Dubai is synonymous with luxury: giant malls, massive waterparks, and artificial islands are images that often come to mind. But I just spent about 4 days in Dubai, and only spent about $250-300 in total (not including flights). Here’s how I did it!
First of all, visiting during the off-season is vital because hotel prices go down a lot. For Dubai, this is during the summer, which also unfortunately means you have to contend with temperatures above 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius)!
Dubai was also a bit of a sudden decision, a trip I didn’t know I would be taking before I went to Romania. Flights from Bucharest to Dubai are really cheap if you go through the right airline. Our WizzAir flights only cost us $100-200 each!
Hotels in Dubai
By visiting during the off-season with a couple other people, we managed to get a really nice hotel room for about $25 each/night! In total, the room cost me about $100 ($300 total between the three of us.)
This room wasn’t small, either. It was in the Mercure Hotel, which has a pool, bar, gym, and so much more! Our room was on the 30th floor and included a balcony, but also had a full living room, bathroom, master bedroom (with attached bathroom), and an additional bedroom with two twin beds. Each of the rooms included a tv!
Water was also free, as long as you left the bottle in the room.
We weren’t exactly cheaping out on the room and still got to experience some pretty nice accommodations! The view from the balcony was awesome!
Food in Dubai
When it came to food, we did a decent bit of research to find the cheaper options, but nothing stuck out as overly expensive. Granted, we didn’t exactly visit 5-star restaurants.
On our first day, we really wanted to visit the Palm Jumeirah— the large, artificial beach shaped like a palm tree. (They’re actually building a second, larger one further down the beach!) We hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to get lunch there at the Riva Beach Club. The name makes it sound expensive, but it really wasn’t. They have a 50 AED minimum buy while you’re there (about 13.50 USD), but most things are a little above that price anyway.
When we visited, they had a special deal for 199 AED that gets you 2 meals, 2 drinks, pool access, and unlimited free water for the whole day. At first, we were a bit apprehensive, but it came out to about $26 USD each!
It’s still a bit spendy if you’re on a budget, but I think it was a great deal for everything we got out of it! They also have beach access, so you can swim in the pool or in the sea, and you can spend the whole day there with unlimited ice cold water!
The only other time our food got that expensive was when we indulged a bit and ordered way more than we needed. But we also got pasta, tiramisu, and pizza for two people!
If you plan on having food delivered, use the app Careem. It works like UberEats!
Transportation
Dubai is not a walkable city.
If you’re going to go anywhere, you’ll need to go by roads or take the metro.
It’s easy to call an Uber (which is a far better option than a taxi), but they can get expensive fast.
For most of your transportation, I’d recommend taking the Metro. It’s quick, efficient, and inexpensive.
However, some places are easier to reach with an Uber than with the Metro. It just depends on your plans.
The Dubai Metro
To take the metro, you’ll need a metro pass. There are a few different options for purchasing a pass.
There’s a red tourist card that is only valid for a single day and costs 20 AED (About $5.45 USD). However, unless you’re doing a lot of travel in a single day I wouldn’t recommend this. For one, you’ll still be charged for any travel you do beyond 20 AED, and the fares are a bit higher than with some of the other options. Also, it might be a bit harder to track what you’ll be spending.
When we traveled, we typically took only a couple trips a day. The most we took, I think, was about 5 or 6 in a single day.
We went for the silver card. It’s a prepaid card that you can load additional money onto and lasts for 6 months. The fares are also cheaper than the red card.
You can purchase these cards at a terminal in any metro station.
How the Fares Work
Dubai’s fare system is very intuitive once you understand it.
The city is split into three zones. Travel within one zone has the cheapest fare, and will always be the same price for a single trip. For example, on the silver card, travel within one zone is 3 AED. Travel between two zones is 5 AED on the silver card, and travel between all 3 zones costs 7.5 on the silver card.
You’re only charged the fare upon exiting the station. So, for example, if you get on the metro heading the wrong direction like we did once, you won’t be charged extra for that trip.
Additionally, if your travel between two zones is a short enough distance, like from one station to the very next one, you’ll only be charged the fare for one zone.
