One or two days in Dubai?

Hello again, Guys!!

I have one flight to Singapore and Myanmar next August and I have one doubt. I'll have two days of stopover with Emirates in Dubai and I was thinking if it was possible to visit Abu Dhabi in one day and Dubai in another. I've heard about traffic in Dubai-Abu Dhabi. I don't need to know all the attractions, just take some photos and hang around the cities. What do you think? Better stay two days in Dubai or spend one day in each one. Maybe in the future I'll have another opportunity to visit Dubai again. And it's better arrive in Dubai and go straight ahead to Abu Dhabi and do Dubai in the end? Seeing that my flight is arriving and departing from Dubai and Emirates have one free shuttle.

Thank you!!!

Stay in Dubai.

There's only one sight worth seeing in Abu Dhabi, the grand mosque.

Yes- Dubai has enough to entertain you for 2 days. Lots of malls- including some unique ones (such as Dubai Mall with the Dubai Fountain and entrance to Burj Khalifa; and Ibn batutah Mall- designed like a historic sight). And there are souks- traditional style market areas- open and closed (closed would be good if it's too hot).

But I've not been to Abu Dhabi so can't compare.

i also think that you should stay in dubai, two days is not a long time :-). burj khalifa is a must, and best visited in the late afternoon / early evening, to enjoy the water fountains. from an oecological point of view, ski dubai in the mall of the emirates is a nightmare, but fascinating. other than that, you might go to the beach at jumeirah, to the gold souk, go shopping in the huge shopping centres or whatever you are after. if you want to go out of the city, you might consider a guided 4x4 trip into the desert.

Thank you so much, everybody!!

It seems that Dubai have more things to offer but Im not a shopping guy. I prefer not going to the desert tour in this trip, maybe in the next. Maybe just hang around Jumeirah, go to the beach and see some mosques and markets. In the night go to somewhere to see the skyline and etc. that's why I was thinking in knowing the two cities. Im very fast in cities like Dubai and I'll have more opportunities to come back in Dubai in the future. Im still considering visiting both cities and having one whole day and two nights in Dubai and 11 hours in Abu Dhabi, just to see the city.. Only scared of loosing the flight because the traffic between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

after reading your last post, you should probably arrive in dubai, take the shuttle to abu dhabi, spend a couple of hours there, travel back to dubai and spend the rest of your 2 days there before continuing your journey. for me, that would be too much in that short time, but everybody is different :-)

The traffic is not that bad. It's slow Dubai to AD in the morning rush hour and AD heading into Dubai in the evening rush hour but only when you are in Dubai, it's not bad the whole way.

I agree that seeing the mosque in AD is the only thing really worth worrying about, it's really beautiful. In Dubai you can see mosques from the outside but you can't go in if you're not Muslim unless you take the (free) morning tour of Jumeirah mosque.

I'm not into malls either but there's plenty to do in Dubai apart from malls - although worth going to Mall of the Emirates to see the ski place and to Dubai Mall to see the huge aquarium (you can get a really good view for free from outside).

You won't want to hang around the beach when it's 45C and nearly 100% humidity as it will be in August. The beaches are clean and nice but not particularly scenic anyway. Those air-conditioned malls will seem very appealing in August believe me, it's really uncomfortable to be outdoors at that time of year.

Both cities sprawl and are not really hospitable to strolling, except for a few neighbourhoods, especially beaches. The locals do promenade in the malls (and ice skate in Dubai Mall.) In August, the summer heat will still knock you down at noon. These places run on air conditioning which limits the attractiveness of wandering to see what you might see.