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places to live in Dubai (Just a guide) Author: ashley |
10.10.07 |
If you are planning to shift to Dubai but don’t know which area you should choose to live in, you have come to the right place. Here are some guidelines you might find useful.
Some of the more well known areas and places to live in Dubai are:
1. Abu Hail
2. Al Awir (or Al Aweer) - out in the desert on the way to Mirdiff, the Used Car Complex is out here, also cheap places to fix your cheap car and modify your expensive one so it becomes a cheap one. An industrial area.
3. Al Barsha - residential area near Ski Dubai and Mall of the Emirates on the way to Emirates Hills, popular with Western expats.
4. Al Garhoud - residential area between Dubai International Airport and the Festival City development. You can enjoy traffic jams on Garhood Bridge. The Aviation Club, Dubai City Centre, Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Dubai Tennis Stadium, The Irish Village and Welcare Hospital are approximately in this area as well as the new Park Hyatt hotel. Also a few new car showrooms.
5.Al Hamriya - on Deira side of Dubai along the coast towards Mamzar Beach Park, older more established area (there’s also an Al Hamriya in Bur Dubai but people are usually talking about the one in Deira when they mention Hamriya).
6.Al Karama - well known for cheap shopping (fake goods and pirated DVDs), residential area popular with Asian nationalities, near Central Post Office and Bur Juman center.
7.Al Mamzar - near Sharjah on the coast. Residential area more popular with Emiratis. Popular beach park here.
8.Al Muntasa (Al Muntasah / Muntazah) - between Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall and Jebel Ali.
9.Al Muraqqabat - Deira, apartment buildings and commercial activities with a few hotels.
10.Al Quoz - mostly industrial areas on the desert side of Sheik Zayed Road between Safa Park and Al Barsha
11.Al Qusais - often written as Al Gusais, last stop before Sharjah. Residential area near Al Mulla Plaza, popular with those who want to live in Dubai at a cheaper price - but pay for it in extra frustration with traffic jams (not that anywhere in Dubai is immune from traffic currently).
12.Al Rashidiya - residential area with many larger villas, between Dubai creek and the airport. Popular because some say it has ‘character’ (whatever that means).
13.Al Rigga
14.Al Satwa - between Jumeirah 1 and the Trade Center roundabout. Another suburb with ‘character’ as well as good shawarmas from the Picnic Restaurant and the infamous Ravi’s ‘peel-off-your-stomach-lining’ Chilli Chicken. Plenty of shops with car batteries and plastic clothes pegs as window displays. Tucked away in the back streets are a few old villa complexes where expat residents poke their heads out of the gate every now and then, cluck at how Dubai is not what it used to be, and return to polishing their pith helmets or whatever it is they do in there. A splendid place to wander about, once. Watch out for teenagers spitting, throwing sticks and stones and generally harassing people, especially women. Several stories and letters appeared in the local press in 2006 & 2007 reporting unpleasant incidents.
15.Al Shindagha - near the coast, Port Rashid, and remarkably close to Shindagha Tunnel under the creek. Bus station and commercial area.
16.Al Wasl - between Jumeirah and Sheikh Zayed Road, mostly residential with expensive villas.
17.Corniche Deira - more likely to be called the Deira Corniche. Hyatt Regency Dubai & Galleria hotel and residence is here (the one with the revolving restaurant) along with a pleasant walk along the corniche and past the nearby automotive accessory shops.
18.Dubai Investment Park
19.Emirates Hill (or Emirates Hills) - where you find all the new villa developments. Probably should have been called Emaarville. Springs, Meadows and Greens communities are here, behind Al Barsha and Ski Dubai.
20.Hatta - not in Dubai as such but an hours drive towards Oman with the popular, but old, Hatta Fort Hotel and the Hatta Pools which you can’t find unless you go with someone who’s already been.
21.Jebel Ali - on the coast side is Jebel Ali Free Zone and Jebel Ali Port (from which you can apparently see the moon on a clear night). On the other side of Sheikh Zayed Road is Jebel Ali Village, previously a popular friendly expat village but now a popular friendly collection of run down old villas. Most expats will proudly inform you that Jebel is Arabic for ‘hill’ (because that’s the only Arabic word they know). When they do, ask them if that means ‘Ali’ is Arabic for ’satellite dish’ (it’s not).
22.Jumeira (usually spelt Jumeirah) - older region than Umm Suquiem between the very large flagpole and Umm Suqueim along the coast. Popular place to live if you can afford the rents, mostly residential.
23.Jumeira Palm (commonly spelt Jumeirah Palm) - large man-made island built offshore between Umm Suquiem and Dubai Marina - nowhere near Jumeirah in fact - and partly owned by the England football team. Villas were due to be completed in 2006 but since being delayed, a large tent city of homeless owners has sprouted in Al Quoz Industrial Area 2. Until completion, hopefully in 2007, they play football with David Beckham - a well known homeless person.
24.Mankhool - part of Bur Dubai with computer shops, banks, tailors and shops selling plastic buckets. Some apartment buildings also.
25.Mirdiff (or Mirdif) - Dubai version of suburbia. Quiet (apart from the occasional plane - it’s on the airport flight path) family living in small to medium sized comfortable houses - they were cheap a couple of years ago but rental prices are quickly catching up to the rest of Dubai. The Union Properties Uptown Mirdiff development with a large Spinneys supermarket has meant residents don’t have to drive so far for groceries.
26.Nadd Al Hamar (usually written Nad Al Hamar)
27.Nadd Al Shiba (usually written Nad Al Sheba) - where the horses race in the Dubai World Cup. Camels too (but not in the DWC - they have their own track).
28.Naif (or Naif Square) - on Deira side. Presumably people live there, it seems to be a popular source of newspaper articles that put you off your breakfast.
29.Oud Metha - near Dubai Creek Park on the Bur Dubai side. Rashid Hospital, Dubai Courts, St Mary’s Church and the Cyclone nightclub form an eclectic mixture of institutions in this area.
30.Port Saeed - some residential accommodation available.
31.Ranches (usually referred to as the Arabian Ranches) - a popular new villa-for-expat-purchase development out in the desert somewhere. Easy to get lost in, and impossible to find your own home unless you leave a trail of breadcrumbs in the mornings before going to the office.
32.Ras Al Khor - on the way to Al Aweer at the end of Dubai Creek. Home to flamingos and mangroves - at least until developments like The Lagoon and Dubai Lagoon appear.
33.Satwa - see “Al Satwa”.
34.Trade Center - area with what, for many years, used to be the tallest building in Dubai. Marks the boundary between moving traffic on the Sheikh Zayed road and the Garhood Bridge car park.
35.Umm Al Sheif
36.Umm Hurair
37.Umm Ramool
38.Umm Suqeim - like Jumeirah but a bit newer. Nice area. Spelt as Umm Suqueim by some people who choke if their qs are u-less.
39.Za’abeel - (often written as Zabeel) where the ruler of Dubai lives, near the Trade Centre. Don’t park on the grass
Futhermore, Dubai?is?physically divided into nine sectors which are then divided up into communities or administrative regions, in addition to this, there are over 130 communities in Dubai.
NOTE:
The ‘Al’ part of the name is often omitted in print and discussions eg.al-Garhood is called Garhood.
Spellings can be variable eg Sofouh/Sufouh/Sufooh, Ghusais/Qusais.
Moreover, Borders are usually defined by roads. A complete list is available from the Dubai Municipality Geographic Information Systems Center (DM GIS) with maps which you can have a look at.
Hope you will be able to find a good location for your home now.
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