name was called we were greeted by our waitress who escorted us down one of these ‘tubes’ into the skyview bar. Our table was right by the window with a view of the Jumeirah Beach hotel and then onto the city of Dubai. At the time we were there I do believe we had the best view because the sun was starting to go down and this meant people on the other side had a very hazy view of the Palm. We could just about see ‘The World’ islands but it was difficult to know which was which from here. The bar was very modern with glass and black predominating. It was very light as all the exterior walls were glass in order to fully appreciate the splendid view. We were ha...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on April 1, 2025

Skyview Bar at Burj Al Arab

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
+971 4 3017660

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Skyview Bar at Burj Al Arab

Restaurant | "Visiting the Burj Al Arab for tea part 1"

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Burj Al Arab afternoon tea - DubaiThe exchange rate when we were there was AED 5.6 to £1While we were in Dubai we decided to splash out and booked to go and have afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab.The World’s first 7 star hotel:The Burj Al Arab which means Arabian Tower is a stunning hotel in the shape of a dhows’ sail. It sits on its own artificial island just off Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. Not sure if it still is but it was the second tallest hotel building in the world but despite its size it only has 202 rooms on 28 hotel floors. It is one of Dubai’s iconic images and because of this we felt we had to go inside to have a look....Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on April 1, 2025

Skyview Bar at Burj Al Arab

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
+971 4 3017660

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Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai)

Attraction | "On Top of the World"

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The amazing tower of the Burj Khalifa stands out high above the other high rise buildings in the skyline of Dubai. It is the highest building in the world at the present time and probably will keep the honour for some time as the world economic situation doesn’t really lend itself to ambitious projects like this at this point in time. The building was begun in 2004 and was a project that involved experts from around the world.The next tallest building after is the CN Tower in Toronto at 553.33m a long way short of this one as the exact height of the tower is 828 m and the lift up to the 124th floor takes only 69 seconds. You hardly feel any movement but you can see where you are by flashing ligh...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on February 25, 2025

Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai)
Sheikh Zayed Road
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
9714 8888124

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City Tour of Dubai

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We drove to Dubai from Ras Al Khaimah and picked up the guide and the people from Dubai by about 10.40 outside the Hyatt Hotel. They had been brought there in a mini bus to join us. Unfortunately at the end of the trip our large bus was going to have to go around dropping them the end we had a very short hour at the Dubai Mall and we lost our booking for the Burj Khalifa and our friend had to get back home before we got there. Our first stop on the city tour was the Gold Souk in Dubai which is not really that exciting unless you want to buy some jewellery. In reality it is an area of shops all selling jewellery and we had 20 minutes here. We had a very quick look but spent most of the time...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 24, 2025

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