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Things to know before your visit to Dubai from India

Things to know before your visit to Dubai from India – If you are planning an international trip off late then this blog is for you. Specially if you are interested to visit the United Arab Emirates. Over here we will provide you with basic things to know if you are a first time traveler or just planning to visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We will also provide you with a detailed plan of how to get a tourist visa, what documents are required, things to do in Dubai in our upcoming blog. So do check out for them.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Introduction to UAE

Before jumping into the things you should know, lets learn a little bit about the country that we are visiting or plan to visit first. The United Arab Emirates, or the Emirates or in short UAE, is a federation of seven princely states : Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Fujairah. The capital city is Abu Dhabi and the largest city is Dubai. The city is a mirage in the desert with huge shopping malls and extravagant entertainment attractions. The different spoken languages of Dubai are Arabic, Persian, English, Hindi, and Urdu.

In 1971 these 7 States of the Persian Gulf coast merged to form the United Arab Emirates. UAE is the third-largest oil producer in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Visa Process

If you’re planning to visit the UAE, you may be required to apply for a visa. There are plenty of visa options while travelling to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There can be Tourist visa, Transit Visa, Long term tourist visa, Multiple entry visa, Single entry visa etc. However the one that we applied for was the 30 day single entry tourist visa.

There are plenty of ways to apply your visa from India. You can apply through MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Yatra, Musafir travels, Akbar Travels or you can even apply it by yourself. We applied our visa from Yatra.com. The cost of a single entry 30 day tourist visa was Rs 7,450 per person. It took us around 3 to 4 working days to get the visa soft copy emailed to us. You need to carry this soft copy of your visa along with your passport in the immigration counter and the stamping will be done on the immigration counter itself in Dubai. Watch out for the complete blog on immigration and journey information blog in our website.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Documents required for Visa

  1. PAN Card
  2. Passport front and back page
  3. Passport size photocopy
  4. If there are children, need to share their birth certificate

Additional info required

  1. Emergency contact number in the family
  2. Occupation of each applicants
  3. Tentative travel date
  4. Visa type (14/30/60 days)

Please ensure, you apply your visa within 2,3 weeks of your travel dates and you have to travel on the given date of visa entry and exit.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Documents we carried

  1. Visa soft copy
  2. Original Passport (passport expiry should be more than 6 months)
  3. COVID Vaccine certificate
  4. COVID Insurance
  5. Medical Insurance
  6. Adhaar card
  7. Pan card
  8. Marriage certificate photo copy
  9. Original airline tickets booking
  10. Hotel Booking photocopy

We would soon publish a detailed blog on the entire visa, immigration and documents process for first timers travelling internationally. Check our gallery section for photos of our previous trips.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Food

With a population of over 3.3 million, out of which almost 90% of whom are foreigners, Dubai has a mix of cultures and food. If you are a food lover then there is no other place better than Dubai. You would get all the vegetarian and non vegetarian options starting from Indian, Pakistani, Italian, Chinese, European, Bangladeshi cuisine and what not. So food will not be an issue for you. We preferred eating out or using the Talabat app to order food in to our hotel as eating in the hotel or in a restaurant would be quite an expensive affair. Check our reviews page for other hotel information

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Where to stay in Dubai

Dubai isn’t the most budget-friendly vacation spot, and there are a lot more mid-range to luxury hotels than budget options in the city. Accommodation in Dubai ranges from the hyper-rich areas to the more cultural areas, which tend to be cheaper. There are plenty of places to stay and you get a lot of Airbnb, Hotels in places like Al Fahidi, Deira, Bur Dubai, Jumeirah Beach, Sheikh Zayed Road, Downtown Dubai etc. But we would suggest you to stay near Deira if you are travelling on a budget like us or near Bur Dubai. Down town is the area near the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall.

Our hotel was The George Hotel by Saffron, Dubai Creek near Al-Ras metro station in Deira.

Tip – Always choose a hotel to stay near a metro station as it will be easy to roam around the city in that way.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : UAE Climate

Dubai has a very hot and humid climate and if you have not witnessed such extreme weather earlier, then you would get a very hard time in Dubai. We travelled in the month of October and you won’t believe it was crazy hot during the afternoon, it’s like skin burning and you definitely get tanned if you roam around outside during the afternoon.

So do not forget to carry your umbrella, sunglass, sunscreen, water bottle and light clothes while travelling to Dubai. December and January are considered the best months to travel to Dubai however it’s that time when it’s very expensive to travel in this part of the world.

Also avoid summer months to travel because it’s gets extremely hot and you might fall sick. Check our other blogs in India.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Currency

To travel to Dubai we applied for a Forex card with Axis Bank and also carried some amount of cash with us. It did not cost us anything to apply for a Forex card and we got it immediately within 2 days of application from the bank. You can load as much as currency you would want in that forex card and it will be converted to AED or dirham which is the currency of UAE. Make sure you load the forex card beforehand, because after that whenever you load money to the forex card, there would be a small amount of charge which will get deducted.

The conversion rate that we got was around 22.60 INR for 1 AED. And we also carried around 15,000 Indian rupees in cash where the conversion rate was around 23.60 from a local currency vendor. Always avoid changing your currency in airport because you would get a very low conversion rate compared to outside.

Check our other blogs in India.

Getting around in Dubai

Getting around in Dubai is quite expensive compared to the other parts of the world. If you are booking an Uber or their local app which is known as Careem, then there would be a whole in your pocket if you continue to do so for the next 5 to 6 days.

