We went to Dubai in March. My wife picked it. She wanted sun. She got sun. The plane landed at midnight. We took a taxi to the hotel. The driver talked the whole time. He pointed at buildings. He told us the names. I forgot most of them. I was tired. The hotel gave us juice when we checked in. Cold juice. Sweet. I drank two glasses. My wife laughed at me. She said I looked like a kid.
We went to our room. The window faced the sea. Dark water. Some lights in the distance. My wife stood there for a long time. Just looking. I unpacked. She did not move.
That was our first romantic things to do in dubai for couples.
The Morning I Woke Up Early
I woke up at 5 AM. Jet lag. I could not sleep. My wife was still asleep. I went to the balcony. The sun was not up yet. The city was quiet. I could hear birds. Strange birds. Not like home.
The sky started to change. Purple first. Then orange. Then gold. The buildings caught the light. I watched the whole thing. No phone. No camera. Just watched.
My wife came out. She put her arms around me from behind. She said nothing. We just stood there. Watched the sun come up over Dubai.
That was better than any planned activity. Just that. The two of us. The sunrise.
Read Also: Things To Do In Dubai During Summer Indoors
The Day We Got Lost
We took a taxi to the old part of the city. The driver dropped us at a market. We walked around. Gold shops. Spice shops. Cloth shops.
We bought some dates. Fresh ones. Sticky. Sweet. The man gave us free samples. We ate them standing in the street. Juice running down our fingers.
Then we walked. No map. No plan. Just turned left. Then right. Then left again. We ended up in a residential area. No tourists. No shops. Just apartment buildings. Laundry hanging from balconies. Kids playing in the street.
A woman came out of a building. She was carrying groceries. She saw us looking confused. She asked if we were lost. We said yes. She pointed the way back. She smiled. Her teeth were crooked. She seemed nice.
We got back to the tourist area. But that detour was the best part. Seeing how real people live. Not the fancy stuff. The real stuff.
The Restaurant With The Fish
We went to this place under the sea. Not really under the sea. But there was a huge tank. Fish everywhere. Big ones. Small ones. Some with stripes. Some with spots.
The food was expensive. Tiny portions. Pretty plates. My wife ordered fish. I ordered meat. The waiter brought bread. Warm bread. Soft inside. Crunchy outside. I ate three pieces. My wife told me to slow down.
A big fish swam past our table. I mean huge. Maybe four feet. He had a scar on his side. I watched him the whole meal. He did laps. Back and forth. Back and forth. My wife called him Fred. I called him Frank. We argued about it. We did this quietly. We did not want the other diners to hear.
The food was good. But I remember the fish more. I remember arguing about his name. I remember my wife laughing. Her laugh is loud. People looked at us. She did not care.
The Desert Night
We booked a safari. A desert trip. They picked us up in a big jeep. The driver was named Ali. He wore a white robe. He was funny. He made jokes the whole ride.
We drove into the desert. The sand was orange. Not yellow. Orange. Like a pumpkin. The dunes went on forever. Nothing else. Just sand and sky.
Ali stopped the jeep. He said we could get out. We did. The sand was warm under my feet. The wind was hot. My wife took off her shoes. She walked up a dune. I followed.
We stood on top of the dune. Nothing around us. No sound. No cars. No people. Just the wind.
The sunset was beautiful. The sky turned red. The sand turned dark. My wife sat down in the sand. I sat next to her. We did not say anything. There was nothing to say.
Ali called us back. We had dinner at a camp. Food on the ground. Carpets. Pillows. We ate with our hands. My wife got rice in her hair. She did not notice. I did not tell her.
Then the dancing started. A man spun around in a circle. His skirt flew out. He kept spinning. I got dizzy just watching. My wife clapped. She loves that kind of stuff.
We drove back to the city. My wife fell asleep in the jeep. Her head on my shoulder. I looked out the window. The desert disappeared. The city lights appeared. The transition was strange. Like two different worlds.
The Mall Visit
We went to the biggest mall. Dubai Mall. I did not want to go. Too many people. Too many shops. My wife wanted to see the aquarium inside. They have an aquarium in the mall. A giant one.
We walked through the mall. It took forever. My wife stopped at every window. She looked at every dress. Every bag. Every pair of shoes. I stood behind her. I looked at my phone.
We found the aquarium. It was huge. Bigger than the one in the restaurant. Sharks swam past. Stingrays. Turtles. My wife pressed her face against the glass. A shark swam toward her. She jumped back. She laughed at herself.
There was a tunnel you could walk through. Fish swam above you. Below you. Beside you. You felt like you were underwater. My wife held my hand. She squeezed when a big ray swam over us.
We stood in that tunnel for twenty minutes. Just watching. The fish did not care about us. They swam their laps. They did their thing. We were just visitors in their world.
