About ten years ago I went on holiday to Dubai and I fell in love… in love with the heat, the culture, the beautiful sandy beaches and the amazing things it had to offer. We went on that holiday as a young couple about to start their life together and it was a dream holiday. Now ten years on I am dreaming about Dubai all over again; this time I am dreaming of a holiday of a lifetime for a family of four.
Dubai is the perfect destination for a young family; Its guaranteed sunshine, beautiful beaches, clean, safe, exciting and only a six hour flight away from the UK! There are many adventures a family can have on a holiday in Dubai; from relaxing beaches to bustling markets, breath taking buildings to incredible food; theme parks, water parks, ice skating, skiing, shopping… if you can name it you can probably do it!!
All those years ago I brought a very special souvenir back with me; a little camel who has kept the memories of that holiday alive and who has sparked lots of conversations with two little ones about the adventures you can have in Dubai. If we ever lucky enough to go back to Dubai we would take that little camel with us and these are the adventures we would have.
Ski Dubai– Top of our Adventurers list. The largest snow park in the world with real life penguins! Yes please sign us up now! We would love to don our snowsuits and slide down a white chilly bobsleigh run, to head to the carven for interactive fun and to ride the chair lift for a full view of the stunning snow park. Oh and just top that off with the March of the Penguins- a free show for all Ski Dubai visitors which happens daily.
A boat trip to see the Dubai Fountains is next on our list. Set on the 24-acre Burj Lake, The Dubai Fountain features water that jets as high as 450 ft (140 metres), which is equivalent to a 45-storey building. There is a variety of songs that the fountains perform too and I am sure that every show must be incredible. It would be difficult to know whether to see this during the day or in the evening. Maybe both!!
The Dubai Fountain Lake Rides
Set sail on the ultimate ride and enjoy front row seats to the world’s largest performing fountain. With the iconic Burj Khalifa as your backdrop, hop aboard a traditional Abra and enjoy the breathtaking sights and sounds.
Burj Khalifa Observation Deck– To climb (in a lift!) 555 metres into the air and to stand on the highest outside observation deck in the world would be an incredible adventure. H is always building towers and making plans for amazing Lego buildings. Here he can view some of the most spectacular buildings in the world from the best seats in the house!
Life’s a Beach!- I remember when we were in Dubai spending a lot of time relaxing on a luxury sun lounger and paddling in the warm clear ocean. This time I am dreaming of building impressive sandcastles mirroring the epic architecture around us, chasing giggling children into that crystal clear ocean and seeing if we can spot any fish. Relaxing with an ice cold drink under a parasol playing a family game of Uno. Yes Dubai’s gorgeous beaches are very high on our family adventure list!
Aquaventure– is one of Dubai’s most thrilling waterparks. The fact that it is part of Atlantis on The Palm is even more exciting. R and H love swimming and they love water slides so Aquaventure is the perfect day for them. There are so many different things to do there from firm favourites like the Leap of Faith, a 27.5-metre plunge that carries you through a clear tube surrounded by sharks and rays to the Splashers’ Children’s Play Area — a maze of kid-friendly tunnels, tubes, slides and climbing frames. I think we could easily spend the whole day exploring this watery paradise.
So these are our dreams about Dubai and we are really wishing that our dreams will come true and we will get to take two little adventurers and the camel to one of the most amazing places in the world. There are just so many adventures out there for a family to discover in Dubai. Go and have a look at the Visit Dubai Visit Dubai website and start your own Dubai Dreams today.
This post is our entry to the Tots100/Dubai Dreams blogger challenge. I would love to know what adventures your family are dreaming about- Is it a snowy one? Are you looking for something adrenaline packed? Or are you foodies looking to experience something delicious and new? Let me know in your comments below. – if this post is chosen as the winning entry, the BEST COMMENT on this post will WIN a family break in Dubai! So get commenting and share your Dubai dreams.
A Cup Full of Glitter 
I am very jealous that you have visited Dubai, it truly sounds like the most amazing and magical place. Reading this I totally agree that Dubai sounds like the perfect destination for a young family and is somewhere that I am now seriously considering booking for my own family holiday. Aquaventure sounds out of this world and so much fun for the whole family. Good luck I hope that you get to return to Dubai soon and the little camel gets to return for an adventure in its homeland xx
LikeLike
Same here really – visited pre-children but would love to take the children now as there is so much to see and do and I was so taken with how safe it felt there. We are a family of skiers so we often sacrifice a hot holiday to be able to go skiing – it would be amazing to be able to combine the two!
Good luck with your entry!
LikeLike
Dubai looks simply amazing. So much to do, so many different worlds all wrapped up in one gorgeous place. Looking at what Dubai has to offer, I’ve been really impressed by the range of family-friendly options – theme parks, indoor fun sessions, skate parks – as well as sports, stunning beaches, and entertainment.
What I hadn’t realised was how much variety there is in Dubai in terms of food and culture. Our son is a huge foodie, despite being only 10, and would love visiting some of the restaurants and tasting the new flavours.
As a family we would love to be able to visit Dubai, and experience just a taste of what is on offer. Our elder son loves nature, so would enjoy the different wildlife on show. And dad… well, quad-biking in the sand dunes would suit him perfectly. As for mum… of course Dubai is a shopper’s paradise! And I’m sure we would all enjoy a tour of historic Dubai, as well as the many museums. There truly is something for everyone.
