Guide to Dubai Marina

Introduction

Dubai is one of the most awe-inspiring places in the world to visit. From the remarkable location on the edge of the Arabian Gulf and on the edge of the desert, to the rapid development of both the economy and the social structure of the Emirate, to the sheer scale of the building work and development that is transforming the city.

Dubai Marina is a perfect example of this. Anywhere else in the world it could be a small town on its own, and when it is completed it will have over 200 skyscrapers in place. Not only is there a huge building programme going on with the surrounding skyscraper in the area, but the marina itself is being completely man-made.

Dubai Marina will be one of the focus areas of Dubai upon completion, and with the introduction of the new Dubai International Airport in the coming years, it will get even more popular as the nearest major urban area.

The region

Dubai is set out mostly along the expanse of the coastline on the Arabian Gulf, even if you don’t count the vast amounts of new coastline that have been created by the new man-made islands, and the Marina was one of the first part of the ‘new Dubai’ to be inaugurated. Sitting to the south-west of the main part of Dubai, and further along the coast from the Jumeirah district and its magnificent Palm Island, Dubai Marina is along the Sheikh Zayed Road before it reaches the Jebel Ali Port.

As an entirely man-made marina, the engineering feat of the marina itself is impressive, and the 700 berths are set into five irregular shaped bowls. The whole marina is more than 3.5 km long, and has a boardwalk snaking around over 11 km, giving access to the shops and restaurants that line the waterfront.

Dubai Marina is, of course, far more than the water itself, as you might imagine from a place like Dubai. There will be over 200 skyscrapers in the district when they are all completed, some of which will be over 80 stories tall. The resultant space will be used for hotels and residential apartments for the vast majority, along with some commercial space.

However, there will be little office space in the Dubai Marina area as the Internet and Media City complexes are just a short distance away towards Jumeirah. Improvements are constantly being made to the road network in the area to accommodate the traffic to the Palm Jumeirah, and a new monorail that will serve the business and residential districts of Dubai is mooted to have several branch lines planned for the future.

Leisure activities in the immediate vicinity are provided by the Emirates Hills Golf Club, and the Mall of the Emirates which houses the real-snow indoor ski slope.

Climate

Dubai is famed for the hot, dry weather that characterizes the majority of the year, but this doesn’t mean that there are never storms or rain in the area. While it is true that in the summer months it is difficult to be outside for more than a few minutes in the middle of the day, temperatures do drop in the winter, and there is a wind from the sea that can make it feel colder. Snow is also possible, but very rare indeed, and when it does rain, it tends to be in short, sharp downpours.

Getting there

Daily flights from the UK to Dubai operate from London with a variety of airlines, and take around seven hours. The road system in Dubai is notorious for being clogged, and some traffic jams can take hours to clear. Road building is a constant process in the city to keep up with development in other areas, and the monorail system is under construction to ease traffic for commuters. Many tourists and occasional visitors don’t bother with private cars and take taxis everywhere, which are clean, cheap and, most importantly, air conditioned.

Property

Dubai Marina will be, when completed, one of the densest concentrations of high-rise living in the world, and the amount of skyscrapers in the area is high, even for Dubai. With more than 200 of these huge buildings in the district, there will be a huge choice of properties in one sense, and in another, the choice will be limited.

Of course, you will struggle to get any outside space, but in many ways this comes with the territory of buying in Dubai. If you are after land with your property in Dubai, then you will either need to be among the super-rich who can afford one of the huge villas in the city, or will have to look further out in the new communities towards the desert.

On the other hand, the range of apartments available in Dubai Marina will be huge. From the less-expensive properties on the desert side of Sheikh Zayed Road, to penthouses with some of the most impressive views in the whole of Dubai that will be frontline and high enough to make the hotel developments around them irrelevant in terms of blocking the vista.

These properties do come at a premium, of course, but there are still properties available for under £150,000 in the area. For the penthouses in the most exclusive of the front line developments, you are more likely to be thinking in the millions of Pounds Sterling.

One thing you have the advantage with in the Dubai Marina district however, is that most of the property is being built at the same time, which means that although the place is a building site at the moment, it should all be finished in the near enough future. Also, you will know what is being built around you, so are unlikely to face any nasty surprises blocking your view when you thought you had an unobstructed line of sight to the sea.

Local life

The Marina district has appeared quickly on the map of Dubai, much like the rest of the new parts of the Emirate. However, much of the most pioneering development and engineering that has taken place in the Marina will never be seen by the residents. Digging out and creating a marina of this size is as impressive as it is difficult, and the talent of the architects and engineers should be recognised.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the amount of building that is going on in Dubai Marina at the moment is huge and somewhat off-putting, and at certain times of the year work seems to continue throughout the night on the less-noisy aspects of the build. However, when it is all complete, Dubai Marina will be the hub of the casual leisure activities of the whole of Dubai, and as such will be a great place to own a property, and easy to rent out to the tourist market.

All circumstances vary. BuyAssociation provides general advice for guidance purposes only. It is strongly recommended that you seek professional advice before making any purchase.