So if you want to travel in a budget then the best thing is to apply for a NOL card. Get your NOL card from metro station as soon as you get down from the airport and board your first metro. That is why we always suggest to take your hotel next to a metro station. NOL card would allow you to travel in metros, buses, trams with this one card.

You need to pay 25 AED to get your silver NOL Card where you would get a balance of 19 AED. We recharged it together for 100 AED which have sufficed us for the entire trip. Please note that for one passenger you need to carry one NOL Card.

So if you are travelling as a couple you should have to apply for two NOL cards. However you can always get refund of the remaining balance before you leave out of the country. There would be a slight charge which will be deducted and you get the rest of the amount in AED. You can also keep your NOL card with you which is valid for 5 years if you dont want to submit.

If you want to roam around the city in taxis then you can use the Uber app or the Careem app. For first time passengers you would get 3 discounted or free rides like we got if you install the Careem app and start using. So if you are a couple, travelling to Dubai you would get 6 discounted or free rides together with this app. So don’t forget to avail this offer if you are using Careem for taxis.

Buses also run around the city and you can use same NOL card in buses as well their specific routes. Its the same for trams as well.

For mono rail which goes inside the Palm Jumeraih Islands you need to pay for separate tickets and its not included in silver NOL App.

Dubai Metro currently has two main lines and a branch line:

– Red Line: This is the main line that runs between Centrepoint and Expo 2020. This is the line you’ll be using if you want to visit landmarks like the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, and the Dubai Marina.

– Branch Line: The branch line covers a shorter distance between the Jabal Ali and UAE Exchange stations. You can interchange this line with the Red line at the Jabal Ali metro station.

– Green Line: This line operates between Creek and Etisalat. It’s your gateway to old souks, Dubai Creek, Deira and Bur Dubai. The stations to interchange between the Red and Green lines are Burjuman and Union.

 A minimum balance of 7.5 AED is essential to start a journey using public transport in Dubai.

Important points about Dubai Metro
  • Eating and drinking is prohibited on the Dubai Metro
  • Sleeping in the waiting area of the Dubai Metro carries a fine of 200 dirhams.
  • Dubai Metro has free WIFI internet, which requires an Dubai number to connect to.
Dubai Metro opening hours
  • Monday – the metro is open from 5am until midnight
  • Tuesday – the metro is open from 5am until midnight
  • Wednesday – the metro is open from 5am until midnight
  • Thursday – the metro is open from 5am until midnight
  • Friday – the metro is open from 5am until 1am the next day
  • Saturday – the metro is open from 5am until midnight
  • Sunday – the metro is open from 8am until midnight.

Things to know before your visit to Dubai : Sim card and connectivity

As soon as you land in Dubai, from the immigration office itself, you get a SIM card of Du which is the local telecommunication company of Dubai. Its only valid for 24 hours with only 1 gb of data.

Unlike India, internet is very expensive in Dubai. However all the places in Dubai have free Wi-Fi which you can avail for internet access. If you are travelling from India and you have a Vodafone or any Airtel or JIO sim card, just activate your international roaming and buy an international roaming pack before you visit to Dubai.

If you don’t want to do that, you can also recharge you Du sim card and use it for the next few days of your trip. This might be very expensive compared to the plans that India offers.

If you don’t have any plans and you still use the internet or the phone in Dubai, then be ready to shed a lot of money if you have a postpaid connection especially.

Check our other blogs in India.

Shopping

Dubai is considered a shoppers dream, with its unique mix of culture and vogue. From huge malls brimming with high-end fashion to traditional markets, Dubai offers a grand retail experience. Few places to do your shopping are The Dubai Mall, Mall Of The Emirates, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, City Walk, Gold Souk, Outlet Mall, Spice Souk, Meena Bazar. Boasting over 1,200 stores, the Dubai Mall houses global luxury brands and is the biggest mall in the world.

If you are a lover of sports wear and snickers don’t forget to visit Sun and Sand sports and Brands for less outlets.

The cost of Gold and electronics are a little cheaper compared to India as its a tax free country. We have not purchased it ourselves , hence cannot comment anything on that.

Check our other blogs in India.

Places/Activities covered

  1. Burj Khalifa and Dubai Aquarium package (From Klook App)
  2. Dubai Mall and Fountain show
  3. Day trip to Abu Dhabi (From Klook App)
  4. JBR & Dubai Marina walk
  5. Palm Jumeraih monorail
  6. Burj Al arab view point
  7. The Green Planet and Dubai Frame package (From Klook App)
  8. Al Seef

Other activities

  1. Miracle Garden
  2. Museum of the Future
  3. Desert Safari
  4. Dhow Cruise
  5. Sky View Observatory
  6. Global Village
  7. AYA Universe
  8. Atlantis Aquaventure
  9. Ski Dubai
  10. Warner BROS
  11. SKY Diving in Dubai

Note – We did not go for all the activities as we kept few for the next time around as well. 😉

Conclusion

If you are planning for your first international trip then definitely consider Dubai. We have covered a very high level of things to know before your visit to Dubai from India. Also choosing of Dubai over other South Asian countries was done purposefully, as Dubai Visa is a powerful visa to be added to your passport which would help you a lot to travel outside the country especially European countries or US, Australia etc. when you apply for their visa. There are plenty of things still to cover in a step by step plan to publish our further blogs for Dubai. Hence do check out for that. Also if you want to plan your next trip within India, do check out our Blogs section for that.

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As our name suggests, we operate as brothers in arms when exploring our passion for traveling, designing, and writing. At NeonBrothers, we are looking to infect a larger audience with our passions.  Check our blogs to learn about the best ways of quenching your thirst for discovering new places.

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