The best shopping malls in Dubai

The Dubai Mall

The Dubai Mall is one of the most marvelous places in the world. It’s also one of the biggest mall in the world, with the shopping area being over half a million square meters. It’s conveniently located next to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and the Dubai Fountain. Almost all big brands are represented at the Dubai Mall, from Versace to Hugo Boss. Being one of the largest malls in the world it’s hard to imagine things you can’t get here. There are shops for footwear, lingerie, watches, electronic devices, jewelry, furniture and pretty much everything else.

In the area of the Dubai mall called The Village, which is well crafted to look like an indoor shopping street, the more cool casual brands are represented like Diesel, Nike, Leví’s, Versace jeans. Local fashion brands can mostly be found in an area called The Souk. The Dubai Mall also has an area called Gold Souk, not to be confused with the Gold Souk in Deira, in which mostly gold and jewellery shops can be found.

The Dubai Mall has a couple daycares where children can play while the parents shop, but of course there are also activities especially for the kids such as at the educational KidZania. You can also visit the indoor theme park SEGA Republic with the family which has many attractions and games dedicated to SEGA franchises like Sonic. If all that’s too exciting you can also just sit down at the cinema to view the latest blockbusters. If that isn’t enough you can also learn to ice skate with the whole family at the large Dubai Ice Rink.

The mall also hosts the biggest aquarium in the world, the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo. You can walk through a tunnel through the aquarium so you can view the fish, rays and sharks from up close and even diving arrangements are available. The Dubai Mall also hosts an original and intact 155 million years old skeleton of the largest species of dinosaur in the world, the Diplodocus longus, which is the dinosaur with the long neck.

If you are looking for a bite to eat then you can go dining at one of the several food courts in the Dubai Mall. The food courts pride themselves that food from all corners of the world, from Mexico to Japan, are represented in it’s many restaurants and cafe’s.

To sum it all up: if are looking to go shopping or just for some entertainment you can’t really go wrong at the Dubai Mall.

Wafi Mall

The Wafi Mall is quite a sight to behold. This shopping mall is build with an Egyptian styled architecture, with pyramid shaped rooftops and statues at the front. The mall has a wide range of luxury clothing shops, department stores, perfume shops, jewelers, beauty salons, wellness centers an indoor playground and mini-golf course for kids, and much more. The Wafi Mall has it’s very own subterranean market, the Khan Murjan souk, with the ceiling being of the biggest mosaic constructions in the world. Next to the mall is the Pyramids, where quality restaurants, an indoor pool, a spa and more are located. Every evening there is one fantastic light show at the Wafi Mall that you really shouldn’t miss. If you have the opportunity to go shopping and dining here it’s really worth the visit.

Mall of the Emirates

The Mall of the Emirates is another shopping mall in Dubai with mega proportions and one of the biggest shopping malls of the world. It’s a tourist favorite for shopping as the Mall of the Emirates is home to hundreds of flagship stores and other shopping outlets, from Rolex to Prada. Lots of perfume stores. And electronic stores from an Apple store to a Samsung store. You won’t be missing anything here. Each floor of the mall also has it’s own food or dining occasions where you can sit down and have a bite to eat.

The Mall of the Emirates houses a VOX Cinema with Laser IMAX 3D and 4DX, which means you’ll also feel the action with seat motion, wind, fog, rain and smell. But the biggest attraction of the Mall of the Emirates is Ski Dubai, the biggest indoor snow park in the world. Ski Dubai offers five different slopes with various degrees of difficulty. So even beginners are welcome to learn how to ski here. And it houses it’s own pack of penguins that you can watch and even meet.

Mercato mall

The Mercato mall is a Italian renaissance styled shopping mall in Dubai. The mall has a modest size and a comfortable vibe to it, partially thanks to it’s large glass ceiling. With more than 140 shops most kinds of shops are still represented in the mall, so you can buy fashion, toys, gifts, jewelry and so on here. But the Virgin Megastore, which is a very large music and media store, and the very large Spinneys supermarket are it’s more prominent features. An ideal shopping mall if you have a hotel nearby, if you come from the beach and need a place to rest with a cool drink or have a bite to eat. Or if you’re just curious about it’s quaint architecture.

Ibn Battuta Mall

The Ibn Battuta mall isn’t the most well known shopping mall of Dubai. This is mostly due to it’s location as it’s not close to city center, but closer to the Palm Islands and in the general direction of Abu Dhabi. But it’s quite large and has quite an interesting twist to it. Ibn Battuta was one of the greatest travelers in history who went from Morocco all the way to China, so Dubai named this mall after him and themed the mall after his journies. The mall is split up in six courts. It has court themed after China, a court themed after India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and one themed after Andalusia. You can recognize the design of each region in all your surroundings. Now you can travel the world with him and collect your own souvenirs in your journey. The stores tend to be more well rounded than in the other malls and it offers plenty of restaurants. So it’s worth a visit if you are close to the Palm Islands.

Marina Mall

The Dubai Marina Mall has a great location at the Dubai Marina and at walking distance of the boulevard the Marina Walk. The Mall has a comfortable size with over 130 stores, so they have a reasonable assortment of fashion stores here. Familiar names like H&M, Diesel, Grant are represented. The Marina Mall also has a supermarket, a cinema and a food court where you can sit down at places like Subway, India palace, Starbucks and Five Guys. So when you are at the Dubai Marina to look at the tall buildings and beautiful boats you could drop by here for a lunch break.

City Centre Deira

City Centre Deira is a modern and quite large shopping mall. It’s located between the Dubai creek and the Dubai International Airport and can be reached quite easily with the metro that stops in front of it.

The mall is big enough to spend your shopping day in it as it has over 350 shops with varied styles of brands like Victoria’s Secret, Karen Millen, Bershka, Galvanni, G-Star Raw, Pierre Cardin, Tommy Hillfiger and Wrangler and department stores like from Max Fashion and Zara.

The mall has over 50 restaurants, including a nice food court where you can go to dinner and lots of outlets where you can get confectioneries, drinks, ice cream and chocolate. The mall also has a large Carrefour hypermarket, a 3D Cinema and a bowling alley. It also has a Toys R Us for the kids. As expected from Dubai the mall houses an exceptional amount of stores dedicated to watches and jewelry, from Breitling to Swatch.

BurJuman Shopping center

BurJuman Shopping Center was one of the first shopping malls in Dubai and it’s located in the historic Bur Dubai district. It’s right up against the characteristic landmark the BurJuman Business Tower. The mall has been renovated and expanded a couple times, so now it houses more than 300 stores. A lot of luxury brands have set up shop here like Dior, DKNY, Burberry, Louis Vuiton, Ralph Lauren and others. Of course it also has large department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. Popular perfume shops also sell western and arabic fragrances. If you are looking for a bite to eat you can find food from Italian to Lebanese at the food court on the third floor. Eating here can be quite cozy as many restaurants are located next to neat indoor fountains.