5-Day Dubai Trip with a 10-Year-Old in May 2024

In 2017, due to an Emirates flight cancellation, our family was forced to stay in Dubai for one night. We followed the hotel's free tour to take photos of the Burj Al Arab’s exterior and visited the Gold Souk. My impression of Dubai was nothing but scorching heat that took your breath away and low two-story buildings along the streets. So when my little monster proposed going to Dubai to see the world's tallest tower, my inner resistance made me feel that suffocating hot wind again. Fortunately, this time my little monster had reached an age where he could articulate clear travel demands: Burj Kahlifa and Water Park. That gave clear direction to our travel plans.

Accommodation: The two tourist targets were respectively in Dubai Downtown and Jumeirah Palm, nearly 30 km apart. We booked four nights at two hotels: two nights at Sofitel Dubai Downtown in the city center and two nights at Atlantis the Palm on the Palm.

Sofitel Dubai Downtown: The hotel entrance is right at Burj Kahlifa/Dubai Mall Metro station. Within a one- or two-minute walk from the hotel, you can enter the air-conditioned indoor skybridge that leads to Dubai Mall. It takes about ten minutes on foot to reach Dubai Mall/Burj Kahlifa. The hotel's swimming pool offers a beautiful view of the Burj Khalifa at night.

Atlantis the Palm: For families planning to visit the water park, Atlantis the Palm is definitely the top choice. The hotel is located at the far end of the Palm. We recommend choosing a room in the EAST Tower, as it is close to the aquarium and the water park. On the ground floor, as soon as you exit the elevator, you'll see a whole wall of aquariums with various manta rays and sharks swimming inside; a few steps away is the water park entrance. During your stay, you have unlimited access to the water park, and hotel guests can also get free towels. The half-board dinner is of good quality, including a 3-course meal with soft drinks and water; mocktails and alcoholic beverages cost extra. Some rooms also offer a panoramic view of the Palm.

Transportation: Our travel was limited to between the airport and hotels, and between hotels. Taxis were very convenient. After exiting Dubai Airport, you can see well-organized taxis. There were also taxis waiting at the hotel entrances. I compared taxi and Uber prices and found that taxis were actually a bit cheaper. The drivers we met were all friendly and professional, and the cars were very clean.

Burj Khalifa: The taxi driver told us that 'Khalifa' means Leader/Ruler, so it's probably the 'King of Towers'? From the tower, you can see Dubai's concrete jungle and the distant sea, but it felt hazy—the sky was gray, and the sea was gray. My little monster, who had just visited the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai last September, said that if the King of Towers is in Dubai, then the King of Concrete Jungle should be in Shanghai. We booked a combo ticket on the Burj Khalifa official website for the 124+125 floor observation deck and a 3-course lunch. We first queued to go up to the observation deck on floors 124/125, then went to the restaurant on the third floor. At the restaurant, you can look up at Burj Kahlifa and overlook the Dubai Fountain. The lunch quality was also very good, and my little monster 'praised' me for being 'very good at spending money' while eating. In the evening, the Dubai Fountatin has a fountain show, coordinated with the Burj Kahlifa laser show, which is worth watching.

Dune Bashing: On TripAdvisor, there are many tour operators offering Dune Bashing. We booked a tour that departed at 7:00 AM, with a 4x4 vehicle, the driver plus up to 5 tourists. Our family and two British girls shared one vehicle. The itinerary included quad bike, camel riding, dune bashing, and sandboarding. Dune bashing was a very fun experience, like a roller coaster in the sand dunes. The driver was busy turning the steering wheel and shifting gears while pointing out cars that had overturned below the dunes, as if afraid our adrenaline wasn’t high enough. The two British girls, whether from excitement or fear, kept asking if we had reached the 'boss level' yet. The desert temperature was over 50 degrees Celsius. Sandboarding was a huge physical challenge—riding the sandboard down was thrilling, but dragging the board back up from the bottom of the dune was a hellish ordeal. The tour had morning and afternoon departures; the driver said afternoon would be hotter.

Aquaventure Water Park: The water park is huge, mainly consisting of a lazy river and three water slide towers. Visitors can drift from one tower to another along the river. The park is big, with many people and many branching paths in the river. When drifting, don’t let children have their own float alone, as the family can easily get separated. My little monster drifted into the wrong exit and was missing for an hour. I never want to go through that agony again. The water slides at the three towers each have their own character. Given my age, I couldn’t handle the thrilling rides, so I thought the Trident Tower had the best moderate water slides. Recommendations: Medusa's Lair (for two), Waveshock (for multiple), Hydra race (single). Thrill seekers can try Leap of Faith at Neptune Tower, Poseidon's Revenge at Poseidon Tower, and Black out at Trident Tower—they all seem so intense that you’d be too stunned to scream. We spent a total of one and a half days at the water park, which felt just right—the novelty had worn off, and we had no more energy to play.

Food: When staying in the city center, there were plenty of food options. Dubai Mall has a vast selection. On the first day, we found a very tasty Indian curry at the Waitrose supermarket on the LG floor of Dubai Mall. Rice and curry were sold by weight. My son said it was the best curry he had ever eaten. There is also a Chinatown in Dubai Mall, and Din Tai Fung is located right next to the Burj Khalifa entrance. After arriving on the Palm, I personally recommend booking the hotel's half board. The buffet breakfast includes fried rice and fried noodles. The dinner restaurant choices were also plentiful, with high-quality food and good service.

SIM Card and Internet: In my opinion, for a trip of just a few days, there is no need to buy a SIM card in advance. As soon as you get off the plane, you can connect to Dubai Airport's WiFi, which is very fast. On the way out of the airport, the serious white-robed customs officer will stamp your passport and at the same time slip a DU SIM card into your passport. It includes 1GB of free data valid for 24 hours after activation. I activated that card on the day we went Dune Bashing and used it for one day. The rest of the time, the hotels had WiFi, and Dubai Mall also had WiFi. It felt like every indoor place in Dubai had WiFi. If all else fails, China Mobile has roaming with a daily cap of 30 RMB, connecting to the excellently covered Itsatlat network. One person can enable roaming on their phone and share a WiFi hotspot with another person. Contacting the tour operator via WeChat and WhatsApp was also easy.

This 5-day trip left me with a completely different impression of Dubai compared to 2017. The tourism industry here is developed, and the service sector is professional and friendly. I recommend it to friends traveling with family.