Is Dubai A Good Place For A Family Holiday (5 Reasons Why It Is!)

I have been wanting to visit Dubai for several years now, but I have had a hard time convincing my girlfriend, that Dubai could be a great family holiday.

So, I did some research, do find out, just exactly how great of a family destination Dubai is, here is what I found out.

Is Dubai a Good Place for a Family Holiday? Dubai could be a great place for families to have a vacation. Dubai has great weather, amusement parks, an indoor ski resort, and water parks, that especially favors the older kids, but Dubai also has hundreds of family-friendly all-inclusive resorts.

Read on as I get in-depth with everything that I learned, and what info I gathered to try to persuade my girlfriend, that Dubai could be a great place to visit

More about Dubai as a Good Place for a Family Holiday!

I honestly believe that Dubai would be a good place for a great family holiday. I do not believe that it is the right place for you if you want to hike in the mountains or visit old cultural relics, but if you want a great destination to visit for the family, then I really believe that Dubai would be great.

Dubai is at the top of my list, for our next family holiday, here is why.

There is great weather in the winter.
It is cheaper than I thought
It’s is one of the safest places to visit, in the world.
There are lots of fun activities to do in Dubai, as a family
It looks beautiful in pictures and is a place everybody talks about, after visiting. So, I really would think, that visiting Dubai with the family, would create some great everlasting memories.

Dubai is way cheaper than I thought!

I really did think, that Dubai-prices would be twice, the prices in Denmark or maybe +50% of New York City, but actually, it is almost -50% the prices of Denmark. That’s interesting and great news to me.

Source: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin..

Is Dubai child friendly?

To answer this question, the best thing is to first consider, when a country is not child-friendly to visitors.

When there is gangs, violence or just horrible infrastructure, then I would consider a country not to be a great destination, at least not an easy destination to travel with a family.

From what I hear, Dubai is like one big mall.

The roads and the infrastructure is brand new, as the country is probably the richest country in the world. Getting around should be fairly easy.

And the police and law-officers are quite strict, and according to this crime index, United Arab Emirates scores very, very high on the “no crime index” and safety index.

Actually, Dubai is the fifth safest country on the list is like this

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Doha, Qatar
Osaka, Japan
Quebec City, Canada
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

If you choose to compare Dubai to New York City, then you would see that Dubai is significantly more safe for kids and families.

Source: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_cit…

Although we can check different crime indexes, safety is a very subjective topic. A country that might be considered not safe for me (danish standards), might be perceived as safe for somebody else (compared with their own countries’ safety standards).

I wrote an article about traveling with kids to Thailand, which according to crime indexes would not be labeled as a very safe country, and yet one of the most visited -also with kids-.

5 things to do in Dubai for families!

I have to say, that i have actually not yet visited Dubai with my family, but I have been doing a lot of research because I really want to go there.

So, I have made up this list of things that I would do in Dubai with my family, if and when, I ever get the pleasure of going there. Here are my top 5 things that I would probably go do in Dubai.

#1 Dubai Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark

Going to a waterpark, when visiting a warm-country, must be the number one thing to do for families. I know that my kids would love the water-slides and this water-park has almost 15.000 great reviews at TripAdvisor.

I personally prefer pools and waterparks over the beach, especially when going with small kids. Not only do I not like to get sand in my pants, but neither does my kids.

When researching this water-park, it looks like they’ve got it all – and to top it all off, the park has been called “The third best waterpark in the world” online.

Seems like a place you will have to visit when going to Dubai with your family.

#2 Ski Dubai, an indoor ski-resort

If you are going with kids, who aren’t toddlers, then I would imagine that you could spend the whole week in this place.

I do not go skiing often, but I do think it is fun. The reason I do not like to go skiing is that of the cold weather, but how awesome would it be to be able to go skiing the same day, as you are able to go to the beach.

When you are on a holiday, in extreme heat, it can be too much, the heat will exhaust you. But if you are near a ski-resort, while being in the desert, you are able to cool off and enjoy the warm weather even more.

I put this, as my number two on the list, but I could argue, that this would be my own personal number one.

#3 A boat tour to see Dubai

There is no specific boat tour that I would recommend, mostly because I have not yet been to Dubai, but what I hear from friends and family, and what I read online, boat tours around Dubai are pretty and amazing.

But this does not sound like a kid-friendly event, right?

I might have included it, due to the fact that I have small children, but who doesn’t love to go on a boat? My kids would, I am sure of that.

Especially my son would love to go on a speedboat. Right now he is only 3 years old, but this winter we are not going to Dubai, so if we did go next year, then I might take him on a speedboat.

