Hi there.
Moving out in January yet to decide on Dubai or Abu Dhabi.Are there big differences in price,especially accomodation wise?
Hoping for a villa somewhere.Any advice on nice areas,and whether Abu Dhabi or Dubai would be nicer?

Hi claire,

I was just offered a job in dubai...

I was told that Dubai is ahead of Abu Dhabi (However Abu Dhabi is catching up)... and cost of living is higher in Dubai. Just make sure that your employer is paying for your accomodation as Dubai is an expensive place to rent!"!!


See you out there

xx

Abu Dhabi is also very expensive to rent, do you know your budget yet and then maybe you can an idea of what and where you can afford to rent

"Ahead" in what sense?
Abu Dhabi is a much more relaxed, less busy and hectic place. Much lower level of traffic and very few jams. It doesn't have the constant construction noise/pollution, although that will increase gradually over the next few years.
Abu Dhabi is reputed to be a lot better for families (we are extremely happy with family life here).
Rent is higher, but there are a lot of properties about to come on the market, and unlike Dubai, they will not be held back in order to keep the high prices artificially high - they will actually be released.
The biggest difference though, if you're looking for a long term move, is that Abu Dhabi has oil which will allow the economy to grow slowly and in a sustained manner, unlike the made panic growth in Dubai.
So, if you like clubs & pubs, traffic, noise, dust, pollution, crowds, construction etc. go for Dubai. If you'd rather have a slower pace of life with much less of the above, go for Abu Dhabi. (You can always visit Dubai for a dau and come away again).

Hi

Agreed. I have lots of friends who have moved to Dubai and come back, couldnt stand the traffic, the concrete jungle and the plastic surgery.

Abu Dhabi will outshine Dubai in the end as it has more land and islands.

The plastic surgery?

They should have thought about it before they had it done then, shouldn't they.

You are presumably joking, my dear. I am sure she was referring to the fakeness of the people rather than their actual bodies. She makes a very good point in my view. If I had the choice, I would definitely prefer Abu Dhabi...spending an occasional weekend of debauchery in Dubai whenever the need arose.

Definitley (debauchery) that is and yes u got me on the fakeness and flakiness

oh not that old song again...fakeness of people...what does that mean...are people that move to Dubai different from other people in other places...
you cannot expect to have friendships like you did back home, where you grew up together, went to the same schools etc...and it generally takes longer to build a friendship when you are older, but that is not because of the fakeness of people...so many people are saying that same thing, how come they are not all best friends by now eh....

So why are so many people saying it? It's not that everybody is fake in Dubai but there just seems to be a higher than average number of materialistic and pretentious Stepford Wives type people living here...mostly from the UK I hasten to add and none on this Board of course...

Lionheart - my sentiments exactly. However, i have noticed a sickening amount of arrogant expat colonialism (?) and "falseness" in Abu Dhabi, too. You know the ones - they trip around the supermarkets in their Jimmy Choo shoes with their maid trailing behind them pushing the trolley!! The sort who have never been to the pool with their kids because they send the maid down with them!
I had a chat the other day with an expat woman who pays her maid 800dhs a month without a day off because "she doesn't want a day off"!:curse:
Of course, she didn't think to pay the girl a decent wage and insist she has a day off to relax etc. It's that sort of attitude that really annoys me and, unfortunately, it is not restricted to the arab culture.
Sorry, rant over - i'll have a cup of tea and calm down

It's not Dubai's fault, and not restricted to the people who live there - it's human nature to a degree.
The reason Dubai has a larger concentration of "them" is because of the huge salaries and bonuses coupled with the fact that there are thousands of "servants" employed to simply do anything and everything for you (as well as Dubai).
I think people feed off one another in terms of behaving more and more arrogantly and falsely. However, i think it takes a certain type of person to behave like this, and they are not restricted to Dubai, there are just a lot more of them there for the above reasons.
Give Abu Dhabi 5-10 years and it'll be the same, because the same type of person will come here - sadly.

people are like parrots...and like I said, if everybody is so against the fakeness, it should be easy to find friends that are likeminded...

of course there are those that lead that lifestyle...but I do think it's a generalisation that is being kept alive just for the sake of it...

when I look at the mothers in my kids school, I don't see any of these stereotypes...they are just normal, down to earth women trying to have a good life away from home, so let's not judge all women because of those that are into maid-abusing...

Sorry, but no-one has generalised - we are expressing our view that there are a lot of people here who behave like that, but by no means all. The majority of people are good honest people who treat others with respect, but it's the minority who stick out because of their appalling behaviour and attitude

ok, so we agree we are talking about a minority...
and why then not put more emphasis on the majority of people, that are just normal people doing their day to day stuff to make sure they and their families are having a good time here...a bit less negative and a lot more positive...
it's easy not to get in contact with the ones you don't like...I never do...
and I am not saying it is paradise out here...but I do believe it's what you make it yourself, and it's just too easy to blame others...