Dubai, the city of dream, with it’s massive, sky-kissing buildings and loads of 5-star luxury hotels, one rarely thinks of budget stay in the city. There is this alleged image of Dubai of being ultra expensive but as you saw from my earlier post, it is not necessarily true.
Today, I am going to break it all down for you on how to stay for cheap (yes, cheap!) in Dubai, no matter if you are visiting solo, with family or in a larger group of friends. Dubai is a place which looks all gold from the top but when you dig deep you find things that can fit any budget. So let’s get started.
1. BACKPACKER’S HOSTELS
There are a vast number of hostels in Dubai and again, as it is with Dubai, their prices can go as high as you want them to but there are plenty of cheap options available as well. When I say cheap, I mean central Europe cheap!Let’s look at a few options here.
One of the best hostel, with a fabulous rating on hostel world and an impeccable location, it makes for the best value for money deal in Dubai. Located in Al Karama, close to the metro, Dubai creek and the gold souk with a lot of facilities like laundry and supermarkets nearby. Also nearby is the meena bazaar which is like little India of Dubai with lots of cheap Indian restaurants.
You can get a bed in this hostel for as low as $17 although the breakfast isn’t included in the price. But for that price, you cannot really expect much especially in Dubai.
But remember that there is 50 AED deposit which is refundable upon returning towels and key card.
Got some extra money to spare? Then I would certainly recommend this hostel! This hostel will give you the feel of living in Dubai, located on the 66th floor, smackdab in the middle of Dubai Marina! It is the hostel with THE view! It offers free breakfast, free swimming pool access and is a minute walk away from the beach!
What more you ask? Well, it costs just $30! That is like the cost of an average hostel in western Europe! And honestly, this view is worth every penny!
P.S. There is a sauna and a gym as well!
3. Budget Hotels
There is no shortage of budget hotels in Dubai with millions of Indian tourist visiting there every year. I will only be mentioning the one where I stayed at for a comprehensive review and analysis.
The best hotel I have ever stayed at ever! No matter what you talk about, the food, the rooms, the service, the staff, the location or the price, everything was spot on!
First, the big question; how much does it cost? Well, for 4 nights, the 3 bedroom apartment cost us just $500! Now you are like “damn bro, that’s pretty steep!”, but hear me out, ok?
The $500 are for 4 nights and for the 6 of us so if we do a little maths, it comes down to just under $20/person/night! Now that is cheaper than the last hostel that we looked upon! Although you want to take into consideration that we utilized about a $100 referral bonus thus bringing down the cost, honestly you can get that referral bonus too if you are smart about it. If you want me to write about how I got the bonus just comment down below. Here’s the website from where I booked the hostel with that discount:
So now for the review part. The rooms were classic American style rooms with central air conditioning, 3 bedrooms, 1 fully equipped kitchen, drawing room, dining room washer/dryer in separate room, 2 toilets and 1 balcony. Here are a few photos I took of the room:
They have a free sauna, swimming pool, gym squash, table tennis and a fine dine restaurant. There is a taxi service right in front of the hotel. We used the service for a full day Abu Dhabi tour for just 600AED ($163) in a 4×4 vehicle! The staff is courteous and caring plus there are unlimited tea and coffee!
The metro is a 10-minute walk away from the hotel while there a Spinneys supermarket a couple of minutes away. It is located in Bur Dubai which is just a few metro stops away from Downtown Dubai.
So, there it is, hope you enjoyed the post. If you have any queries, shoot them down below in the comments. Next time we will discuss the public transport and taxis in Dubai and how to do them on the cheap! Thank you all for reading and enjoy your travels!
