The marina district in Dubai looks otherworldly – skyscrapers rising from the shores of a wide canal filled with very expensive yachts. It is one of the most exclusive and popular places to live in Dubai. In keeping with Dubai’s plethora of superlatives, this is the “world’s largest planned waterfront community” and “the world’s largest man made marina” (claims from architectural firm HOK’s website and Wikipedia, respectively). It will be able to accommodate more than 120,000 residents when building is complete.
What I love is the wide walkway completely around the marina, and it is fun to watch cyclists, runners, and quadracyclists make their way around. With my visiting friend Jen in tow, we took an afternoon walking from Jumeirah Beach Walk to the depths of the marina, stopping to eat lunch at the fun and funky Piccolo Mondo and then upping the cheese factor by climbing aboard the “Ali Babba”, a cartoonish like dhow that chugs tourists up and down the marina canal and out to the edge of the Palm Islands and back.
If you are visiting Dubai, well worth a visit. It can be very hard to find parking, so either make reservations at a hotel on the Marina and park there, or take the Metro to the DAMAC properties station and head towards the water – you will run into the Marina and the walkway that surrounds it. To get to JBR you can either take the Tram from the Metro Station or walk from the Marina. (At JBR you can see the huge soon to be opened Dubai Eye Ferris wheel and enjoy the beach and fun sculptures, public art, and stores).
You Say Dubai, I Say Hello! 