As long as you know where you’re going and don’t keep entering and leaving the station unnecessarily, you can get around the city for a very good price! 3 AED isn’t even a full US dollar.
For more information on the metro, see this site.
Uber
If you’re going to places far away from the Metro lines, Uber or a similar taxi service will be your way to go. (Again, don’t take a normal taxi!)
Like I said, it’s unfortunately more expensive than the metro, but Dubai is not a very walkable city, so be prepared to need Uber at least once!
Sightseeing
There’s a lot that you can see for free in Dubai.
On our first day, we visited the Palm Jumeirah (which was bigger than we thought it’d be), visited the Souk Madinat Jumeirah (a large marketplace), and walked along the beach after dinner.
On the second day, we went to Abu Dhabi practically for free. (I’ll get to that in a minute!)
For day three, we visited the Dubai Mall and saw the Burj Khalifa, which took up most of our day, and finished it off with a visit to a club. The fourth day was a little bit of exploring and visiting the hotel pool before heading to the airport.
Souk Madinat Jumeirah
Located right next to the Burj Al Arab (A ridiculously expensive hotel), the Souk Madinat Jumeirah is a large market area.
Everything here will run you quite a lot of money. Even if you’re just here to check it out, it’s worth it, in my opinion. Just be ready for some people to try to give you samples and get your attention.
It really is a beautiful market, and definitely worth checking out!
Next, let’s talk about Abu Dhabi.
How I Spent a Day in Abu Dhabi for $17
There’s a really cool system called the Cultural Express, which is a bus that goes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. It’s free as long as you have a ticket for the Louvre Abu Dhabi or one of the other stops.
If you’re curious, here’s the schedule and route options for the bus!
We bought tickets for the Louvre Abu Dhabi for $17, boarded the bus outside our hotel (which is about a 1.5 hour trip to Abu Dhabi), and rode to the museum for free!
It’s worth noting that the Louvre is closed on Monday. Also, the stops have their own admission fees, so make sure you plan your trip ahead of time! Dubai Travel Planner has some great information on the Cultural Express if you want to know more.
The bus doesn’t visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, so we had to take an Uber there and back. We also took one to get food, but there’s a cafe in the Louvre if you’d rather do that! Those expenses were our own choice, but you could go there and back for $17 if you really wanted to (though you’d probably go hungry for a while unless you bring your own food).
The Mosque is free to visit, but you need to reserve tickets ahead of time. Also, be aware of the rules for your visit. You have to dress modestly, and the standards are different for men and women.
Between the Louvre and the Mosque, we filled almost an entire day! We finished off the day with dinner at a hot pot restaurant in Dubai.
The Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa
The Dubai Mall is easy to reach. It’s attached to the Metro station!
The mall is massive. Now, obviously, the cost of visiting the mall depends on whether you plan on buying anything.
We mainly walked around and explored the place, only spending money on food in the massive food court.
The mall includes an ice-skating rink, a two-story aquarium, a giant waterfall, and an unfathomable number of shops! It’s easy to spend a whole day there even if you’re just walking around.
As for the Burj Khalifa, I didn’t get to actually go inside. I did get some pictures in front of it, and if you walk far enough through the metro station in the opposite direction of the Dubai Mall, you’ll reach a spot where you can get a good view of it.
As far as we could tell, there’s no easy way to get to the Burj Khalifa from the mall on foot. You’ll need an Uber!
Nightlife
There are quite a few clubs in Dubai once you look around. I’ve had very few experiences with clubs, but I enjoyed my time visiting one here!
I will give a quick warning about alcohol, though. Dubai doesn’t have income tax or sales tax, but they have a heavy tax on alcohol. 30%, as of 2025. So, drink responsibly. It’ll get expensive.
Conclusion
I didn’t expect Dubai to be so cheap. Obviously, though, you’ll get what you pay for. If you spend thousands a day, you’ll have a very different experience than going there on a budget.
Regardless, it’s easy to have a great time there regardless of how much you spend! I didn’t expect to enjoy Dubai, and I had an awesome experience!
Just make sure you’re aware of their laws, as some of them are very different than in Western countries.
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