Visit Dubai
From May 9th-13th I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Dubai (for the first time in my life!!!) with Visit Dubai and my babes friends Alice De Togni, Alice Perrella and Francesca Cinà.
We worked together through a list of all of the great adventures and experiences that this city has to offer and through this post I want to take you through the ones we picked during these days.
Our arrival in Dubai was very smooth, we landed at 9 pm local time and decided to go straight to our hotel for dinner: the Address Dubai Marina. Huge hall, really nice staff and welcome, and amazing food! We slept like babies to get ready for the real first day!
Day 1:
- morning shopping at Madinat Jumeirath
hopped on a taxi to get to our first destination of the day. We roamed around the Souk (first one I’ve ever been to) for a couple of hours, bargained on bags and shoes prices with really friendly vendors, went on the Abra tour boat and went back to Dubai Marina.
- afternoon at the beach
we enjoyed a little relax on the beach at La Mer Beach.
- night on top of the Burj Khalifa
We got to the ticket office by 5:30 pm and managed to get up on top by 7 pm (make sure you get there in advance of your schedule- unfortunately it takes a while to go through queues)
The view up there is really breath taking, just like you see in all of the iconic pictures of Dubai!
We really wanted to get a shot in day light but we ended up having some of our favorite shots during night time- everything was so much more romantic!
Can you believe you can go on the World's tallest building?!?!
After dinner at the Dubai Mall (what an incredible place!!! so many shops, restaurants and activities you literally go crazy and could spend weeks in there without getting out/bored!!!) we had to go back to our hotel as we had the earlier wake up call someone can imagine… but totally worth it. Let me tell you why.
Day 2
- 3:00 am wake up call
Captain Richard from Ballooning UAE came to pick us up at our hotel at 3:50 am sharp with his jeep car. It was a short one hour ride before we got into the desert for the most magical experience of our lives!!! the HOT AIR BALLOON!!! I was so nervous, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to get on it because of how scared I was ( I am so afraid of heights and normally panic also on a regular plane…silly, I know…) but I knew I had to do it!!! I could never miss out on such an experience because of freights and luckily I had my girls with me making sure I wouldn’t faint hahaha
After a quick explanation of how the hot air balloon works and all of the necessary precautions, we were ready to fly! FLY!!! what really really impresses me it’s that you fly on a basket and a balloon by hot air- how crazy is that?? Just as crazy as the view we got as soon as we were just a couple of meters up in the sky and all of those feelings of being afraid went away, immediately. I felt so free and peaceful, I was crying of happiness. IT WAS INCREDIBLE and this is one of those memories I will keep in my heart for the rest of my life.
Once we landed (so smoothly I have to say) we felt like we had been up there for a half day but it was actually only 7 am! So we were ready for out Desert Safari experience and breakfast with the Beduins- and thank you Platinum Heritage for driving us around in really pretty Land Rovers vintage cars - and ours was the cutest pastel green color- I mean!!! It’s crazy how much you can get done when you wake up at 3 am!!! hahaha
https://www.visitdubai.com/en/see-thrill-play/adventure/ballooning
https://www.visitdubai.com/en/pois/platinum-heritage
Let me just say how HUGE Atlantis the Palm is!!! We got lost a bunch of times before actually finding the places we needed to be at, but at last, here we are at Bread Street Kitchen & Bar . Such a yummy brunch: you have a cold and hot buffet and 1 plate of choice as well as a tasting of all of the desserts (the honey one is incredible!) Thank you Atlantis The Palm and Gordon Ramsay for having us :)
after eating our souls away (!!!) we dedicated some of our afternoon to the beauties of the ocean. YES, this hotel is so big that it has an Aquarium inside of it. And I swear we could have spent ours watching the jellyfishes going up and down, and the cutest stingrays passing by “smiling”. So charming.
- afternoon at the beach
Our afternoon rest (we had been up for 2723987 hours already hahah) consisted of laying on the beach admiring the well known shape of Atlantis The Palm.
Day 3:
- Morning BLOOMS
we finally made it to the Dubai Miracle Garden!!! We were so scared of not seeing it because taxi drivers kept telling us that it was closed and that it would re-open in October- so make sure you check their website before heading there!!! :) luckily it was in fact, OPEN! AND SO PRETTY! we danced around and took a thousand pictures under the heat (also, make sure you bring water with you!) - lunch at Riverland Park
this is the perfect getaway for outdoor shops and restaurants, so we decided to stop here for a quick lunch before heading to an afternoon of pampering. - afternoon at the SAIL
a (second) dream come true of this trip was being able to spend some time at one of the most luxurious spa of Dubai: Talise Spa inside of the Burj Al Arab. I had seen this place in pictures but seeing it in person is one whole other experience!!! We were so lucky that it wasn’t really busy and we had the women pool almost all to ourselves. You have to go and experience it yourself.
We ended up having dinner at the lounge bar just outside the Burj Al Arab in front of the beautiful Dubai bay sparkling in lights- the perfect girl night out!!!
The third day was also our full last day in Dubai as our flight left at 12 to go back home. We used our last morning to roam around the Dubai Marina Mall which was only one door away from our hotel (literally has straight access!!)
I want to say the biggest THANK YOU to Visit Dubai for making all of this happen and being with us during some of the best (and first) experiences of our lives!!! I am forever grateful.
