Dubai Summer Stay

On the 20th of August 2023, we stopped off as a family on our way back from our summer holiday in Mauritius in Dubai for a four night stay.

On our previous visit to Dubai as a family, we had travelled onwards to Ras Al Khaimah and my husband and I had not stayed in Dubai for 18 years We arrived late into Dubai from Mauritius around 1110pm on the 21st of August, on leaving the airport it was still 38 degrees after midnight with high humidity too.

Our transfer at that time of night was around 35 minutes, to our hotel We stayed at the 5* Grosvenor House, hotel, these are hotel rooms and apartments in two tower buildings, we stayed in tower two in a two bedroom suite on a half board basis.

We chose Grosvenor house for our stay based on location near Dubai Marina, the fact that we wanted to have more space and a separate bedroom for our girls and a their past customer review scores. They also have an agreement with the 5* Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa, where you can use the hotel pools and facilities and the dining too.

As this was the last 4 nights of our two week holiday, we were able to spend time relaxing around the pool, although as the temperature was 48 degrees and the humidity almost identical, then sitting by the pool consisted mainly of dipping in and out of the pools to cool off.

The service at Grosvenor house, in the bars and the restaurants was exceptional, with the staff greeting us by name as breakfast every morning We spent a fabulous say at the Royal Meridien Beach Resort on Jumeriah Beach, which the Grosvenor House provide a courtesy bus to, several time a day, travel time, traffic permitting is only around 15 minutes.

We also had an evening meal, buffet style at Brasserie 2.0 at the Royal Merdien Beach Resort too one evening.

During our stay in Dubai, we took a taxi to the Dubai Mall, which is vast, we had our photo’s in front of the huge aquarium, real dinosaur and our main reason for visiting was to view the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa and the stunning light show that takes place of an evening. This is a captivating show of water, music and lights. The show times vary from year to year and usually run every 30 minutes, you can pay to pre-book a light show boat ride, or my advice is to grab a spot at least 10 minutes prior to the shows on the bridge, for a free viewing opportunity.

We took a walk around the Marina one late afternoon, but the temperature and humidity meant that our walk was cut short somewhat, we did however manage to negotiate the water taxi back across the Marina, there are several that connect various parts of the Marina as well as boat trips over to/around The Palm.

On our last night to celebrate our daughters GCSE results, we booked a meal at the fabulous City Social restaurant at Grosvenor House, this is by Celebrity chef Jason Atherton. Opened in 2023, this restaurant takes up the 43rd and 44th floors of Tower Two at the Grosvenor House, with a dedicated “bling” lift and lift attendant to take you up and views over the Marina, Dubai Wheel, The Palm, on the Thursday night were were there, there was a DJ with a music set in the bar, we had a wonderful meal and managed to capture some wonderful photo’s and memories of our evening.

Whilst we loved out stay in Dubai, I think when we next return it will be not in the peak summer months weather wise, so that we can enjoy more of what this exciting city has to offer!