5 Easy Getaways From Dubai
Lifestyle
Planning a trip with young children always comes with a certain degree of excitement as well as anxiety:
‘What can we do with the kids?’
‘What do I need to take along?’
‘How will I keep my child entertained during the trip, is it safe, what food will they eat?‘ etc…
The excitement is about exploring new places and doing new fun things and having new experiences as a family.
So, here are some of my favorite family friendly trips/getaways:
Staycations
I love stay-cations!
They are a Dubai/UAE phenomenon. I am not familiar with any other place in the world where people go on stay-cations, staying in the same city or just going 1 hour drive away. But it is a brilliant solution to many of the anxieties of travelling with toddlers or young children.
Some of the places that we have been to and that we have loved include:
Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi
The beach is beautiful, the museums are great (the Louvre even has a special kids area), there are so many kid friendly entertainment activities – mangrove kayaking, Yas Waterworld, Ferrari World to name but a few making Saadiyat an amazing family holiday destination.
There are also many different hotels there and depending on your budget you can find the one that suits you and your family. Some of hotels have amazing kids clubs: eg. St Regis Saadiyat and Park Hyatt Saadiyat, but no doubt there are many more.
The Palm
A holiday away from home but without travelling anywhere.
You literally get on The Palm and immediately feel that you are in a different place. There are so many kid friendly hotels in the UAE – that you won’t go wrong with any of them. But some of my favorite on the palm include:
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- Sofitel – it has a great kids club and a pool with slides that can keep the kids entertained for hours
- Fairmont The Palm – has a kids club on the premise and several pools to suit the different swimming capabilities of your kids
Snoopy Island
It’s about a 2 hour drive from Dubai to get to Fujairah which is where Snoopy Island is located.
There is a lovely simple hotel there – Sandy Beach Resort, which boasts a lovely beach directly opposite Snoopy Island.
You can swim out to the island and snorkel around the island and the marine life is amazing. In addition, the Sandy Beach hotel have just invested in a lovely water play area that will keep the kids entertained for hours. Definitely a cool overnight trip to do with friends!
Oman
Travelling to Oman is an easy trip to do as there are plenty of places to stop along the way and there are a multitude of places of visit in Oman.
However, one of my favorite family friendly trips is to go to Musandam and do an overnight stay on a dhow.
This is a non stress trip as the drive to Musandam is not particularly long (although an important tip is to get to the border crossing early in the day, to avoid queues there), and with the exception of packing for the trip, everything else is taken care of.
This is a lovely trip to do if your kids are over the age of 4 and enjoy the water – as the snorkeling is amazing. In addition, there is a good chance of seeing dolphins and the scenery is absolutely stunning. You can definitely find different types of boats depending on whether you are travelling alone or with friends, and depending on your budget.
Maldives
My favorite place on earth…
The peace, the beauty, the water, the sound of the sea, the colors….
Its just paradise.
If you want to get away from it all, the Maldives is a fantastic holiday destination. It’s a 4 hour flight which is definitely manageable with kids, and what I particularly like about it is that the flights depart at 2am, you land at 7am, and you can be in the resort by 9am (depending on which resort you choose).
There are definitely resorts to suit every budget and every interest and type of traveler (eg. surfers, honeymooners, families, yogis etc).
Maldives is super safe, very relaxed, the food on the resort is international- and honestly, you don’t need much when you are there other than your swimming suit, sunscreen, hat and something to put on at the end of the day!
Contributor:
Simona Agolini
QiDZ CEO
