[superbad]

Hello esteemed members. I am planning to travel to the UAE for a 5N 6D vacation in the month of Nov 2023 within an all incl budget of Rs 250000. Travelling members : Self + wife + in-laws. We want to experience all the touristy spots in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah etc. I request the collective wisdom of our much-knowledgable collegium to give me a suggested itinerary. Recommendations for hotels & restaurants are also welcome. Other than the usual stuff, in keeping with the team bhp spirit, I would like to rent a supercar for a few hot laps on a circuit.
Thanking in advance & in anticipation.

[mpksuhas]

I did a trip of similar duration in Jan 2023, I am yet to write a travelogue on the same. Hope I finish that before the planning of your trip gets over. However, to give a rough idea, the budget of 2.5lakh all inclusive is bit low if as per my understanding its for the whole group.

Hotel rates are high and will eat up on your budget when you plan for a week + 2 rooms. Restaurants are not an issue, you have those of all cuisines in all price range.

For trying our cars on circuit, I would suggest Dubai autodrome over Ferrari world. I did the same and was fun, definitely the highlight of the trip for me.

Details here.

[shankar.balan]

If youre booking all this on credit card book now and take the 5% TCS because from July 1st it will Become 20% TCS.
And 2.5 lacs for 5 people is a bit low. Suggest up the budget or reduce the travellers or change the time of travel.
UAE Summer rates are lower - April till September end. After that all rates go seriously up till March.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If youre booking all this on credit card book now and take the 5% TCS because from July 1st it will Become 20% TCS.

Transactions through credit cards are outside the Liberalized remittance scheme (LRS), I'm of the opinion that the 20% will be levied when the money is bank wired to foreign destination/bank or if the trip is booked through an Indian travel agent. If you organize a tour yourself and use your credit card for payments (Upto 7Lacs/FY), it will not be subjected to TCS, Also, this TCS is not tax by itself, it is adjustable against total income tax liability while filing tax returns.

Originally Posted by superbad

Recommendations for hotels & restaurants are also welcome.

As others have mentioned, the total estimated expenses seem to be on the lower side for 4 adults. However, to save on hotels, you can look for service apartments. Which are generally as good as hotels and with basic amenities for cooking etc. You Can save some moolah on that.

[RashmiRathi]

I have lived in Sharjah, UAE for four years and visit UAE regularly. You have selected a lovely time to visit UAE. Weather will be great with warm days and cold nights. My suggested itinerary will be as follows:

1. Day 1: Arrive Dubai in 2nd half or early evening. Take rest.
2. Day 2: Dubai: Start with Mall of Emirates, do some ice skating, end up in Dubai Mall with Burj Khalifa tour, Fountain show
3. Day 3: Dubai: Global village and Desert safari in evening followed by Dinner among sand dunes.
4. Day 4: Abu Dhabi: Yas Island, Grand Mosque
5. Day 5: Dubai : Dolphin show, Gold Souq and beach visit in evening
6. Day 6: Return.

if you are a beach person, you can use one afternoon for beach visit, swim and barbeque. There are some lovely beaches in Dubai.

My suggestion will be to avoid Sharjah all together. There is nothing worth seeing there.

Some good things which are getting missed here are Jabel Jaish and Jabel Hafeet but each of them need one full day and given your packed itinerary, will suggest to skip it.

Try booking a hotel close to metro station. I recently stayed in Studio M Arabian Plaza Hotel near Al Qiyadah metro station. It was very good and cost effective. Close to metro gives you lot of flexibility in travelling.

For any other guidance, you can message me separately.

Just once caveat: My tourisy knowledge regarding some attractions is 3-4 years old. So, you should google and check if they are still working and open etc.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

Transactions through credit cards are outside the Liberalized remittance scheme (LRS), I'm of the opinion that the 20% will be levied when the money is bank wired to foreign destination/bank or if the trip is booked through an Indian travel agent.

The whole point of this is to bring Credit Card spends under the ambit of LRS. And track individual card spends across the globe.
Yes the threshold of 7 lacs is there. But there is no clarity yet from any credit card company or bank as to the actual modus operandi they will use and whether their present IT systems will be able to handle the complexity.
It is a fact that all Travel Agents are going to charge 20% TCS from July 1st, in advance, right at the time of booking any foreign travel. It will be the individual’s responsibility to claim this back at the time of filing returns. No travel agent will know how much your credit card spends are. So they are going to levy 20% in advance. This will hit the cash flows badly for any individual normal middle class traveller. Business travel or personal travel - everything falls under this ambit.
More ways to squeeze the tax paying individuals.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by superbad

Hello esteemed members. I am planning to travel to the UAE for a 5N 6D vacation in the month of Nov 2023 within an all incl budget of Rs 250000. Travelling members : Self + wife + in-laws. We want to experience all the touristy spots in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah etc. I request the collective wisdom of our much-knowledgable collegium to give me a suggested itinerary. Recommendations for hotels & restaurants are also welcome. Other than the usual stuff, in keeping with the team bhp spirit, I would like to rent a supercar for a few hot laps on a circuit.
Thanking in advance & in anticipation.

This was my itinerary last year, pretty packed up but made most out of my time. Instead of going straight to Burj Khalifa, start by exploring the old city and its local culture, slowly making your way to the Frame and then finally to the downtown. I made use of the excellent public transport extensively and saved a lot of $. Couldnt cover everything though, things i missed which you can add to your itinerary are:

• Deep Dive Dubai - World's deepest man made pool
• Sky Dive Dubai - Possibly the best place to Skydive
• Ain Dubai, Miracle Garden and some other places were closed during last Summer.
• Replace #20 with Aura sky pool in case you want to chill with your partner at same venue
• Prebook all tickets and experience in advance. Websites like Klook is your best friend.

Make sure to have the IDP done for renting car, I missed out on that one. You can drive a Ferrari for sometime in Ferrari world as well. Make yourself familiar with all the traffic rules unless you want to blow the entire trip budget paying fine like below:

https://youtu.be/GX7sdv1fQeg

Regarding budget, hotels are cheaper than Mumbai during off peak times, you can save a lot of money by booking a budget hotel close to metro. Your mandatory expenses will be

Flight = 20x4 = 80K
Visa = 7.5x4 = 30K

So now you are left with 1.4 which is roughly 25K per day on accommodation, food, transport and experiences for 4 people. So you either need to increase budget or cut back on the experiences. While activities like desert safari & city tour are fairly cheap @1-2K per person, things like Ferrari World, Inside Burj Al Arab will cost 6-7K per head, blowing your budget. And that Ferrari drive is around 20K if I remember correctly.