Money Tips for Dubai
Our family learned several money tips for Dubai during our recent trip to the United Arab Emirates. We actually stayed in 3 emirates (Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai), but Dubai was the primary destination. Read about our top adventures here or tips on travel to Dubai during COVID here.
Dubai can be an expensive place to visit, so here are our top tips to save money during a trip to the UAE:
- Wild Wadi Waterpark is running a special for VISA card holders: tickets are only 99AED ($27) on Sunday’s if you book with a VISA card. We jumped at this deal. The park was not crowded at all, and we had a great day.
- If you don’t have a VISA card, here is the one that we use for all our world travels. We are very careful in our budgeting, very cautious with the use of credit cards, and have never promoted for others to use them. However, this travel card has several great features that we have used during international travel. Please read about it first here. If you use our link, you can earn $600+ in travel.
- Atlantis Aquaventure gives you a FREE park ticket for your birthday. Jon and Abigail were both celebrating birthdays during our time in Dubai. The deal allowed for a 2-week window surrounding your birthday, with proof of day via ID. Brandon and Ashley also got 20% off, making a trip for 4 to Atlantis Aquaventure cost less than $150! The cheapest way for a family to arrive and depart is via taxi. The monorail is cool, but expensive, and you’ll need a taxi anyways.
- ATMs: Use ATMs located at a physical bank branch. Jon found that ATMs at the malls or other commercial areas both added a significant fee and a worse exchange rate. The Charles Schwab debit card reimburses international ATM fees, but still be careful about non-bank ATMs. If a “fee” is via a worse exchange rate, you are out of luck. Bank branch ATMs did not have fees and exchanged right at the 3.67/1 rate.
- Keep cash available. Most places do accept credit cards, including all Dubai taxis. However, Sharjah taxis do not. Jon found that out after we took a ride in one. He had to search for an ATM with the driver to pay him. Cash is best for small purchases and street shopping.
- Cash exchanges: these are the best rates we have ever seen to exchange cash. Jon still had 120 euros, after forgetting that Hungary has its own currency. To exchange in Hungary, we would have lost 14% of value. In Dubai Jon paid the equivalent of a $1 fee and got full value to exchange euros to AED.
- Getting around: we found the easiest and cheapest way for 4 people was to use a taxi. We both booked rides using the Careem App and by hailing on the street. There is no extra charging per passenger: the fare is the same for 1 person as it is for 4 people. Occasionally all 4 of us sat in the back, sometimes Jon sat up front, but the drivers were generally okay taking all 4 of us in the car.
- Walking: the UAE officially ended our “walk everywhere” mantra of the trip. We did not take a single taxi until Dubai, but everything is REALLY spread out. It may look close on the map but go ahead and plan out routes using the walking feature in Google maps to see how long things take.
- We didn’t spend more than 3 nights at any place, so didn’t do much grocery shopping. The grocery stores we did use had reasonable prices. The American restaurants all had comparable USA pricing, which was higher than local restaurants.
All in all, Dubai is an awesome place to visit! However, it can be very expensive. Proper planning can help you to budget appropriately. Plan for the activities you want to do (read about our top recommendations here), how you will get around (budget for taxis), and have a blast!
Dubai was one of our stops during a year-long trip around the world! To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.
If you have questions or money tips for Dubai, let us know!