My younger daughter is only 4 months old right now so I would not take her on a speedboat, but one thing is, that you don’t have to do everything together all the time, and another thing is, it doesn’t have to be a speedboat.

I would make sure, before going to seas, that the safety on board is great, I don’t think the oceans around Dubai has the same dangerous current as in Denmark, where we are from, but it is still better to be safe than sorry.

#4 Burj Khalifa

Okay, this might not be something that my kids would consider outright awesome, but as I am writing this, my children are 3 years old and 4 months old.

And if there is one thing, that I have learned about being a parent, it is that, if there is something that you (the parent) think is very awesome, and you exude enthusiasm about it, then the kids will think it is just as awesome.

And I need to say, that if ever have the pleasure of visiting Dubai with my family, I just HAVE to go to the Burj Khalifa tower, as I understand it, it is possible to go to the very top.

I imagine that it is a very popular tourist attraction and if it is possible to book tickets in advance to skip some kind of queue. Then I would pay a decent amount of extra for this because if there is something that will kill the spirits of small children, it is queuing.

Visiting the Burj Khalifa for me, would be necessary, just as, if you are going to New York City as a tourist, you have to go to the Empire State Building, and I has been there, and it was worth it.

Vacations and holidays are also about making lasting impressions for you and the kids. And I think that visiting the Burj Khalifa will do this, because it is, as far as I know, the highest building in the world right now.

#5 Water fountains or Dolphin bay

I have seen a lot of pictures from all the water fountains of Dubai, it seems like it is an evening thing. But again, it is something to remember, especially for kids.

From pictures, it looks like what I imagine Las Vegas I like at night, but it might even be better, bigger and prettier.

It might not be that exciting for you or your kids, but this is most definitely something I would take my kids to see, because if we talk about making an everlasting impression, then this especially would make one

I have included something called “Dolphin Bay”. It has 2.300 great reviews on TripAdvisor, and I am not quite sure what it is, I might be a part of Atlantis Aquaventure park

If you know exactly what and where it is, then please leave a comment. Because it seems like a great place to visit with kids. I just know that my kids would love to see the dolphins hop around in the water.

Don’t all kids just enjoy seeing animals? And especially animals that they don’t see that often! I know for sure that my son would love to see dolphins jump around in the water.

Not convinced yet? If Dubai is not something for you and your family, check out these ideas for traveling within Europe.

When should I visit Dubai?

When traveling, one of the first things you want to know about is the weather. You want to make sure that you do not have to stay indoors and go to all of the fun activities that, you might have planned before going.

And therefore this is a great question, when is the best time of the year, to visit Dubai?

This must be one of the hardest questions I researched. It was extremely hard to get an exact answer, as it is deeply affected by people’s own preferences. Personally, I do not like extremely warm weather, and neither do my kids, nor my girlfriend.

I think I would choose from between November and March

As you might figure, the temperatures during the summer rise to extraordinary heights, and for a Nordic Scandinavian family, as we are, more than 40 degrees Celsius is just unbearable heat.

So, all my research shows me, that I would actually travel to Dubai, in the months, that is considered the coldest months in Denmark, where we come from.

My friends and family, who have been visiting Dubai, tell me the same thing. You have to go in the winter, because when you go from minus 5 to 10 degrees Celsius in Denmark, and Dubai has 20+ degrees. The sun and the temperature has a great effect on both your health, mood, and your vacation just seems that much better.

Does it snow in Dubai?

No, it does not snow outside in Dubai. the coldest month of Dubai has the lowest average of 14 Degrees Celcius, which equals to about 56 Degrees Fahrenheit.

But! It actually snows inside!

Just like the rest of Dubai, everything is BIG, and everything is artificial and man-made in the middle of the desert. And of course, they made a big indoor ski resort, a ski resort where it actually snows inside.

Temperatures according to National Climatic Data Center (USA)

These are the temperature-ranges that Dubai has, according to the time of year. As US News describes it: Dubai has to temperature-settings, hot or hotter. And the Winther-half is not only the nicest time to visit Dubai, but also the peak tourist season.

Month	Celcius	Fahrenheit
January	14 – 24	56 – 75
February	15 – 25	58-76
March	17 – 28	62-82
April	20 – 32	68-90
May	23 – 37	74-98
June	26 – 39	79-102
July	19 – 41	84-105
August	29 – 40	85-104
September	26 – 39	79-102
October	23 – 35	73-95
November	18 – 31	65-87
December	15 – 26	60-80

Source: https://travel.usnews.com/Dubai_United_Arab_Emirates/When_To_Visit/