The Dubai Grand

What does come to your mind when you think of Dubai? Grandeur I suppose! Well  grandeur comes at a price too. When we were planning a trip to Dubai, we wanted a fantastic trip on a budget. I mean just to experience Dubai in a lavish way , we could not possibly put our future vacations at risk! This trip was organized by my father in law but I as usual was the planner. I tried to put together a fantastico trip that we all would remember in the future.

One of the most important part of any trip is the stay. Dubai is known for extravagant hotels like the Burj Al Arab, Palm Atlantis, etc. But that requires unlimited moolah which we could spend in shopping or sight seeing. Dubai is also a shopper’s paradise…remember?

Well my job was to find that perfect little hotel that fulfilled all our criteria and turn our vacation into a fantastico one! Fortunately with the help of few sites, I was able to do so!

So I zeroed down on The Dubai Grand, a 3 star hotel run by an NRI family. It was not much far from the airport though it was far from Downtown Dubai, the upscale part of the city. After weighing its pros and cons, we went for it. I just hoped that it turned out good. I did not want my wife or inlaws to suffer.

After staying four days there, I would say that our stay was more fantastico than expected. The rooms were large and clean and the breakfast served was awesome. I and my wife used to gorge upon the lavish spread of Indian and Continental delicacies. My in laws are not much of an eater.

The location was really good. We were on Sharjah border and hence paying a visit to Sharjah was an additional gain. Also the metro station was at a walking distance. That meant that Downtown Dubai was easily accessible.  I feel that proximity to public transport is very important if you want to get the feel of the city. If you travel by cabs, then how would you interact with the local people? Travelling is incomplete unless you get the taste of public transport, local residents and street food. Or at least I think so. So in this aspect, The Dubai Grand had a fantastic location.

Last but not the least, the swimming pool and the discotheque. Me and my wife are passionate swimmers and we we leave no stone unturned in cooling it off in the pool. Whenever we search a hotel, pool is a must. We remain so stressed at work. The least we can do is to cool off our stress by swimming. And our hotel The Dubai Grand turned out to be one of the most fantastico stays of our life till date!

The first view that I had from our room balcony...

wife basking in the blazing Arabian sun... It was just 7 in the morning but really hot!!

scrumptious morning breakfast!!

in the hallway...

I have always been fond of grandfather clocks...

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.