Dubai has a reputation for the expensive and the extremely loud, and a great deal else besides if you look slightly past it. Here are eleven date ideas that actually give you something to talk about.
1. Al Fahidi, then an abra across the creek. A dirham each way, fifteen minutes, and the oldest part of the city at its best - do this one first and everything after it is easier.
2. The desert after sunset. Not the packed tour with the buffet - a quieter operator, a dune, and the point in the evening when the sky is worth sitting still for.
3. Alserkal Avenue. Galleries, independent coffee, and a version of the city almost nobody visiting ever sees.
4. The spice and gold souks at Deira. Chaotic, sensory, and full of things to react to - which is exactly what a first meeting needs.
5. Kite Beach at golden hour. A long walk, somewhere to stop, and the whole city out doing the same thing.
6. Dubai Opera. A proper evening with a structure to it, and the conversation afterwards writes itself.
7. A speciality coffee roastery rather than a brunch. Daytime, unhurried, and a much better setting for actually hearing each other.
8. Ras Al Khor flamingo hide. Twenty minutes from the centre, free, and completely unlike everything around it.
9. Padel or a climbing wall. Slightly ridiculous, genuinely fun, and a fast way to see how someone handles being mediocre at something in front of a stranger.
10. A day trip to Hatta. Mountains, a dam, kayaks - far enough to feel like leaving, close enough to be back for dinner.
11. A rooftop with a view rather than a scene. There are a great many of both. The view carries the evening; the scene competes with it.
The thing that actually matters
The best date ideas aren't the most impressive ones - they're the ones that give two people something to do together, react to together, and talk about afterwards. Dubai will happily sell you impressive. The other version is quieter, cheaper, and works far better.
Elsewhere: London, New York, Los Angeles. Related reading: Getting Back Into Dating: 5 Tips to Start.
