Dubai Marina Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

Dubai Marina is a canal city cut into the desert along three kilometres of what was open sand thirty years ago. Sea water was let into an artificial channel and the towers went up along both banks, so the district now has one of the densest concentrations of high-rise buildings anywhere, including several of the tallest residential towers in the world. The Marina Walk runs the length of the water at ground level with restaurants along it; behind the western bank, The Beach and Jumeirah Beach Residence face the Gulf with two kilometres of public sand. Bluewaters Island sits just offshore, joined by a footbridge, carrying Ain Dubai, the 250-metre observation wheel.

The water is what is booked here. Dhow dinner cruises run in the evening along the canal, and speedboat tours go out of the marina mouth past the Burj Al Arab and around the Palm, usually sixty or ninety minutes. Yacht charters leave from the same berths. Above it, the skydive drop zone over the Palm is a few minutes away and the aircraft climb from the marina. On land the district is walkable in a way most of Dubai is not, and the tram loops it, which makes it one of the few places in the city where you can spend an evening without a car.

Practical. The season is November to March; from June the humidity along the water is heavy even after dark. Boat trips are cancelled for wind, usually decided on the morning. The Marina Walk is busiest from eight in the evening and the restaurants there charge accordingly — the food courts a block inland cost a third as much. The metro Red Line has two stations at either end and the tram connects them with JBR; both take the same card. Alcohol is served in licensed venues along the walk. Parking is paid and scarce at weekends.