TRAVEL DIARIES: HOW TO DO DUBAI ON A BUDGET

Towards the end of last year, I just felt this desire for a change of scenery, outside of the same old activities-my mind, body and spirit needed some change.

My choice of destination was Dubai, I love Dubai because it guarantees sun all year round. For this trip I stayed in a few different hotels for various reasons the first hotel apartment was;

Abidos Dubailand. Dubailand is an up and coming suburb and there really is nothing around. I wanted to be away from everything and this place was perfect. The apartments are really big, the facilities are great and affordable. They also provide complimentary shuttle services to a few malls and it takes 25 minutes approximately to get downtown. Room service was fairly cheap and there is a supermarket on the ground floor and a fully equipped kitchen if you fancy cooking. I ended up getting upgraded to a two bedroom penthouse suite on the top floor for around £65 a night, now that's a bargain!

Blurry view from the balcony.

When the husband finally joined me after about 10 days we decided to move downtown where we stayed at the
 DoubleTree Dubai Business bay It was fantastic!! Absolutely five stars in my opinion. While we were checking in, the receptionist brought out some warm, moist and delicious cookies...Like seriously, is there an oven under the counter? (colour me impressed). Ps the cookies were better than any Ben's cookies or Millies cookie (#justsayin).

The hotel opened about some months ago and was an absolute find, it is located in the Business Bay area and had lots of restaurants and corner shops including a Tesco and a 7/11 which is pretty cool. It is also about 10 minutes from the mall and the hotel provided a shuttle service to the mall and back. Breakfast was also great with live cooking stations-One highlight with breakfast was having fresh bread baked in front of you in a live station- boy was it delicious! The gym and pool bar areas were superb. We paid around £100 a night which included the continental breakfast.

Budget tip: Join Hilton honours and get 10% off your bill.


After a few days Downtown, we moved to

Dubai Marina. It feels like home when we are there, something about the marina makes it feel very familiar and beautiful. I think it is the number of British shops and people around that makes it feel like England in perfect weather. Any English shop or Restaurant you can think of, you can probably find in Dubai Marina from Marks & Spencer, Borders, Miss Selfridge to Jamie's Italian or Nandos even your local Waitrose is just around the corner- No free coffee though. It is also a 10-minute walk to JBR beach and the atmosphere there is superb- think Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills.

I honestly considered relocating!

We stayed at the Raddison blue penthouse suite, we stayed there last year and it was very lovely so we thought we should go back but this time around there was a change the management and honestly, it was disappointing. The facilities and the accommodation were pretty basic for what we paid but the location was great.

In my opinion, the only nice thing about the hotel is the location. The marina is beautiful during the day and at night and like I said earlier JBR was just amazing. So please do not stay at the Raddison Blu if you are in Dubai!

Budget tip: There are lots of Air B&Bs around and unlike most cities,  most Air b&bs in Dubai come with daily housekeeping, free Wifi and a gym in the building. 

Once you check in check into your accommodation try to do a food shop and stock up on drinks, fruits and snacks it will save you a lot of money.

Try eating local to save on food- Middle Eastern foods like Hummus and pita, dates, nuts etc are generally affordable.