Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. With shape like a slant rectangle, it’s bounded in the north by Sharjah and in the south by Abu Dhabi. The city is rather like an independent city-state and is the most modern and progressive emirate in the UAE, developing at a rapid pace, especially in the tourist and trade sectors. Recently, Dubai won the bid to host EXPO 2020, a Universal scale Registered Exposition approved by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), Paris. Dubai was gaining popularity in recent years until the global economic crash of 2008. It is essentially a desert city with superb infrastructure and comparatively liberal policies (by regional standards). Boasting state-of-the-art tourist amenities, it quickly became popular and one of the most visited cities in the world. Just 5 h from Europe and 3 h from most parts of the Middle East, the Near East, and the subcontinent of India, Dubai makes a great short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, and other tourists’ activities. It is a city of superlatives. For the fastest, biggest, tallest, largest and highest, Dubai is the destination. It has the largest immigrant population in the world. Specifically, according to Dubai Statistics Center, out of its 2019 3,355,900 population, only 263,450 were Emiratis and that has been the fashion for years.The city’s weekly day off is Friday. Note that since September 2006, a harmonised weekend of Friday and Saturday has been adopted for the public sector and schools. Government departments, multinational companies and most schools and universities now go off on Friday and Saturday (after years of a mixed bag of Friday/Saturday and Thursday/Friday weekends). Some local companies still work half a day on Thursday with a full day on Saturday, but larger companies tend to permit relaxation and time off work for their employees on Friday and Saturday.One Emirates, many PeoplesOnce you land in Dubai, you might not think it is an Arab city, given its cosmopolitan feel and its modern Western-styled architectures. When Dubai was in poor state before the exploration of oil, some Indians supplied technology for the development of it. Dubai has, since the founding of its oil industry, attracted thousands of migrants from all over the world notably from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. In this modern day, Indians and Filipinos have left their influence in the emirate: Indian restaurants and Pakistani bakeshops are everywhere while Filipino supermarkets are on the rise. Next to them the Europeans (mostly British and French) and Sri Lankans, form the next largest communities. Chinese and Indonesian migrants are on the rise. Many Arab countries have passed policies like the UAE’s Emiratisation, which is a policy that prevents migrants from taking all the job opportunities and provides more jobs to local Emiratis.Dubai is divided into multiple districts or municipalities: Also see Jebel Ali, a city near Dubai which was once isolated from the main bulk of Dubai back in the 70’s and is now a separate major residential and industrial hub encompassing the edges of the southern portions of Dubai. The main attraction popular with locals and tourists alike is the easily recognizable Ibn Battuta Mall, styled on the countries visited by the famous explorer. The mall is built adjacent to the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel that’s large archway can be seen from afar. Surrounding the mall is the Gardens apartments, an ethnically diverse district with a strong Indian community. Jebel Ali village, a 35 year old community built on the side of Jebel Ali (Ali Mountain) for the European builders of Jebel Ali Port is still popular with western expats. The coastal side of the Sheihk Zayed Road in Jebel Ali consists of many unattractive power and desalination plants that somewhat ruin the view. The port was the 9th busiest in the world in 2011. Dubai has an arid sub-tropical climate with very hot, humid summer weather averaging 42 degrees (108F) in the daytime and 28 (84F) at night. Fall and Spring is still rather hot, with daytime temperatures between 25 and 40 degrees (75-100F) and nights around 20 degrees (65-75F), with less humidity. Winter weather is pleasant and dry, with daytime highs of 25 (75F) and nighttime lows of 10 degrees (55F). Dubai is known for its beaches, with water temperature in summer getting as hot as 37 degrees (99F). The water temperature tends to be around 20-25 degrees (75F) in winter, and 30 (85F) in spring and fall as outside temperatures rise. December to April generally produces the highest precipitation, which at 10 cm (5 in), still is little. Some years yield no more than a few minutes of shower in Dubai. November 2006 brought record rains up to 50 cm (25 in) of rain, with temperatures at record lows.See Get in section of the UAE page for visa and customs regulations. While Israeli passport holders are not welcome, having Israeli stamps in your passport is not a problem. (Edit: This is NOT always the case. Although somewhat rare, you CAN be refused entry into the UAE for having an Israeli stamp in your passport. Be safe and bring a second passport for traveling to Muslim countries, or travel to Israel after visiting all Muslim countries). If you are traveling from India and are of a nationality for which an advance visa is required, it might be necessary to get an ‘Ok to Board’ stamp on your tickets and Visa. This is generally arranged by a travel agent. If this has not been done, consult your airline office once you have a visa and airline ticket in your possession. Dubai’s main airport is the Dubai International Airport. You can also enter Dubai by using Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) in the nearby emirate of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in nearby Abu Dhabi. Frequent visitors from countries granted automatic visa on entry may wish to purchase an e-gate card to speed up immigration formalities and save passport pages. The e-gate card office is situated in the upstairs foodcourt area of the terminal 1 departures concourse. The card will cost AED 200. Note: If you intend to buy an e-gate card in Dubai, you must have entered UAE via Dubai airport.Airlines are often having price wars to glamorous destinations like Dubai and this can work to your advantage by careful planning and comparison of the various airlines serving Dubai. Emirates[] is Dubai’s official airline carrier which connects Dubai to over 100 destinations while FlyDubai[] is Dubai’s low-cost carrier. Etihad[] has free 75 minute shuttle services from their exclusive check in facility in Sheikh Zayed Rd or Central Business District of Dubai to and from Abu Dhabi Int’l Airport, you can also fly with Sharjah’s low-cost carrier

Airport: DXB Dubai International Airport Cities in Ukraine

Country: United Arab Emirates