I had 4 full days to explore Dubai, which was optimum. You can obviously spend more time there but I wasn’t really interested in doing Dubai-style activities, even though the city is famous for that. Dubai indeed turned into a huge tourism hub within the past 20 years, being now one of the most visited cities in the world! There is an endless number of attractions for quite high entrance fees. Of course, you have the classical desert tour with jeep in the sand dunes with belly dancing evening, but I already did that in other Arab countries and tend to hate these fake folkloric tourist dancing events. Dubai also has many gardens (surprising for a desert city, I know), only open in the winter months, which are supposed to be great, but I wasn’t ready to pay 30-50 euros to see flowers in the desert! Waterparks can be fun but not alone… and I wasn’t in the mood of skydiving either. Haha! So I limited my sightseeing to what I do best… walking around… which is not as easy as it sounds in Dubai! The city has indeed been designed for cars and not for pedestrians. Whenever you need to cross a highway-style road, you need to walk 15 minutes up or down the road to find a pedestrian bridge or tunnel or crosswalk…or nothing! Dubai however did a good job at integrating a metro in the past 10 years. To be honest, there is not much to see walking around, in the sense of sightseeing, but I found some interesting places. And it was a unique chance to be able to walk around in Dubai! The weather was perfect for that… sunny or a bit cloudy with nice 25 °C and a chilly wind! I cannot imagine how walking would feel like in the summer with its 45 °C!
The city stretches from West to East on the coast of the Persian Gulf over a huge distance of over 30 km, I guess! There are roughly said – and from a tourist perspective – 5 areas worth visiting, from West to East: 1/ the newest neighborhood called Dubai Marina, with luxurious condos and the biggest marina ever built! 2/ the palm Jumeirah, this famous artificial palm tree-shaped island with its landmark hotel Atlantis. 3/ a neighborhood without skyscrapers but with the Mall of the Emirates and the hotel Burj Al Arab. 4/ Downtown with the office skyscrapers and the Burj Khalifa. 5/ Old Dubai and Deira, built around the river Dubai Creek which is the historical center.
Source: http://maps-dubai.com/dubai-satellite-map
Now that you understand a bit Dubai, it will be easier to understand my tours through the city.
Free like a bear 