The hardest part will be choosing what to do. It really does seem that Dubai has it all, a wealth of opportunities to explore and experience.
Dubai really is the city of possibilities and I want to ‘Discover All That’s Possible In Dubai’.
LikeLike
Goodness, just thinking about it, I would LOVE to go to Dubai!
1. Miracle Garden. I saw it on Gardener’s World I think and it made a huge impression. (As an aside, that was me tweeting Monty Don about any chance of a programme on Islamic Gardening a few days ago.) Concept gardening against the odds, on a grand scale for me, and in your face whackiness for the kids.
2. Dubai Conservation Reserve. A 4 by 4 safari in an exotic natural environment, which my kids would LOVE,
3. The Malls.
The Dubai Mall, because, WOW!
Also The Dragon Mall. Read about it in the Economist as a microcosm of the interconnectness and dynamism of world trade. I have a vision of it in my head as being like something from Blade Runner, except not in the dark or raining, or having the underlying feeling of glamorous menace. Okay nothing like Blade Runner except constantly busy and diverse. Sounds brilliant!
LikeLike
Goodness, just thinking about it, I would LOVE to go to Dubai!
1. Miracle Garden. I saw it on Gardener’s World I think and it made a huge impression. (As an aside, that was me tweeting Monty Don about any chance of a programme on Islamic Gardening a few days ago.) Concept gardening against the odds, on a grand scale for me, and in your face whackiness for the kids.
2. Dubai Conservation Reserve. A 4 by 4 safari in an exotic natural environment, which my kids would LOVE,
3. I was thinking “Malls”, but your post made me think about the water parks. I have never been in a water park when it was warm enough for it to be actually a pleasure, but I guess that would be pretty much guaranteed in Dubai!
LikeLike
Oh I love your representation of the Burj Khalifa and Aquaadventure! When my husband suggested taking the boys to Dubai I had so many worries about whether they would like it and if it would be too hot. I would never have even considered going in the heat of summer, until having been there. Knowing that they are all set up for the heat. It would be amazing to return and top of my list would be to take the boys on a dessert safari. I think they would love dune bashing.
LikeLike
I would love to take my grandsons on a Dream Trip to Dubai – a clean, safe, family-friendly holiday destination, with plenty of activities to choose from for any age range. As well as relaxing on the beautiful golden sand of JBR Beach with its warm, calm and shallow waters we would all enjoy a dune-bashing safari followed by a camel ride and BBQ dinner in a Bedouin desert camp.
We would visit the Dubai Museum in the Al Fahidi Fort to learn about life from a bygone era as a contrast to the amazing architecture of the modern city which we could view from the front or rear carriages of the driverless Dubai Metro system and then take it all in from the At The Top observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
The free and impressive Dubai Fountain water, light and music show can be watched from one of many waterfront cafes just outside the Dubai Mall. The malls in Dubai have many family attractions to choose from. The boys could try ice-skating, helped by the ‘penguin pals’, visit the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo and also see the giant 155 million year old dinosaur skeleton (DubaiDino), all in the Dubai Mall.
The boys love theme parks and this summer Dubai will open the world’s largest indoor theme park – IMG Worlds of Adventure with four themed zones inside including Marvel, Cartoon Network, Lost Valley – Dinosaur Adventure and IMG Boulevard. This will be completely enclosed and temperature-controlled with 1.5 million square feet of entertainment space!
Our only problem will be going home with so much more left for us to see and do in beautiful Dubai
LikeLike
What a creative way of exploring the things you would do using your souvenir camel. I love your plans of adventure and relaxation and fun. I love your idea of seeing that incredible fountain from a differing point of view on a boat ride. How awesome would it be to build those sandcastles that you describe reaching higher than any sandcastle has stood before. May your dreams of Dubai come true!
LikeLike
My dream is for me and my family to swim with Dolphins in Dubai (it makes me tear up at the thought!). I would love to do it in a much more natural setting than in a swimming pool and I have heard there are some amazing places to swim with them! I would love to visit Atlantis too as it would be a brilliant day for everyone (and I am a big kid). I also wouldn’t mind chilling on the beach with my boys, building sandcastles too. Just heaven!
LikeLike
I love the little adventures your camel has been on, just in this post! Fantastic that you’ve got a keepsake you can use to share memories from your last trip, good luck with your entry and maybe you’ll be able to get a little friend for him! We’ve never been to Dubai and I am literally amazed at how much there is for families to see and do. I’m so impressed. We’d love to do a lot of the things you’ve mentioned in your post plus a visit to the souks (the writer in me is dying to get in there and absorb the atmosphere) as well as a visit to the turtle rehabilitation centre for my daughter who wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up. But really, the list could just go on and on couldn’t it? I’m fairly confident that if we were lucky enough to go we’d fall head over heels and probably never want to leave again!
LikeLike
Oh I love the camel on it’s travels! Great post and agree it would be lovely to relive your experience with children. Mine have no idea such a place even exists, that one minute you can snowboard, feed penguins and the next you can be watching camels racing, hurtling down a sand dune and eating under the stars. Such an incredible prize, good luck! xx
LikeLike
Sounds like the camel is ready to go back on a new adventure. It would be great if you could bring back a new treasure to keep him company. Perfect to remember those family memories of skating, swimming and visiting such a vibrant city!
LikeLike