Tom On day 2 of our travels in Dubai, we enjoyed an amazing morning at Atlantis the Palm Dubai before reluctantly saying goodbye to continue with our sightseeing and tours of Dubai!
Atlantis Dubai Saffron Restaurant Breakfast
We woke up at 6am this morning, intent to catch the sunrise at the beach of Atlantis Dubai. We were surprised of the different hues cast on the hotel as the sun rose…
The different hues cast on Atlantis Dubai by the morning sun, reminded us of our sunrise tour to the Taj Mahal…Thus, it seemed fitting that we went to Saffron Restaurant for their buffet breakfast! 🤣
As guests of Atlantis Dubai’s Imperial Club Lounge, we were able to choose from 3 breakfast venues namely; Imperial Club Lounge, Saffron or Kaleidoscope Restaurants. Eventually, we chose Saffron as we found out that both Saffron and Kaleidoscope had the same offerings, except that Saffron Restaurant had the chocolate fondue!
The spread itself was extensive. There were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and Western cuisines to choose from. Of course, in order to get them all reviewed, we had NO CHOICE but to taste all of it, in order to give our readers an idea of what’s in store…
We were particularly pleased with the asian dishes because you’d normally think that food standards would drop at “far-flung” places such as UAE. To our surprise, Indian, Korean and Chinese food were just as good as what we get here in Singapore. We especially enjoyed the bibimbap with some of the deep fried fatty salmon – a cross between Japanese and Korean which we concocted and was especially yummy. 😋
There are 2 downsides of dining at Saffron though. First, the restaurant was rather dark. When we walked past Kaleidoscope later in the morning, we found it to be brightly lit and rather inviting. Second, the coffee was not that great. We adjourned back to the Imperial Club Lounge for cafe latte and cappuccino. We also observed how the coffee machine churned out our cuppa. As it turns out, cafe latte was a combination of both milk and espresso while cappuccino was first laid with milk at the bottom and espresso on top. We sat at our favourite seat at level 2 of Imperial Club Lounge as we savoured our morning cuppa.
As guests of Atlantis Dubai, you’d be able to head to Aquaventure on the day of checking-in and checking-out. Hence, we headed over to the activities counter at about 9:45am to get our wristbands before trying out more rides such as The Surge (float ride that spun you around quite a bit), Torrent Lazy River (the not-so-lazy-river with giant waves) as well as the Leap of Faith (of course)…
We also headed to the side of the Tower of Neptune to take a group ride called Zoomerango (Leap of Faith is at Tower of Neptune). Crashed a family of 4 who welcomed us and we were pretty surprised at the grandmother’s courage in taking this ride (she was about 70 years old?) as it finally zooms up a height of 14 metres before free falling backwards!
To round off our visit to Atlantis The Palm Dubai, we did bath using the (ShuiQi Spa) bath salts provided and did our check out at the Imperial Club Lounge. Of course, we took the mandatory photo with the Chihuly Glass Sculpture in the main lobby…
Prior to our departure, we had already made a booking for our airport transfer back to Dubai International Airport. As it was a complimentary airport transfer (as we booked an Imperial Club Room), we were ready to walk to Premier Inn Dubai International Airport Hotel ourselves. However, the staff were able to bring us straight to the hotel’s lobby.
Quick Note: If you have made a reservation for an airport transfer, head straight out to the hotel’s car porch and inform the valet there. We made a mistake of approaching the concierge inside the hotel – which was not necessary.
About Premier Inn Dubai Airport Hotel
As we flew by Emirates from Singapore to Dubai, there are 2 complimentary nights included with the flight. Unfortunately, we could not choose which 2 nights to stay here as the first night had to start on the day of arrival in Dubai – which we used for our first night at Atlantis. Hence, we chose to forfeit one night of stay here. Fortunately, we had some miles (that would otherwise be unused) with Emirates when we flew previously with them and there was sufficient miles to redeem a night. So we still managed to get our 2 free nights from Emirates! Thanks for the amazing flight and hotel offer!
