hotsawz

So I'm trying to do some diggin' on which are the areas to go for in Dubai and so far I've been recommended:

• Dubai Marina
• JBR(Jumierah Beach Residence)
• JLT(Jumierah Lake Towers)
• Dubai Greens
• Emirate Hills and Springs

Was wondering if anyone could give me a bit more info on each (demographic, housing costs, photos, nightlife etc etc etc).

Bob

Have a start by reading the wiki and searching out past threads, quite a lot of those areas have been talked about as well as the social life and cost of living.

Patsy Stoned

It will all depend on ....

Do you have a family

How much your housing allowance is (if you have 1)

Where you work.

Where you manage to get your children into school ( if you have them)

As Bob said..do a bit of searching.

hotsawz

My personal circumstances aside, I thought it might be handy to have a central repository for all this info so people can just hit the one article with maybe a para on each area within Dubai without having to trawl through the other articles just to get a snapsot. Once they've read that article, they could then start doing some research on the area they are interested in. I wasn't trying to be lazy and avoid searching the forums , I thought it'd be genuinely useful to have a little guide on each area as a starting point for people like myself.

Blue Cat

is this enough information?

Hello.Kitty

JBR is the strip of high-rise (35-40 stories) between the Marina and the beach, on the other side of the road is the Marina, sandwiched between JBR and SZR and JLT is directly on the other side of SZR - the poor man's Marina! lol

Seriously though, everywhere's within walking distance, so it all depends what accommodation tickles your fancy.

JBR is huge (40-odd towers that all look alike) and some would say sterile, although it has a very distinct community and obviously the shops and restaurants of The Walk.

The buildings within the Marina are varied - age, facilities, price... and they're gradually filling in the gaps of individual plots. It's come on a lot in the last 3 years, with the marina-side walk being completed and shops gradually filling up the ground-level mixed use units.

JLT is a bit wierd and the price is lower in proportion. It's formed in clusters of 3 towers that are build on very obvious multi-story car parks (most towers are, but at least most hide them) and it's an absolute nightmare to get around by walking unless you know how to get there. I once got stuck in a huge loop because they'd put multi-level barriers to prevent me crossing the road. a 20 minute walk ensued just to get to the other side of the road. One was not amused. It's still an area very much under construction, but tbh, I doubt it'll be finished any time soon.

hotsawz

Succinct.

Don't suppose you feel like elaborating? You obviously know your stuff as you seem to be the most regular user on here but I'm guessing you have either a hatred for these area or me? Profuse apologies of my line of questioning has displeased you.

hotsawz

That's really useful. Thanks for the advice.

Hello.Kitty

np - I lived in JBR when we first arrived and then moved to the Marina. I actually really like the area, unlike the Truman Show style villas of Meadows/ Springs et al.

Basically, within the Marina area, you have really good bus and metro links, a mall, more restaurants than you can shake a stick at, a good number of licensed bars, hotels, supermarkets, an inordinate number of beauty salons, gyms, doctors, dentists and nurseries. It's actually so close and complete that I haven't really needed a car in the last 3 years to go about my daily business - a taxi will magically appear within a minute (ok, max 3 minutes) of stepping towards the curb. I take public transport to drop the kids off at nursery and can get to any of the malls (should I want to!) by metro.

hotsawz

Well the Marina definitely sounds like the top choice at the mo, the only thing it doesn't seem to offer (and I'm hankering after) is high rise living. If money allowed I'd be at the top of Burj Khalifa. Perhaps JBR would be a good compromise of high rise and still in good proximity to the local amenities in the Marina. You mention SZR but I'm not sure where/what that is.

Patsy Stoned

Errrrr.....................

hotsawz

I happily stand corrected. I thought JBR was highrise and the Marina was low rise. I guess I'll find all of this out when I actually get to see the city. It seems crazy thinking about it that I've accepted a job there without having been.

Exciting times ahead!

Hello.Kitty

gosh, yeah... lol!

there are some "low rise" at 10-odd stories, JBR being the 40-odd stories and then some brand spanking new super-highrises that are up to 110 stories. Most of the buildings are between 20-35.

The only thing is, yes, in principle it's great fun, but I used to live on the 35th in JBR and when you come to realise that they don't do fire-alarm checks, no-one's got a clue how to evacuate the building properly, that the security guards really couldn't give a fig and that cracks start appearing under the downstand beams because of poor build-quality, you start reassessing if you actually want to live there (as well as waking up at night to formulate a mental list of what to do in order to get you and your family to safety).

SZR is Sheikh Zayed Road - the main 8/10 lane motorway that goes the length of Dubai

hotsawz

Crickey, that sounds a little disconcerting. I've got 3 weeks in a hotel room when I get out there so hopefully this'll give me an opportunity to have a scout around, just interested to get peoples opinions before I fly out. I don't suppose there's a regular British meet up anywhere? I won't know a soul out there and it'd be good to meet some peeps outside of work.

Hello.Kitty

this place is so difficult to describe tbh... and you can look on the Intarwebz and find the sales pitches for each of the buildings which is quite a hilarious read given how far from reality they often are. My building apparently boasts Dubai's only residential waterpark (a kids pool with ok, a pretty awesome waterjet feature), on-site childcare with fully-qualified staff (a large room with an old trampoline, a plastic slide, a wendy house and no staff) and is set in lush,landscaped grounds (a few sad-looking stunted trees in large pots).

Basically, you have to see it and experience it to decide if you like a particular place. Maybe the security guards will make or break it for you, maybe 2 out of the 3 lifts will be broken when you get to an otherwise super place... who knows. I came over adamant that I wouldn't live in anything but a villa with a garden, saw what we could afford and ended up on the 35th floor!