Dubai is culturally rich enough to satisfy your desire for deeper connection while also being glam enough to satisfy your greedy side. Dubai has everything your heart and mind desire: luxurious hotels, ultra-glamourous attractions, and a plethora of activities for both adults and children.
The city has enough excitement for people of all ages to keep them on the edge of their seats until they return home! If you only have three days in Dubai, you won’t waste any time. Dive right into this Dubai Trip Itinerary!
This itinerary showcases the best of Dubai, designed to cater to both adults and children on a family vacation. While you could see the main tourist attractions in two days, three days in Dubai is enough time to see more of the city.
The Dubai Creek separates Old and New Dubai. Bur Dubai and the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood are on one side of the creek, and Deira and the rest of modern Dubai are on the other.
Begin your day by exploring the historic Al Fahidi or Bastikaya neighborhoods. Wander the winding pathways lined with wind towers and traditional Arabian homes. This is a detailed itinerary of things to do and see in the area –
To learn more about Emirati culture, go to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding.
Visit the Majlis Gallery, Dubai’s first art gallery.
Stop for a cup of coffee at the well-known Basta Art Café.
Visit the Al-Fahidi Fort, Dubai’s oldest surviving structure, which now houses the Dubai Museum. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn about Dubai’s history, culture, and traditions.
Do some shopping at the Bur Dubai Souq, where you can find every type of spice ever grown.
There is also a thriving textile market here that has been in operation since the 1830s.
Travel from Bur Dubai to Deira on an abra. Explore Deira’s Grand Souq and Spice Souq, as well as the colorful dhows on the creek.
Explore the Heritage House and the Al-Ahmadiya School, which are both excellent examples of late-19th-century Arabian architecture.
The thing about Dubai is that even a cultural tour will not bore your children if you educate them on the significance. There are many lovely cafes in Old Dubai that your children will enjoy.
A dhow dinner cruise is a fantastic way to end your first day in Dubai. The beautifully renovated and decorated dhow cruise on the Dubai Creek or the Dubai Marina takes you past some of the city’s most beautiful landmarks. The 2-hour dinner dhow cruise offers a unique perspective of the Dubai skyline.
Enjoy some on-board belly dancing, henna painting, and a full Emirati buffet dinner while watching the city lights sparkle and their reflections glitter on the dark water. A dhow dinner cruise is a must-do on your three-day Dubai itinerary.
On the second day, broaden your exposure to Dubai by taking a hop-on-hop-off big bus tour. There are several bus tour routes available; choose the one that best fits your schedule. You can see a lot of Dubai in half a day if you take a route that takes you to most of its landmarks.
The beauty of this bus tour is that you can get off at various stops and walk around to see the sights. Every 15 minutes, another bus arrives at the next stop, making it simple to rejoin the tour.
No trip to Dubai is complete without a visit to the famous sand dunes! Book a desert safari for your second evening in Dubai, and you’ll be on your way to the magnificent dunes by 4 p.m.
On the Arabian Desert’s dunes, you can participate in various desert sports such as dune bashing, quad biking, sand boarding, and camel riding. You’ll stay in a traditional Arabian Bedouin campsite and enjoy live-in-tent entertainment such as belly dancing, the Tanura show, and henna artists. When it’s time for sunset, get out your tripod and capture some dazzling, Instagram-worthy images of a desert sunset.
In Dubai, nothing seems more out of place and fantastical than an indoor ski resort in the middle of the desert. It’s there, incongruous or not, and it’s worth a visit on your three-day trip. The massive indoor manmade mountain has several ski slopes, each with a different level of difficulty, from beginner to expert.
There is a snow playground for children with live penguins scampering around. On the highest mountain, there is a café where visitors can sip hot coffee while watching the action. You can ski, toboggan, snowboard, or simply watch the show.
Just as the sweltering sun reaches an all-time high at noon, here’s something for the kids: Dubai’s most exciting water park. Nothing beats cool water gushing through a sky-high slide when it’s 40 degrees or higher outside.
Adults will enjoy the perfect view of the Burj Al Arab from the Wild Wadi Water Park, which is also on your itinerary. The water park features a lazy river, a shallow wave pool, a surf machine, and a variety of adrenaline-pumping rides that will appeal to both children and adults in your group. The most terrifying ride is the Jumeirah Sceirah, in which you enter an upright capsule and then the floor collapses beneath you, plunging you into a pool of water below.
Finish your trip to Dubai in style! Travel from the Wild Wadi Waterpark to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Many more fascinating facts can be found in the city of world records.
Visit the observation deck on level 125 of the Burj Khalifa, which is 465 meters above ground. From here, you can get a bird’s-eye view of the city. Use the telescopes located in various locations to look into the distance.
Explore the Dubai Mall’s many retail outlets and food court eateries on the ground floor. The Dubai Mall has over 1200 retail outlets, so don’t even try to visit them all in one afternoon. Simply follow the map and visit only the stores you truly desire. Visit the gold souqs – you’ll never see so much gold anywhere else!
The Dubai Fountain, a choreographed fantasy of laser lights and fountain jets, awaits you outside. The Dubai Fountain was created by the same team that created the Las Vegas Bellagio fountain show. It’s a delightful show set to some of the world’s most opulent music.
Cultural immersion, jaw-dropping landmarks, an evening in the open desert, skiing in the morning, a water park in the afternoon, and the world’s tallest building and a fantastical show to cap it all off – where else will you experience so much in just 3 days?
Wonderful experience went there with family during April. Quite on the affordable side as they provide wide range of packages. I booked this itinerary for my family and got the tickets in discounted rates with the ongoing promo.
It was our first time in Dubai. We didn’t had any idea what to do and where to visit. Thanks to explorer shack we got our pre-built bookable itinerary. It was so convenient and easy. My kids had time of their lives.
