How expensive is Dubai for 4 days?

Dubai is considered to be an expensive city. Therefore if you travel there, people would assume you are rich. However I managed to stay on budget here. I stayed in Dubai from 24th to 28th of August, 4 days. Here is my expense. All the price is in AED. 1USD ∼ 3.6AED

Accommodation: 491 AED

I booked a room on AirBnb. I stayed on 63th floor, private bedroom, private bathroom. The room was spacious just like Hilton. The view was opened to Palm Island. I stayed here for 4 nights with the price of 491 AED ∼ 134 USD.

Public transport ticket: 60 AED

This is a price for Nol Card, that I need to reload to tap.

Ticket to Palm Island: 30 AED

You can access Palm Island by Monorail or you can rent a car to go there. The train stops around 2 times and the final station is the end of the island, where Atlantis is. One way ticket to the end is 20 AED, the return one costs 30 AED.

Taxi: 20 AED

I took a taxi from Jumeirah beach to Madinet Jumeirah. I asked the price from the driver and after he told me 20 AED he didn’t count it on machine. Therefore I guess the price of taxi is something you can discuss with the driver. But not 100% sure about this.

Food: 187 AED

120AED

This is a price I ate in restaurant in the mall. On average a single meal cost around 25-30 AED.

67 AED

This is a price of groceries I bought in the shop to cook at home. I bought rice, tomato, egg, dragon fruit, tangerine, peach, potato, biscuits and water. It was more than enough for 4 days.

Magnet: 40 AED

A magnet cost around 10-20 AED. The really fancy one might cost 30AED.

Total: 828AED ∼ 234USD

This is a minimum expense in Dubai, where flight ticket is NOT included. If you want to shop, you will need much more. As for an accommodation I highly recommend you to stay in Airbnb as the hotels are really pricey. Also in apartment you can cook for yourself so you can also save money on food. I heard that in Al Fahidi, the old town, you can eat local food with half price of the food in the Mall. So I would also recommend you to eat out in Al Fahidi.

Here is a link from where you can book a place to stay with reduced price:

For hotels, apartment:
For local’s apartment, experiences:
www.airbnb.com ( If you use this link, after signing up, you will receive Ft9,000 (∼US$32) off of your first trip that worth Ft21,000 (∼US$75) or more. I will get Ft4500 (∼US$16) travel credit to finance my accommodation while travelling so I can share with you more exciting experience.)