Dubai or Bahrain - stopover and gold shopping

freddofrog04

Hello

We're tossing up whether to stop for
2-3 days in Dubai or Bahrain on the way home from Europe.

We visited Dubai late last year but past but would like to buy some jewellery(gold) whilst in the area ?

Is Bahrain worth a stopover / smilar to Dubai ?

Are the gold prices & quality similar to those in Dubai ?


Thanks

jiggylou

Having traveled to both Bahrain/Dubai for the past 16 years, I would personally avoid Bahrain for gold shopping or any items. It’s quite a boring place to visit compared to Dubai.

On the other hand, I love visiting Dubai; matter of fact I’m departing tonight for a little shopping spree. The gold souk (market) is incredible, with large selections of styles to choose from. This is a great web link on what’s happening in Dubai.

http://www.timeoutdubai.com/

Good luck.

rdkr

Dubai is better by far. The only downside is the jewellery is all rather BLING BLING and it is hard to find pieces are are modern and subtle in design.

photos of or travesl in Dubai
http://www.franceinfocus.net/vlc8.html

Travelnick

Living in Dubai and travelling to Bahrain for business a few times recently, I agree with others (and I am not a PR for Dubai resident). Bahrain missed the opportunity to develop as a real destination for tourists which Dubai has grabbed. Bling, bling is entirely appropriate word to use to describe much of the stuff but if you want it and can haggle well you will get a decent deal. As to much of the rest of shopping in Dubai, I think it is grossly overrated with many things (especially branded clothing) not greatly discounted and some things older than one would expect (and which would either be sold only at a big discount in Europe).

Franto

Having been to Bahrain and Dubai, I recommend the latter. Bahrain is a very expensive and place boring place unless you are there for business reasons. Travelnick is right in that a lot of what is sold in Dubai is in the "bling bling" category but I would buy it simply for the gold and you can do as you wish. The shopping in Dubai is good, especially for Persian carpets. Skip Bahrain.

waynehazle

Never been to Bahrain. Was in Dubai in October, but I didn't shop. I heard it was waaaaay overrated as far as good deals. I would love to see that area again though.

and of course flying Emirates Airlines and going to the Dubai Airport makes any trip worth it