Dubai Pride

This is my third article on a series of articles I have written with Dubai tourism tips. And yes, I will share even more tips here, and to be honest, there is so much to cover about this beautiful city in the United Arab Emirates that I could write for months! This time I'll share with you more basic information worth knowing in your first visit.

Let's talk about money.  As you know, money is important to get around any city; luckily Dubai has both national and international banks with the same services you'd expect in any major city.  But know that on Dubai banks will only stay open from 8 AM to 1 PM from Saturday to Wednesday!  Yes, this means no noon bank transactions; the only exception is Wednesday, when the bank is open from 8 PM until noon.

Now, if you have credit cards, in Dubai they accept all the common ones, including Mastercard, Visa, Diners Club and American Express. Still, cash is good to have, especially if you plan shopping on small establishment, since the majority of them don't have a card processing system.  The currency on Dubai is the dirham, and at the time of writing, you can exchange on dollar for 3.67 dirhams.

As for tipping, in Dubai the tipping rate is lower than in the US.  While here, the tipping is 20%, in Dubai is 10% and that is considered acceptable, of course you can give more as a tip.  As a general rule, do what I do and simply reward great service with an according tip, after all that's what it is about right?

In Dubai the week is different, this might be handy when it comes to businesses. The weekend days are Thursday and Friday, but major closing days takes place on Friday and Saturday.  Establishments often have common hours from 9 to 5 in the majority of cases, some stores even remain open until 10 PM, excellent for people who want to go shopping at night.

These are just some of the tips and information you can find on