Dubai - hire a car or taxi/uber/careem it??
Discussion
Staying on the Palm in August with the kids. Going for about 2weeks-ish and plan is to go out and about. Last in Dubai in 2018 so wanted to check how things are now wrt getting around...
Cost wise - it's coming to about £400/£500 for the whole period to get something like a Kia Sportage (all waivers, etc)
Ease of driving though - wanted to get some views of how easy/difficult it is - driving/parking/etc. I've driven in India so well aware of the "unique driving styles" that can be encountered
Plus - using Google Maps to get around i'm guessing should also be OK.
Or shall I just stick with the Uber/Careem//beige coloured taxis as presuming they're still cheap.
Anyone have recent experiences??
Cheers.
Cost wise - it's coming to about £400/£500 for the whole period to get something like a Kia Sportage (all waivers, etc)
Ease of driving though - wanted to get some views of how easy/difficult it is - driving/parking/etc. I've driven in India so well aware of the "unique driving styles" that can be encountered
Plus - using Google Maps to get around i'm guessing should also be OK.Or shall I just stick with the Uber/Careem//beige coloured taxis as presuming they're still cheap.
Anyone have recent experiences??
Cheers.
Driving in Dubai is easy, I lived there for years and have been back many times since.
Side roads do change though as they're forever building so I always use GPS coordinates for the sat nav rather than trying street addresses etc.
There are lots of dead ends and at times you can seem to be driving miles out of your way to get to where you want to go as there's no exit / U turn location etc
Obviously don't consume alcohol and drive, careem or ordinary taxis are cheap enough.
Parking normally OK, though a lot of areas that used to be free parking now have meters (1 AED coins needed for these)
Valet available at almost all hotels / restaurants and all malls - don't be afraid to use it, the valets have driven much nicer cars than whatever you'll have!
Cameras are set 20kph above the posted limit (limit 120kph on SZR to Abu Dhabi but everyone drives at 139) remember to stay out of the outside lanes unless you're pushing on, there is no patience for ignorant drivers.
I absolutely love driving in the UAE, but then I push on and have no patience for ignorance either.... by contrast a fair number of people in my office hated it, thought everyone was trying to kill them etc etc - on the odd occasion I was a passenger with them I could see why lol
Side roads do change though as they're forever building so I always use GPS coordinates for the sat nav rather than trying street addresses etc.
There are lots of dead ends and at times you can seem to be driving miles out of your way to get to where you want to go as there's no exit / U turn location etc
Obviously don't consume alcohol and drive, careem or ordinary taxis are cheap enough.
Parking normally OK, though a lot of areas that used to be free parking now have meters (1 AED coins needed for these)
Valet available at almost all hotels / restaurants and all malls - don't be afraid to use it, the valets have driven much nicer cars than whatever you'll have!
Cameras are set 20kph above the posted limit (limit 120kph on SZR to Abu Dhabi but everyone drives at 139) remember to stay out of the outside lanes unless you're pushing on, there is no patience for ignorant drivers.
I absolutely love driving in the UAE, but then I push on and have no patience for ignorance either.... by contrast a fair number of people in my office hated it, thought everyone was trying to kill them etc etc - on the odd occasion I was a passenger with them I could see why lol
Taxi would get my vote. £500 will get you a lot of taxi journeys.
It’s not hard to drive there but driving standards particularly among the locals are absolutely appalling. You’ll spend a significant amount of time with a land cruiser or similar glued to your back bumper being driven by someone who is doing everything but focusing on driving. It’s not unlike driving in Italy, you need to be forceful and drive with conviction and expect people to do the most stupid thing they could in every scenario. If you can’t be arsed with that just get taxis (which are also badly driven).
It’s not hard to drive there but driving standards particularly among the locals are absolutely appalling. You’ll spend a significant amount of time with a land cruiser or similar glued to your back bumper being driven by someone who is doing everything but focusing on driving. It’s not unlike driving in Italy, you need to be forceful and drive with conviction and expect people to do the most stupid thing they could in every scenario. If you can’t be arsed with that just get taxis (which are also badly driven).
The roads can still get busy at times, especially queuing for parking at malls. If you know the local roads and how/where it gets busy you can avoid it a bit, but hard to know without being there all the time.
I'd recommend Uber for anything around the city, and then day hire if you want to do an Al Ain / east coast / friday market day trip.
For a day down to Abu Dhabi you can do either - if you use Uber at first you'll end up collecting lots of business cards to use them directly (ie outside the Uber app) and this can be useful to negotiate a day fee for something like an Abu Dhabi day.
I'd recommend Uber for anything around the city, and then day hire if you want to do an Al Ain / east coast / friday market day trip.
For a day down to Abu Dhabi you can do either - if you use Uber at first you'll end up collecting lots of business cards to use them directly (ie outside the Uber app) and this can be useful to negotiate a day fee for something like an Abu Dhabi day.
eein said:
The roads can still get busy at times, especially queuing for parking at malls. If you know the local roads and how/where it gets busy you can avoid it a bit, but hard to know without being there all the time.
This is the decider really. Without knowing the hotspots and alternate routes you’re more likely to experience the worst of the traffic and getting parked at destination. Traffic jams, kids and 40+ degC gets old fast. Where on the palm though? Fuel prices and forex both not in your favour since your last visit, could well be £10 just to get from the crescent onto the mainland.
Also depends what sort of holiday you’re having. If resort based then taxis all the way.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff