отчет report

Hello! I would like to describe the rest in Dubai in relation to the LandMark Hotel 3 *. I'll start in order. Tour operator: Coral Travel. Departure from Domodedovo at 8:00 am TransAero. The flight is about 5 hours. The plane is a Boeing economy class (not to say that it is very convenient, but overall good and clean), the food is not bad, we did not leave hungry. Upon arrival at Dubai airport, the host of Desert Adventure, a representative of the company, stands in front of the "eye scanning" area and glues red pieces of paper to your body to make it easier to find you later. Then we go to the “eye scanning” zone, we stand in line there (5-15 minutes), I didn’t find much sense to run there before anyone else or try to get through as quickly as possible. in this zone, you must present a copy of the VISA, which the tour operator must issue (in my case, Coral issued it to me at Domodedovo at their stand 3 hours before departure, confirmation of the visa was naturally received in advance). After “scanning the eye”, we go up the escalator and go through the passport control zone (there are a lot of corridors, there are not just queues, there were practically no people there, and at first we doubted whether we had gone there, but the lively voice of customs officers and security guards directed us to the right corridor). After passport control, we go through and get luggage from the "turntable" and go out into the street (it was there that I met a Desert Adventure representative in a crowd of representatives of other companies, it is precisely in this search that the sticker that the Desert Adventure representative glues to you before "scanning your eyes" helps) standing with the corresponding tabular "Desert Adventure / Coral Travel"). Then the representative of the operator gathered us in the airport hall near the cafe, we waited for the rest of the comrades and went to the bus. Here the Desert Adventure mission ended and I have never seen more of their representatives during the entire vacation. The bus driver took us to our hotels. Approaching LandMark, I was a little surprised by its not quite calm location, although I knew where this hotel was located, but later its location was rated positively. Leaving things at the concierge, we went up to the Reception and processed documents for a room, etc. Passports for the entire stay are taken from you at the Reception. Since there is no safe in the room, you can immediately get the key to the safe located in the same Reception (free of charge). At Recepen sits a Russian woman Tamara, the owner and gatherer of information. That's all, then for things to the concierge (if you wish, you can strain him to carry your suitcases for a small (or large) bribe, I just saved on this event). As for a good or bad hotel: the hotel is good, if you have no illusions, this is a 3 * hotel no more and definitely no less, it fully corresponds to its 3 *.
After exploring the hotel, we went to have a bite, since only breakfast was taken on a ticket (although, as it turned out later, the lunches at the hotel are quite tasty and, taking into account the average price for lunch or dinner, which I will talk about below, it is possible to have lunch at the hotel for ticket will not be so bad). So, let's go to eat at the restaurant (cafe) GOLDEN FOCUS (quite a wide network in the UAE). For the price: a meat dish is about 20-25 dirhams (this is 160-200 rubles). To convert dirhams into rubles, you need to multiply dirhams by 8. Freshly squeezed juice - 10 dirhams. Salad - 5-20 dirhams. Subsequently, we often went to the Lebanese cafe (as you leave the hotel immediately to the left into the alley and again to the left after 20 meters, they cook deliciously, although some dishes are spicy, inexpensive and along with meat they also bring salad, prepare a variety of fresh juices and mixes).
Beach: there is a bus from the hotel to the beach (PAID - 10 dirhams round trip). As far as we understood from the stories of tourists from other hotels, we have almost the only paid of all hotels. Entrance to the beach (Al Mamzar - it was on this beach that they drove) is also paid - 5 dirhams per person. On the beach there is a cafe (Dolphin) opposite the main entrance, where the food is quite tasty, the prices are quite affordable. The beach itself is not to say very clean. Either they do not have time to clean up the cigarette butts behind the Russian tourists, or they are simply lazy, there are a lot of cigarette butts. Be careful when taking pictures on the beach, the support staff wanted to take away the camera from some bad anxious comrades for taking pictures of a young girl, who, in turn, complained about them for an intrusive photo session! And in general, the guard likes to blow his whistle when photographing something off topic. Be correct! The bus picks up from the beach at the time indicated on the driver's plate, he shows it to you upon arrival at the beach, do not forget to look. You can also get to the beach by taxi (about 20 dirhams), while it is advisable to tell the taxi driver in English that you are going to Al Mamzar beach and you do not need a tour of Dubai, otherwise these comrades like to drive customers around the city winding the meter. Such a phrase helped our drivers and we were not rolled too much. I suggest using a public taxi (mainly Toyota Camry, as well as Nissans and Hyundais), I didn’t risk getting into private owners, although there are many offers.

City/Shopping: Talking about the noisy location of the hotel, one cannot fail to note the opposite, it is located in the center, from where it is very convenient to get to anywhere in the city. You leave the hotel and go to the right - here are the shopping streets of Dubai (things, pharmacies, appliances, auto parts, perfume, gold, etc. ). You leave the hotel and go to the left - the UNION metro station (about 800 meters on foot, or 5-10 minutes of leisurely walking), now the station itself has probably been completed on NASER SQUARE, due to which the main inconveniences on the square of the same name. On the square there are many shops with souvenirs, clothes, appliances, supermarkets with food - TENT, GIFT VILLAGE, DAY-TO-DAY, etc.
There are two stops from the UNION station by metro (which I strongly recommend that you master due to the low cost of travel, efficiency, comfort, and in general because the metro is cool there) and you are in the "DEIRA CITY CENTER", and all this is a pleasure for 6 dirhams for a two-way ticket. A good shopping center, many well-known and not so well-known brands, a large CAREFOUR store inside. Great mall, if you walk thoughtfully all day you pass.
200 meters from UNION station, Al Ghurair shopping center. Not a bad shopping center, it seemed to me that the locals mostly go there. Behind Al Ghurair (detached building 100-150 meters away) is a two-story Marks & Spencer store. I advise you to go, a huge selection (1st floor - for men, 2nd floor - for women and children). If you look for SALE price tags, you can save a lot. Behind Marks & Spencer is the REEF MALL. He is an amateur, but calm and not noisy. I liked it and in it I bought a watch and perfume.
Again, by metro from UNION it is easy to get to DUBAI MALL and EMIRATES MALL. The first is one of the six largest in the world (without further ado), has the second largest fountain in the world, a beautiful aquarium and Burj Khalifa (824 meters) at the foot. It is pleasant to walk along it and make purchases. EMIRATES MALL - shops, shops, glamor, ski slope, everything is cool, gold... beautiful...

In terms of shopping, the following thing is important: according to the guide in the UAE, you can’t deceive the consumer (that is, you and me), and therefore if the seller says Original, then it is so, if he says FAKE, then this is a fake! In this regard, everyone chooses a place for shopping for himself, whether it is a market or a shopping center, at least you can ask about the availability of a discount anywhere. For my part and from my own experience, I can advise: if you saw a handbag, earrings, a telephone, etc. on the counter. and realized that you cannot live without them and must urgently buy it - take your time: firstly, the sellers are psychologists, they see the degree of your desire to buy this product and adjust the discount amount taking into account your desire to purchase; secondly, you will find the same handbag, earrings, telephone, or maybe better, in a thousand other stores in Dubai, where you will definitely get an even bigger discount.
From Deira to Bur Dubai you can get on the same my favorite metro, or on a DOW boat for only 1 dirham per person across the "river" to the "old bough" (the old market in Bur Dubai)!
And most importantly, do not be afraid to walk around Dubai, look for new and new stores that are constantly being built there, explore the sights, exchange fresh information with fellow tourists (it helped us a lot), and also to put everything in the head in its place (in terms of Dubai), including those who have everything already in place, I advise you to take a “sightseeing tour of Dubai” upon arrival ($ 25 per person).
Briefly about DUTY FREE: very large, excellent choice. In it, I advise you to pay with a plastic card (which is better for "duty free" to cook in Russia), it is very convenient. I dispelled the common opinion on the Internet about the presence of problems with a plastic card in Dubai with my positive experience (a ruble account on a VISA card).
p. s. : upon departure, keep in mind that the weight of a suitcase per person should not exceed 20 kg, you will have to pay for excess weight.