Mall of Emirates and other Dubai, United Arab Emirates Shopping Tips

Name of Shop: Mall of Emirates

The Mall of Emirates is a large shopping mall located off Sheikh Zayed Road, in New Dubai, not too far from the Burj Al Arab. This large modern shopping centre is filled with endless shops - it just seems to go on and on. Split over two floors, the shops consist mostly of European and British brands, including Harvey Nichols department store.

There are numerous cafes and food outlets, along with a few restaurants which are officially connected to the Kempinski Hotel. This means that they are all licensed to sell alcohol.

One very special attraction at the Mall or Emirates is Ski Dubai - an indoor ski field! It looks a bit like a movie set. If you have a drink or meal at Après you can sit and watch the skiing action through the window.

Taxi queues can be a big problem at shopping malls. When we left the mall there was around 30 people in the queue ahead of us, but we were in a taxi within about 10 minutes.

Mall opening hours:
Sun to Wed: 10am - 10pm
Thu to Sat: 10am - 12am



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Theme: Women's Clothes
Phone: +971 4 409 9000
Address: Sheikh Zayed Road, New Dubai
Website: http://www.malloftheemirates.com

Name of Shop: Gold & Diamond Park

The Gold & Diamond Park is not actually a park, but a shopping centre with more than 100 shops that just sell gold, diamonds and other jewellery. It is a girls paradise....and their husband's worst nightmare! It is located off Sheikh Zayed Road, close to the Mall of Emirates.

I was in the market for a new diamond ring. Whilst researching diamond shopping in Dubai prior to our trip I read numerous reviews about one shop in the Gold & Diamond Park, called Cara. Everyone was raving about it- apparently the service was excellent, the prices very reasonable, the quality of the diamonds impressive etc.

When we arrived at the Park, we had a wander around and then came across Cara. It was pretty much the only shop in the mall that had people shopping in it. That was a good sign. We went in and started looking at some rings. One of the friendly staff, Mayur, asked us to take a seat and show him some examples of what we were after. He seemed to know exactly what I wanted, and within 10 minutes we had found the perfect ring.

A small amount of haggling later, we had agreed on a price, which worked out to be only about a third of the price of similar rings we had looked at in London. The ring needed to be re-sized as I have slim fingers, and I expected we would have to return in a couple of days to collect it. No need to - they resized it while we waited, and even polished up my existing ring as well.

Can't wait for our next visit to Dubai and to Cara's ; )

What To Buy: Diamonds!

What To Pay: Don't forget to haggle

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Theme: Jewelry
Address: Sheikh Zayed Road, New Dubai
Website: http://www.goldanddiamondpark.com http://www.carajewellers.com

Name of Shop: Wafi City

Wafi City Mall is an upmarket Egyptian-themed shopping mall located in Bur Dubai. The mall has three pyramids which allow lots of natural light to flood in, two of them made from stained glass. We mainly window shopped at this mall, as there were plenty of designer shops here, along with a few UK locals such as Marks & Spencer and Top Shop.

The most interesting shop for me was Wafi Gourmet, a gourmet food shop and delicatessen. It sells all sorts of Arabian delicacies, and the large boxes of colourful, sticky baklawa certainly tempted me.

The mall is connected to the Pyramids complex, which contains some top night spots and restaurants. Another part of the Wafi City experience is the brand new Raffles Hotel, its prominent pyramid shape has become a new Dubai landmark.

Taxi queues can be a big problem at shopping malls. When we left the mall thankfully there was no queue at all and we jumped straight into a waiting taxi.

Mall opening hours:
Sat to Wed: 10am - 10pm
Thu & Fri: 10am - 12am



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Theme: Other
Phone: +971 4 324 4555
Address: Al-Qataiyat Road, Bur Dubai
Website: http://waficity.com/
Other Contact: customerservice@wafi.com

Name of Shop: Deira City Centre

The Deira City Centre Mall is located close to the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club in Deira. It was the closest mall to our hotel, and we visited there on our last afternoon in Dubai.

Although a large complex, it has a more local feel to it, with more affordable shopping, and more shops with a local flavour. There were still plenty of the usual chain shops we are used to in the UK, along with Debenhams department store.

There is a cinema and also a children's entertainment centre called Magic Planet, along with a good range of restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets.

Taxi queues can be a big problem at shopping malls, and I had read that the queues were particularly bad at Deira City Centre....and that was our experience too. Although there was a constant flow of taxi's arriving, we still had to queue for over 1 hour!

Mall opening hours:
Sat to Tue: 10am - 10pm
Wed to Fri: 10am - 12am



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Theme: Women's Clothes
Phone: +971 4 295 4545
Address: Al-Garhoud Road, Deira, Dubai
Website: http://www.deiracitycentre.com
Other Contact: dcc@deiracitycentre.com

Name of Shop: Souk Madinat Jumeirah

The Souk Madinat Jumeirah is located next to the Madinat Jumeirah Resort, which is just across the beach from the Burj Al Arab. This complex is a recreation of a traditional souk, and is home to around 100 shops, restaurants and bars. Not really a place for clothes shopping, it is more the place to shop for handicrafts and souvenirs, without having to worry about spruikers.

I wasn't that interested in the shops here, but really liked the location and outlook of the main restaurants and bars, which are located along a canal-like waterway, some offering views of the Burj as well. We were keen to stop for a drink at one of the bars but all of the best tables were already taken.



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Theme: Local Craft
Phone: +971 4 366 8888
Address: Jumeirah Road, Umm Suqeim, Dubai
Website: http://www.madinatjumeirah.com/shopping/