Nakrob

First time visitor next month. Two nights with wife and two kids (both under 3years). Looking for reasonable priced hotel, close to metro. Sightseeing plan is the Burj tower and fountains, Dubai Mall, up and down the metro, possibly to the Palm. Any suggestions appreciated as a bit lost currently.

Irishbeekeeper

Hello,
you have chosen a good time to visit, weather wise
If you know of the metro and can familiarize yourself of the red-line / green-line then in all honesty you can visit almost all of dubai
Just a tip while looking for a hotel, try and find a hotel near the Burjuman Metro station, 2 reasons :
1. Most of the sightseeing that you have mentioned is down the red line and as you can see from the map here : MAP, Burjuman (khalid bin waleed old name) would be best suited as you wont have to keep on changing from green line to red line everytime. So just get inside burjuman metro station, go down to where it says towards Jebel Ali and bobs your uncle. There are other maps of the metro lines available on google.com ofcourse, but for some reason this one just makes sense to me.
2. A hotel in the burjuman area wouldnt cost you an arm and a leg I am told. You can also look at Avari's hotel apartments to get an idea about prices.

Cheers

mikewot

Booking.com and tripadviser are good sources. Not much point asking us as we live here, but not in hotels

flares

ibis/novotel deira

The Dean

Too far from the action...........

BinCat

Novotel Barsha. It's right by Sharaf DG metro station, near to Mall of the Emirates, few mins by taxi to Souk Madinat, Jumeirah Beach etc. New so a few of the reviews are a bit iffy, however the majority seem to be in favour.

Bahtatboy

Be sure to let us know which ones you're thinking of before you book. York International and Panorama (to name but two) may sound good from the blurb (I doubt it, but they might), but those two and various other are to be avoided at all costs. (Except when the missus allows you a night out on your own while she rests with the kids

Nakrob

How about Auris Plaza Hotel behind the Mall of The Emirates? Seems reasonable price and gets positive reviews on booking com.

Also how about taxis with kids in Dubai. Are car seats compulsory? Traveling through SEA we usually use a carry sling for our youngest and keep a good hold on our oldest in the back seat as the only practical way to get a cab.

Bahtatboy

Don't mean to trivialise your sprogs' safety, but just have a search on here for the topic of unrestrained kids in cars. At least most of the taxis are relatively new and so they have seat belts, but the mentality of virtually everyone bar Europeans and Americans is that seatbelts are a superfluity. Do as you do in SEA. Insh'Allah.

Blue Cat

my husband puts business guests in this hotel, no complaints and you can literally walk to Mall of Emirates.

Nakrob

Ended up booking the Al Ghurair Rayhaan as it was closer to the airport, also next to a mall, well connected on metro, rated highly on Tripadvisor and a reasonable price. Hopefully it lives up to all of those aspects. Will let you know.

The Dean

It's 'dry' (i.e. no booze) - there isn't even a bar as far as I know.......

Irishbeekeeper

*gasp*
barbarians!!

Nakrob

The Al Ghurair Rayhaan was great by the way. Big room, well furnished, very clean, staff very helpful. Location is also ideal with a family as you're attached to a shopping centre so easy to get supplies from the supermarket, snacks at the food court etc. and the metro station is only a few minutes walk away. Yes it's dry, but for a couple of nights that's ok!

Fossildog

I like the Four Points on SZR, close to the Metro,lots of places to eat nearby and great rooms at a reasonable cost