Although we were slightly early, we were still able to get our room. We also took some pictures before heading to our room to drop of our luggage…
The room itself was simple but clean and comfortable. There was cable channels, coffee amenities as well as views of the Dubai International Airport where we watched airplanes take off in the evenings…
One of the highlights of staying at Premier Inn Dubai International Airport is its amazing rooftop swimming pool. From here, you’ll have an expansive view of the surroundings, including the Dubai city skyline and the iconic Burj Khalifa…
After checking out our room and hotel facilities at Premier Inn Dubai International Airport, we left for Dubai Mall. We took a short walk (12 minutes) to Emirates Station, along Holiday Inn Express…
The ticket from Emirates Station to Dubai Mall Station costs 8aed (2 zones – $3.10SGD)…
After travelling about 25 minutes from Emirates Station to Dubai Mall Station, you would still need to take another 15 minutes walk to reach Dubai Mall itself…
One of the first order of the day was to grab a quick bite at Dubai Mall. We headed to the food court and were careful to choose local. At that, we found Taza – a local fast food chain where we had an excellent BBQ chicken meal for (31 AED – $12SGD)…
Totally enjoyed the BBQ Chicken meal. Generous portion. Fresh herbs, olive oil and lime flavours. Chicken itself was tender and flavourful. We then did some shopping at Boots (118AED) and Waitrose Supermarket (325AED) where we bought some dates! Thereafter, we headed outdoors to catch the Dubai Fountain. It was here that we finally saw Burj Khalifa (The World’s Tallest Skyscraper) up close…
Initially, we wanted to head to TGIF to catch Dubai Fountain. As the first evening show starts at 6pm, we thought that arriving at 5:25pm gave us ample time. We were wrong. By then, all the seats with views of the fountain had already been taken up. Hence, we headed out to the promenade to catch the Dubai Fountain.
At first, we were right beside Dubai Mall where it was rather crowded. Also, the Dubai Fountain was too close where we were not able to see the entire performance clearly. Thankfully, as we walked closer to the Burj Khalifa (and away from the crowd), we found one of the best FREE spots to watch the Dubai Fountain – The Urbanscape Green Roof at Dubai Opera Garden. This venue reminded us of the Marina Barrage because of the green rooftop.
As the Green Roof was elevated, we had a good view of the entire Dubai Fountain. There’s also a platform that was built to have an even closer view of the fountain. Access to the platform costs 20AED ($8SGD). Here, we also caught the Burj Khalifa up close. Again, with different lightings through the evening as the sun set…
There are 13 Dubai Fountain shows throughout the day. The first Dubai Fountain show takes place at 1pm and 1:30pm. Thereafter, the evening Dubai Fountain show takes place from 6pm to 11pm at 30 minutes intervals.
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To end off the evening, we bought a strawberry cake from Hafiz Mustafa Sweets Shop in Dubai Mall (45AED – $17.5SGD) and hummus from Waitrose (4.5AED per 100g – which we got 300g of). We then took the gold class metro back to Emirates Station (14AED – $5.5SGD) that allowed us to have seats in the gold class cabin.
Note: There’s a 100AED fine if one is found in the gold class cabin without the gold class tickets…
As the rooftop was closed after 8pm, we enjoyed our snacks in the room as we winded down for the evening. The strawberry cake with its light cream was superb. But superbly expensive as well. Hummus was fantastic.
We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of Dubai Mall and Dubai Fountains on day 2 of our travels in Dubai! Stay tuned as we check out more attractions in Dubai in the next post!
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Dubai Travels Day 2: Leaving Atlantis Dubai to Visit Dubai Mall and Dubai Fountain!
Dubai Travels Day 4: Checking out Priority Pass Lounges at Dubai International Airport
Top 8 Dubai Attractions and Things to do NOT TO BE MISSED!
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