Those who love shopping should definitely take a look at the Dubai Mall. This shopping center is the largest in the world it has more than 1200 stores spread over 4 floors and a total floor area of more than half a million square meters. The largest shoe store in the world can also be found in the Dubai Mall.
The huge shopping mall is located in Downtown Dubai right next to the highest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Momentarily enough of all stores? In and around the Dubai Mall you can find numerous restaurants and cafes where you can relax, have a bite to eat or have a drink. Especially the restaurants outside are recommended, these location offer a beautiful view on the largest fountain show in the world, the Dubai Fountain. In addition to the many shops, the Dubai Mall also has an ice rink with a capacity of 2000 guests and a indoor amusement park SEGA Republic. You can also find a mega cinema with 22 screens and more than 2,800 seats in the Dubai Mall. Very special, the largest aquarium in the world also is located in the Dubai Mall.
Stores in the Dubai Mall
The range of shops in Dubai Mall consists mainly of well-known international chains and brands including Dior, Armani, Diesel, Versace, G-Star Raw, Puma, Nike, Reebok, Hugo Boss, Dolce & Gabbana, Replay and chains such as Galeries Lafayette, H & M, Bonhams, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and Bloomingdale’s. Do not forget to pay a visit to the Gold Souk on the ground floor where more than 200 jewelers sell their gold and jewelery. There are dozens of shops full of souvenirs, electronics, glasses, accessories, toys, delicacies, telephone, books and jewelery to be found in this major shopping center.
On the Shop page of the Dubai Mall website all stores in the mall can be found. For more information about the Dubai Mall, please visit the Dubai Mall home page.
The shopping center itself is divided into a number of special areas such as the Gold Souk, The Souk, The Village, Fashion Avenue and the Food Court. Fashion lovers can enjoy themselves for days on Fashion Avenue, in this section you will find all the major fashion brands. The top international brands such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Chanel and Dior each have their own store on Fashion Avenue. Anyone who wants to score a beautiful jewelery can indulge in the Gold Souk, the best jewelers in Dubai can be found here.
On the ground floor you can find The Souk and The Village. In The Souk you can find mainly local products. The Village is built so it looks like you are walking in a shopping street in the open air. Who gets hungry during shopping can eat at one of the 45 restaurants in the Food Court. In addition to the major fast food chains such as McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut and KFC, you can also find Japanese, Mexican, Italian and various fish restaurants here.
Especially in the evenings it is pleasantly crowds in and around the Dubai Mall and the adjacent Souk al Bahar. Especially the restaurants and many bars with their terraces overlooking the spectacular fountain shows of the Dubai Fountain are very popular with both locals and tourists.
Expensive cars spotting
For car lovers, the Dubai Mall is definitely recommended. Every night the most expensive cars are at the valet parking which can be found at the main entrance on the Financial Center Road. Especially on Thursday and Friday night it is full of expensive cars. Do not be surprised if a Bugatti Veyron, several Lamborghini Aventadors / Gallardo’s and several Ferraris are parked in tandem with various SUVs from Range Rover and Porsche.
If you have not had enough of the expensive cars, you can walk into the parking garages from the Dubai Mall itself, there are often more expensive cars that could not find a place at the valet parking. Especially the parking on the side of the The Address Dubai Mall hotel are several luxury cars in the parking garage. If there is no Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati and / or a Rolls Royce parked here, then this is a unique moment.
To mention an example of how crazy it can be in Dubai with cars: I have counted in the evening 25 Rolls Royces, 7 Ferrari’s, 6 Lamborghini’s, one Bugatti Veyron, several Aston Martins, Bentley’s and Maseratis at the valet parking in 2 hours.
Dubai Aquarium and the Under Water Zoo
In the Dubai Mall you will not only find a lot of shops, but also the largest aquarium on earth, the Dubai Aquarium. This aquarium has over ten million liters of water. It houses more than 33,000 thousand aquatic animals. Over 300 sharks en rays live in this aquarium, and have the largest collection of sand tiger sharks in the world. The Dubai Aquarium is not only the largest aquarium in the world, the glass panel (32 meters wide and 8 meters high) is officially the largest in the world. If you visit the enormous Dubai Mall you can not miss the aquarium. If you have overlooked him, fortunately you can find information points in various places in the shopping center with floor plans and friendly staff who are happy to show you the way.
