Dubai Marina is one of Dubai’s most popular districts for tourists. The reason is easy to say: it is a veritable city within a city, directly overlooking the warm waters of the Persian Gulf; there is a clean, well-equipped beach with all comforts, a pedestrian promenade adorned with palm trees and very pleasant shops, boutiques and restaurants, and it is surrounded by modern skyscrapers in the most daring shapes.
Dubai Marina came out of nowhere in the mid-2000s, built to become the world’s largest man-made marina. Having realised this ambitious goal, Emaar, the construction company that managed the entire project, decided to adorn it with an incredible number of skyscrapers used exclusively for hotels and private flats, a four-storey shopping mall, the Dubai Marina Mall, and, above all, a pedestrian promenade called the Promenade that runs along the entire waterfront, much used by residents for outdoor sports such as running and inline skating, but also for taking a relaxing stroll resting on the numerous benches installed every few dozen metres. More than 200 excellent restaurants line it, offering cuisines from all over the world.
It is therefore easy to understand why Dubai Marina is the favourite district of tourists: there are no less than two pedestrian promenades: the waterfront called The Walk and the 7-kilometre-long Promenade that winds around the marina, which is difficult to find in a city like Dubai that is practically only designed to be driven around, there is a magnificent beach with all the comforts and there are a disproportionate number of skyscrapers occupied by luxury hotels.
But it is not only a holiday resort: a large part of the Europeans and Americans working in Dubai have chosen Dubai Marina as their residence in the Emirates, and this can be seen when entering the supermarket in the Dubai Marina Mall: there are in fact numerous European products on sale, with labels in English and even in Russian, and above all, even at a glance, one notices that the clientele is largely made up of Westerners.
It is possible to visit the elegant district with a small cruise or a speedboat tour; we highly recommend it, it is probably the best way to visit Dubai Marina.
Dubai Marina beach, known simply as The Beach, is one of the busiest and at the same time one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire city of Dubai. Behind it are tall buildings such as the Jumeirah Beach Residences, the Hilton Hotel and the spectacular Cayan Tower, while in front one can admire the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah with the iconic Atlantis Hotel in the background.
The beach itself is very well maintained and preserved: the hotels facing it have a portion of it reserved for them, while the rest of the beach is equally divided into a free public part and a paid equipped part.
If you choose the latter, the rates are certainly not cheap, but you will be provided with sunbeds, parasols and beach towels. Also included in the price is the use of changing rooms and toilets.
The public beach, on the other hand, is also very well maintained, but it has one major limitation, at least as we Europeans are used to it: it is forbidden to plant umbrellas. This can be a problem for a good part of the year, when temperatures rise well above bearable levels and staying in the sun becomes detrimental.
The Dubai Marina Mall is the shopping centre of the Dubai Marina district. It consists of four floors, the main entrance is located on the Sheikh Zayed Road side right in front of the tram stop, but is also within walking distance of the metro stop.
The secondary entrance, on the other hand, faces the Promenade; the four floors are largely made up of shops of the big international chains, the top floor houses a food court and a cinema, while on the lowest floor is a large supermarket.
If you like to spend your holiday on the beach, go ahead and choose a hotel in Dubai Marina: there are plenty of them, mostly high-end, from the world’s best hotel chains. We recommend a few with thousands of positive reviews.
Dubai Marina is one of the few areas of Dubai that you can get around on foot, but transport is very well developed. It is possible to use the Dubai Tram, which connects the Jumeirah Beach Residences to the artificial Palm Jumeirah island, passing through many parts of the district and intersecting with two metro stops, but it is also possible to get around by water taxi within the marina: there are four stops more or less equidistant, and with a few dirhams you can save yourself a nice walk, while enjoying a wonderful view of the skyscrapers and moored yachts.
City Card allow you to save on public transport and / or on the entrances to the main tourist attractions.