Turn your layover in Dubai into a 2-3 day mini-vaca

On our way to Kenya, we turned our Dubai layover into a 3 day mini-vaca and hit all the major spots. Here is how we did it:

We visited Dubai in late March - just before summer - and it was extremely hot. For the duration of the stay it was above 85/90. Before visiting we did extensive research on how to dress, transportation etc. As it turns out, Dubai is a very modern city - for the most part we could dress as we would in the US (thank god - it was too hot to dress otherwise!). Ubers were relatively safe/easy. However, just like any new city, you should always be alert of your surroundings. Dubai is known for having the largest airport, largest mall, tallest building, tallest residential building, tallest clocktower and much more. It was fastinating city to visit -- it felt like jumping into the future.

HOTEL: We wanted to stay on the palm for a number of reasons - the view, the beach and safety. After some research, we decided to splurge on FIVE Palm Jumeirah Hotel for two ngihts. We wanted to stay here because of the roof top bar and pool/access to the beach. In dubai, you can't be publicly drunk - so we wanted to stay at a hotel where we can experience the night life without having to take the risk of leaving the hotel and taking an uber. The picture below is on the rooftop of the FIVE palm hotel. If we didn't stay on the palm, we would've stayed in the marina area.

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DAY 1: Site Seeing - Burj Khalifia, Spice Souk & Burj Al Arab

To make best use of our time, we booked an 'on and off' bus tour through Big Bus Tour. The bus has 3 different lines: the red, blue and green line. Take a look here for the map. We stoped at the Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifia (stop 10 on green tour), Burj Al Arab (stop 13 on the green tour) and the spice souks(stop 6 on the red tour). We briefly stopped in heritage village on the red line to see some of old Dubai -- we were very disappointed -- if you have the option, it's not worth stopping at.

DAY 2: Helicopter Ride & Sunset Safari

11am Helicopter ride: We booked the helicopter ride through the Atlantis hotel who uses Alpha Tours as their vendor. It wasn't cheap! It was roughly 150$ per person for a 15min ride around the city but well worth it! This is comparable to the helicopter ride prices in NYC. Camera were not allowed on the helicopter so all photos below were taken via my iPhone:

3:30pm Sunset Safari: We booked through Desert Safari and did the evening safari. The safari includes dune bashing, henna tattoos, a camel ride, dinner, and a night show that includes belly dancing and a fire show.