My Dubai Guide Part Three- Party Time
My friends and people I know in my network are always asking me about where to go in Dubai, so that’s why I am making My Dubai Guides, which are lists of MY favorite places in Dubai.
For a list of my favorite restaurants check out my other guides: One and Two.
Anyone who has been to Dubai knows that there is no such thing as weekend and weekday when it comes to going out at night, every night is a party night. Every night there is a new club opening or a famous dj is playing somewhere, it can be hard to find out where to go. I am a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to going out. I like to go places I have been before and know already, so here is the list of places I would go on the different days of the week.
Firstly I would like to mention my favorite lounges for a Sundowner or pre-party drinks:
360 which is located at the Jumeira Beach Hotel and has a 360 view, so on a clear day you can see Burj Al Arab, the Dubai Marina, The Palm Jumeira and even downtown and the sky high Burj Khalifa.
Burj Al Arab from 360
View of Downtown Dubai from 360
Jetty Lounge or 1O1 , which are part of the One&Only hotel are great for sunset drinks as well, with a very relaxed feeling, you can hear the waves hitting the shore and the soft music is just delightful.
Jetty Lounge at Sunset
Horizon Lounge, this is a great place throughout the day as they have an infinity pool and it is 18 years plus, so this is a great place to go to enjoy a cocktail while sitting inside the pool looking out on to the beach and the Palm Jumeira and behind the magnificent architecture in the Dubai Marina.
40 Kong is another great lounge/rooftop bar on the 40th floor of the H hotel at the beginning of Sheikh Zayed Road so the view from here, which includes some of the famous buildings in Dubai will take your breath away.
Atmosphere is the bar and restaurant inside Burj Khalifa on the 122nd floor and also has an amazing view of the city. If you are considering going to the Burj Khalifa and you don’t have kids in tow, then this is a better option than the observation deck, which is actually a few floors down and the price is not very much less than the minimum spend at the bar, so better to get something more for your money.
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa
Monday: Yes Monday, both the week and weekend starts here. Mondays Made Me… at Sass Café, this is a great Monday party, dinner first and suddenly around midnight instead of the party ending it actually starts. My friend Johanna, who does concierge services for all of Dubai, helped start this concept and event, so for reservations etc. contact her.
Sass Monday’s Made Me… Launch party
Tuesday: This is ladies’ night everywhere, so girls get free cocktails in pretty much any club. On Tuesdays I like to go to XL, where the atmosphere is chilled, but still fun and light, the music is good and they play songs you actually know and one of the best things about XL is that it is outdoors, which I love and they have shisha, which I also enjoy. On Tuesdays they generally do some special ladies night theme with give-aways or raffles.
XL by night
Wednesday: This is usually the day of rest as it’s before the official weekend, but if you want to go out on a Wednesday head to 40Kong and then Movida , where it will be packed with party people until they turn on the lights at 3 am. The music here is generally HipHop and R&B and at the later hours it goes to Electro House.
Thursday: Now this is the beginning of the official weekend, so there are many places to go to and if you are after a specific type of music or DJ then check out TimeOut Dubai or DubaiNight, but if you are sorting through the long list of places to go I would suggest either VIP Room, White or my beloved XL. I like these places for either the layout or atmosphere or both. VIP Room –Famous Club – is a famous club, with venues in Paris St. Tropez and Monaco it has a reputation, and it lives up to it. You know VIP Room will always be full and fun, when people go to VIP Room it’s to have fun. White is a great venue because of the amphitheater layout and the stunning view of Dubai also tables have enough space around them, so people are not stepping on top of each other, only downside is getting to and from your table to the restrooms can take you a very long time. XL will always be my favorite place to go, yes I am biased because my friends own it and I am always there with them, but I just like the place, the layout of the club, the dancers in the middle and the atmosphere there, I just always have a lot of fun in XL so it will always be my favorite and often my club of choice for the weekend. All three places play a mixture of commercial HipHop and R&B music (for us girls who like to sing along) and House music (usually in the later hours)
White with Burj Khalifa in the distance
Friday: is pretty much the same as Thursday, only exception is that the partying starts with brunch. My favorite is XL where brunch starts at 1 pm as a pool party, which starts out chilled, but generally turns into basically a rave by sunset and the party will keep going until 3 am as usual. Occasionally I will take the trip to Abu Dhabi and go to Blue Marlin Ibiza, but it is a trip, like an hour driving from Dubai, so for me to go it has to be with a good and big group of people. So BMI will either be from brunch at like 1 pm or from 5 pm until 11 pm, then back to Dubai, change and out to one of the clubs mentioned above for Thursday.
Saturday: Sass café does their Brunch on Saturdays, which as always is delicious and fun. At night the only lace to go is Crystal, where they will play R&B and HipHop until it closes at 3 am. Make sure to leave a little before if you don’t want to get stuck in the elevator queue.
Sunday: Usually known as the day of rest. Well in Dubai, first of all it’s the first day of the week, as Friday and Saturday are the official days off, secondly nobody ever rests in Dubai. Sunday night is OKKU night and I look forward to it every week, as I have already rambled on in my Asian restaurants guide, I absolutely love the food here and that is their whole concept, Love Food, Love Life and Love OKKU, which I absolutely do and the music and party afterwards is also great and always a good crowd.
OKKU Sunday LOVE
So that was the round-up of the party week in Dubai, I hope you enjoyed reading it and agree on at least some of them once you have tried them. As I said in the beginning this is just a list of MY favorite places to go and is not in any way an extensive list of the best clubs, I am no expert, I just had a lot of free-time in Dubai, but one person who is an expert is my friend Johanna, so if you want to know of the best places on the list go to her and she will help you out.
