Let us know your final take on forex card.
raksrules
Elite
Have ordered the Niyo global for now. Hoping it works fine.
Hi,
did not wanted to open a new thread so asking here.
My kin is going to Dubai and I want to buy a Garmin watch and Rode Wireless Go II .
Is there a good online website where I can order it from to their hotel?
Or any interesting place where they can find it cheaper?
I prefer online though.
thanks.
did not wanted to open a new thread so asking here.
My kin is going to Dubai and I want to buy a Garmin watch and Rode Wireless Go II .
Is there a good online website where I can order it from to their hotel?
Or any interesting place where they can find it cheaper?
I prefer online though.
thanks.
raksrules
Elite
People suggest amazon.ae or noon.com. I have no experience ordering from any and as of now, I have no plans of ordering from them anything. But I am eyeing the Apple watch S7 which I have to buy when I am there and see if I can find locally else will need to order from one of these websites.
I have tried looking on Amazon.ae and noon.
It is not cheap at all.
Why this myth about things being cheap in Dubai.
Almost same price as India infact whatever my research has yield . It is cheaper here with card discounts.
America is so much cheaper in comparison.
In virgin stores the price of garmin was almost double compared to amazon India.
Dubai is cheap is a water-memory of 3 decades. Better off getting things locally here, in brick&mortar shops.
raksrules
Elite
I agree but let me tell you my case. I am eyeing the Apple Watch 7 45mm GPS. From what I have seen in youtube videos, it costs 1350 AED (plus 5% VAT out of which some part will be returned). So cost is 1420 AED (considering no VAT refund for calculation purpose). This translates to 31K INR which is about 10K less than Indian price of the same watch. I doubt we can get this watch for the said price here even with card discounts.
But things like iPhone 13/14 (regular ones) are not a deal in Dubai, you will get better deals here. Pro and pro max may be a different story.
Is it worth visiting with family, considering most of the stuff, transport and tickets to any parks, museum, burj khalifa,etc are very expensive?
raksrules
Elite
To be honest, "worth" is very subjective. Especially with family (as in kids involved), you will be rarely taking public transport as like metros in India, they are always full and getting seat is a task. Hence taxi is best and only reasonably priced option.
The main allure of Dubai is due to its proximity to India, relatively very to travel (Visa etc), decently priced tickets and lots of things to see. Shopping options are numerous and electronics is highlight due to cost saving (if you actually intended to buy, I myself bought apple watch).
Tickets (for attractions) are expensive. I paid about 22K for 4 people to go to Legoland. Burj Khalifa is like 3.5K per person.
To save, you can travel in off season. In Oct too, the heat there was unbearable and all my plans to walk and use public transport fell flat due to the heat and we resorted to using taxi everywhere mostly.
To save money on hotel and eat cheap(er) and better options, I would suggest staying in Bur Dubai area. I stayed there.
Then comes shopping which has no limit. if not you, your better half may be going bonkers in certain stores. There is a store chain called "Day to Day" which sells many items and we spent like 4 hours there. It is like dmart in India with 4 floors. Then there are 1 to 10 dirham stores. Ofcourse if you want to go branded, there is Dubai Mall and plethora of other malls.
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letmein
Skilled
Did you need any Covid RTPCR tests or was vaccine certificate sufficient?
raksrules
Elite
To go to Dubai, vaccine certificate is sufficent. Not sure if negative RTPCR is needed or not. Even for my kids, no RTPCR was needed.
But while returning to India, the rules on RTPCR for kids above 5 years is not properly given on air suvidha (more like duvidha) portal. For under 5 nothing is needed but for above 5, it appeared that negative RTPCR was needed. I didn't want to take chances so I got my 8 year old's RTPCR done in Dubai just 2 days before our departure from there. I had already finalized a testing center which took 45 Dirhams and gave report over sms in 6 hours.
Indigo staff at DXB did ask for his report.
?dOuBtFiRe?
Adept
Do post a detailed experience with your trip. Places, Hotels, Price, what nots.
prime
Skilled
Was Niyo Global useful on your trip?
raksrules
Elite
I was planning to make a post for this exclusively. But yes it was super useful and I had exactly 0 issues with it. I used to load my Niyo account a night before with say 50K or so and spend whatever is required next day. I used niyo exclusively wherever I could except where cash was only accepted (roadside shop for tea etc). Be in taxi, metro, attraction tickets (which I bought at gate), restaurants, food delivery etc.
I even withdrew from ATM there without any issues. I know we will see reviews online saying they faced issues and all and I don't doubt them as it can happen but at least it did not happen for me.
Only one inconvenience i had once was that I transferred some 1L to my Niyo account using IMPS and under transactions in Niyo app, it showed me the credit has happened, the main balance was not updated. I asked their customer care via chat and they told there is maintenance going on between 00:00 IST and 04:00 IST (I transferred that money around 11 PM Dubai time) and hence updation will happen post that. It did happen in morning fine. Just that if I had to withdrew that money immediately, I would have had issues as money didn't immediately reflect in main balance.
prime
Skilled
prime
Skilled
Better late than never.Good thread.
I am also planning to visit Dubai in Jan'23 with my wife and 12y kid. Almost same requirements except we want to stay at least one night (and day) in Atlantis. YOLO.. I hope we get it in 50k-60k range.