Jumeirah

Jumeirah, which means ‘beautiful’ in Arabic, is a residential district of Dubai, which stretches for several kilometres along the Persian Gulf coast and consists almost exclusively of single-storey houses and villas.

The area is mainly populated by the wealthy inhabitants of the city, but also by numerous Europeans and Westerners in Dubai for work; not for nothing is the district also known as ‘the Beverly Hills of the Middle East’.

Dubai’s huge expansion since the second half of the 1990s has seen a frightening growth in housing and construction, which has transformed Jumeirah, once home to fishermen, merchants and pearl hunters, into an area populated by wealthy emigrants and luxury hotels.

Today, it is widely believed that Jumeirah is one of the most exclusive districts in Dubai and this has even led to the word Jumeirah becoming the very symbol of exclusivity. Prime examples are the names chosen for facilities such as the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, the Jumeirah Beach Club or the Jumeirah Beach Park.

Things to do in Jumeirah

The beach bordering the Jumeirah district is mostly private, and numerous luxury hotels overlook it: the most popular of them is undoubtedly the Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s iconic sail-shaped hotel in the world, but the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Madinat Jumeirah, a huge complex built in the traditional Arabian style and comprising three luxurious five-star hotels named Mina A’Salam, Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf, as well as bars, shops and restaurants, are also worth a mention.

Not to be missed is a visit to the Jumeirah Beach Park, a beautiful public beach with an entrance fee, however very cheap, which includes a magnificent park, as well as the actual beach itself which is very well maintained and adorned with palm trees, with all facilities such as bars, changing rooms and toilets.

For a closer look at Islam (and to remember that Dubai is, after all, a city of the Arab world), there is nothing better than a visit to the Jumeirah Mosque, which is open to non-Muslims every day except Fridays at 10am. It is one of the few mosques within the UAE that can also be visited by non-Muslims.

Real estate in Jumeirah

The area is still one of the most exclusive and expensive in the whole of Dubai, although some newly developed neighbourhoods, such as Dubai Marina or Downtown Dubai, have attracted many former residents to Jumeirah.

The houses in this area are designed differently than in the rest of the city: no skyscrapers or glitzy buildings, but villas and one-storey cottages, all with gardens and garages, many with swimming pools.

Unfortunately, however, walking through the streets of Jumeirah to admire these villas is totally useless: as in the rest of the Arab world, in fact, the privacy of one’s own home is almost maniacal, the properties are fenced off by high walls or gardens, from the street you can hardly see anything. As if that were not enough, there are no shops or restaurants, the pavements are not at all shady and there is practically no one on the street, making a walk through the inner streets of the district a total waste of time.