Dinosaur
In the Dubai Mall in the Grand Atrium you can also find a huge dinosaur skeleton. This special specimen is almost completely intact, to be exact for 90%, which is quite unique with the millions of years old skeletons of a dinosaur. The so-called Amphicoelias Brontodiplodocus is 24.4 meter long and 7.6 meter high. The skeleton is about 155 million years old. The skeleton was found in the area of Wyoning in the United States and flew by plane to Dubai to be exhibited here.
Dubai Ice Rink
In the largest shopping center in the world you can also do enough other things besides shopping until you drop. The shopping center also has its own skating rink with Olympic dimensions. If you buy tickets it is possible to skate laps. The Dubai Ice Rink offers skating lessons suitable for anyone who wants to learn. Even if you’ve got the hang of it, you can skate over the ice during the disco dance party. The DJ is present to let the music blow through the speakers, which gives a nice feeling on the ice rink.
For the fanatics there is also the possibility to play in a game of bromine ball. In a team of 6 you will battle against the other team. The intention is to whip the ball into the net.
Dinosaurus
In de Dubai Mall in het Grand Atrium is ook een enorm dinosaurus skelet te vinden. Dit bijzondere exemplaar is bijna volledig intact, om precies te zijn voor 90%, hetgeen vrij uniek bij de miljoenen jaren oude skeletten van een dinosaurus. Het 24,4 meter lange en 7,6 meter hoge skelet is van een zogenaamde Amphicoelias Brontodiplodocus en is ongeveer 155 miljoen jaar oud. Het skelet is gevonden in de omgeving van Wyoning in de Verenigde Staten en is per vliegtuig naar Dubai gevlogen om hier tentoongesteld te worden.
Dubai Ice Rink
In het grootste winkelcentrum van de wereld kan je naast winkelen tot je erbij neer valt ook genoeg andere dingen doen. Zo beschikt het winkelcentrum ook over een eigen schaatsbaan met Olympische afmetingen. Tegen betaling is het mogelijk om een aantal baantjes te schaatsen op de Dubai Ice Rink.
Souk al Bahar
Also recommended is the small shopping mall Souk Al Bahar where mainly local products can be found. This shopping mall is also called the ’’sailor’s market’’. Go back in time to life in ancient Arabia. Souk al Bahar is situated in the living heart of the center of Dubai and is enchanting. This Piece al Bahar offers residents and tourists a special experience of shopping, dining and entertainment. The Souk al Bahar is in stark contrast to the adjacent Dubai Mall. This shopping center, set up in Arabian atmospheres, is next to the Dubai Mall and the Dubai Fountains and can be reached via the bridge over the water.
How to get there
The Dubai Mall is easily accessible by public transport. If you travel with the metro of Dubai you get off at the Dubai Mall / Burj Khalifa station. From here you can walk to the Dubai Mall in two ways. First you can choose to walk to the Dubai Mall via the 800 meters long covered and air-conditioned metrobrug (Metro Link Bridge). You will then exit of the Link Bridge in the Dubai Mall at the 2nd floor of the mall. You can also choose to walk out of the Dubai Mall underground station and along the road towards the Burj Khalifa. From here you can walk through the various pedestrian areas around the lake from the Dubai Fountains towards the Dubai Mall.
If you want to travel to the Dubai Mall / Burj Khalifa with the bus you can use one of the following buses:
– bus number 27 which departs from Deira Gold Souk station
– bus number 29 which leaves from Ghubaiba Bus station
Every 15 minutes these buses will drive by the tourist drop off point which is located in front of the Grand Drive entrance, on the lower ground floor of the Dubai Mall.
You can also travel to the Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall with the taxi. Almost every taxi driver understands where you want to go when you say Dubai Mall. Depending on what you have specified and from which location in Dubai you take the taxi you will be dropped off at the door of the main entrance of the Dubai Mall or at one of the many taxi drop-off points of the Dubai Mall.
Have you rented a car and would you like to travel to the Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall? Via the Financial Center Road you can easily reach the parking garages of the Dubai Mall. The Dubai Mall has 14,000 parking places, so the chance that there is no space is virtually nil.
