The way to explore Deira, an area on the north of Dubai creek, is to just strolling around the busy district with your friends and a good map. Also wear something comfortable because you'll be doing a lot of walking!

Dubai is famously known as "the city of gold". It has positioned itself as the center of gold trade in the Middle East, its gold prices are among the lowest in the world and the rates are set daily by the government (you can check it in the newspaper). Gold here is priced according to the weight while there might be a small charge for the design and craftmanship.

Gold Souk

The Gold Souk itself is an area lined up with hundreds of jewelers along the alleyways. It is open around 10am and will close from 1pm-4pm so the best time to go is during the evening around 7pm as the shops are all open. I already had plan to do something else in the evening so I went to the gold souk in the afternoon. It was hot (as always) but that doesn't matter as I was dazzled by the sparkling jewellery in the shop windows, I've never seen so much diamonds and gold in my life!

Just a few steps into the souk, we were approached by these rogue traders trying to sell us brand name handbags, watch, sunglasses etc. (which of course are counterfeit items) and try to take us to their "shops" in the back alley, so I recommend you to ignore them and just keep walking...you'll get used to it as they'll keep coming to you numerous times.

Most of the shops are often run by Iranians and Indians...in fact, there were so many Indian people it seemed like a little India to me. Also keep in mind that before making any purchase, it's good to look around and check the other shops as well because sometimes they have similar items and are priced differently. The staffs in the shops are all very nice even though they always try to cut you a deal by telling you that they've given you a "special discount" or "VIP price", you still have to bargain hard... and trust me, you'd get a really great deal!!

Spice Souk

Spice Souk is right next to the Gold Souk. This open-air spice market offers you imported dried fruits and rare spices from all over the Middle East. The selections are put in these huge open sacks for you to choose. And even though I'm not that into spices, I still love this place because of the unique Arabic fragrances that fills the air. The herbs are pretty cheap and high in quality, they are surely some of the best buys in Dubai so it's definitely worth a visit!

Fruit and Vegetable Market, Fish Market

This is where you'll find a large array of cheap and fresh produce both from local and imported from neighboring countries like watermelons, bananas, oranges etc. It's also a place where you can get a hand on different types of dates (I personally prefer ones from Saudi Arabia) cost from AED10-25 per kilo. Just next to the Fruit and Vegetable Market is the Fish Market, near Shindagha tunnel, the market is full of so many kinds of fish including kingfish, lobster, baby sharks and the local hammour fish. So pay a visit if you don't mind getting your shoes dirty.

As the souks are located on both side of the creek, now we're gonna cross over to the other side where you'll find Bur Dubai souk. The way to get to opposite bank is to use one of the many abras (a traditional wooden boat / water taxi) at the Deira abra station in front of the spice souk which only cost you AED1. Bur Dubai souk, or sometimes called Textile souk or Cosmos souk, runs along the west side of the creek opposite the Deira souk. There, you can find different kind of fabrics from India and Pakistan. But it's really not a place if you wish to find anything genuinely Arabic.

Getting there:

There's a bus terminal just across the souk entrance but I prefer to use a taxi, every driver knows exactly where it is, they will usually drop you on the main road where you will have to walk about a block to get to the shopping area so please remember where you get off as it's where you have to come back again in order to get a taxi back to your place.