The Morning We Did Nothing
One day we did nothing. Woke up late. Had breakfast in bed. The hotel brought it. Eggs. Toast. Fruit. Orange juice. I spilled the juice on the sheets. My wife rolled her eyes.
We went to the pool. Sat in the shade. Ordered cold drinks. Watched other people. Families with kids. Couples like us. Old people reading books.
My wife read her book. I watched a lizard on the wall. He was green. Tiny. He ran up the wall. Stopped. Ran again. He did this for an hour. I watched the whole thing.
My wife put her book down. She asked what I was doing. I pointed at the lizard. She laughed. She said I was weird. I said I was entertained.
We swam. The water was warm. Not cold. Not hot. Perfect. My wife splashed me. I splashed her back. The lifeguard watched us. He smiled. He probably thought we were crazy.
The Ferry Ride
- We took a ferry across the creek. The old part of Dubai. The water was green. Not clean green. Dirty green. But the ride was cheap. A dollar each.
- The boat was small. Wooden. Old. The driver was a man with a beard. He did not talk. He just drove.
- We sat on the back. The wind blew my wife's hair. It flew around her face. She tried to hold it down. She gave up. She let it fly.
- We saw the old buildings from the water. The wind towers. The stone walls. The laundry on the roofs. People waved at us from the shore. We waved back.
- The ride took five minutes. It was nothing special. But I remember it. The wind. The water. My wife's hair. Her hand on my knee.
The Expensive Dinner
We saved our money for one night. One fancy dinner. A restaurant on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa. The tallest building in the world. We dressed up. My wife wore a dress I had not seen before. Blue. Long. She looked beautiful. I told her. She smiled.
The elevator was fast. So fast my ears popped. My wife's ears did not pop. She said I was a baby. I said she was mean. We laughed. The restaurant was high up. The windows were floor to ceiling. You could see the whole city. All of it. Every building. Every road. Every light.
The food was good. Very good. But I could not stop looking out the window. My wife kept telling me to look at her. I looked at her. Then I looked out the window again. She hit me. Softly. The dessert was chocolate. Something fancy. With gold on top. Real gold. Edible gold. My wife ate the gold first. She said it tasted like nothing. I said it tasted like money. We took pictures. So many pictures. My wife made me take them again and again. The lighting was bad. She said the pictures did not do it justice. She was romantic things to do in dubai for couples.
The Night Walk
Our last night. We walked along the marina. The buildings were lit up. Blue lights. Purple lights. Green lights. Reflecting in the water. We walked slowly. My wife's shoes were hurting her feet. I told her to take them off. She did. She carried them. We walked barefoot on the pavement. People looked at us.
We found a bench. Sat down. Watched the boats in the marina. Big boats. Small boats. Yachts. All tied up. All waiting for morning. My wife put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her. We sat there for an hour. Did not talk. Did not need to. A couple walked by. They were arguing. Loud voices. Angry faces. My wife watched them. She turned to me. She said thank you. I said for what. She said for not being like them.
That was a good moment. A quiet moment. But a good one.
You May Also Like: Free Things To Do In Dubai With Family At Night
Things I Figured Out
Dubai is not one thing. It is many things. Old and new. Rich and poor. Quiet and loud. You can find what you want. You just have to look. You do not need a lot of money. The beach is free. The fountain is free. Walking is free. We spent most of our money on food. And the balloon. And the yacht. Everything else was cheap.
You need to be flexible. The heat is real. Plan around it. Mornings and nights are your friends. Afternoons are for napping. Trust me. The people are nice. Really nice. Not fake nice. Real nice. They want you to have a good time. They want you to like their city. We liked it. We loved it.
What We Brought Home?
We brought back souvenirs. A small rug. Some spices. Dates. A postcard. All cheap things. But the real souvenirs are different. The sunrise from our balcony. The old man in the cafe. The fish named Frank. The desert sand in my wife's hair. The quiet bench by the marina. The feeling of being alone together in a city of millions.
Those are the things we brought home. You cannot put them in a suitcase. But they stay with you.
Would We Go Back
Yes. We talk about it sometimes. When we are bored. When we miss the sun. When we want to feel that feeling again. We would do things different. Go in a different month. Stay in a different area. See things we missed. But we would still do the balloon. We would still do the desert. We would still walk barefoot on the marina.
Dubai worked for us. It worked in ways we did not expect. That is the point. You plan and you plan. But the best moments are the ones you do not plan. The ones that just happen.
Final Thought
Travel is not about seeing everything. It is about feeling something. Dubai made us feel something. Excitement. Peace. Laughter. Love. All of it. Go there with someone you love. Do not try to do everything. Just do some things. Sit in the quiet moments. Watch the sunrises. Eat the dates. Get lost. Talk to strangers. Those moments are the ones you will remember. Not the pictures. Not the tickets. Not the itinerary. The moments. Dubai is full of them. You just have to be open to finding them.