Dubai International (DXB) is about five kilometres from Deira and fifteen from Downtown — unusually close to the city it serves — and it is one of the busiest airports in the world for international traffic.
There are three terminals. T3 is Emirates and Qantas; T1 is most other international carriers; T2 is flydubai and some regional airlines, and is on the opposite side of the airfield.
The Metro
The Red Line has stations at Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, inside the terminal buildings, and this is the cheapest and often the fastest way into the city.
Deira is a few minutes; Downtown around twenty-five; the Marina around forty-five.
Buy a Silver Nol card from the machine at the station, load credit, and tap in. Fares are a few dirhams.
The catch: large luggage is restricted on the metro at busy times, and the rule is applied at the discretion of staff. With two large suitcases you may be turned away. With hand luggage or one case you will be fine.
Terminal 2 has no metro station. From T2 you need a taxi or the bus.
The metro does not run all night — service ends around midnight or one, later at weekends, and starts again in the early morning.
Taxis
The official rank is outside each terminal, metered, with a small airport surcharge. To Downtown it is modest by international standards; to the Marina somewhat more. Journey times are 15 to 45 minutes depending on destination and traffic.
Careem and Uber both operate with designated pick-up points; Careem is usually cheaper.
Ignore anyone who approaches you inside the terminal. Licensed drivers do not tout.
Buses
Several routes serve the terminals and cost very little on a Nol card. They are slower and are mostly used by residents.
Al Maktoum (DWC)
Some carriers, particularly low-cost ones, use Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central, which is around 60 kilometres south-west of the centre near Jebel Ali. It is not the same airport and it is a long way out — allow an hour to Downtown by taxi.
Check your airport code. DXB and DWC are both marketed as Dubai.
Money on arrival
The UAE dirham is pegged to the US dollar at 3.6725, so the rate never moves and there is no timing advantage to changing money.
ATMs are throughout arrivals. Decline any offer to charge you in your home currency.
Card is accepted almost everywhere in Dubai, but the abras, some souk stalls and the small canteens are cash, so take some out.
On arrival generally
Immigration for most Western passport holders is a visa on arrival or visa-free entry, processed at e-gates in minutes. Check your own nationality’s arrangement before travelling.
Bringing in alcohol is limited by allowance, and certain medications are controlled in the UAE — including some common codeine and sedative preparations. If you take prescription medication, check the UAE’s list and carry the prescription. This catches people out and the consequences are serious.
Terminal 2 and the metro
Worth repeating because it catches people: Terminal 2 has no metro station. It is on the far side of the airfield from T1 and T3 and there is no free inter-terminal transfer for arriving passengers. From T2 it is a taxi or a bus.
flydubai operates from both T2 and T3 depending on the route, so check which one your flight actually uses rather than assuming.
Luggage on the metro
The restriction is real: two large suitcases per person will get you stopped at busy times, and the rule is applied by station staff at their discretion. One case or hand luggage is fine.
If you are arriving with a family’s worth of bags, take a taxi and do not argue with it — the fare to Deira or Downtown is genuinely modest.
Leaving
Allow three hours for an international departure from DXB. It is one of the busiest airports in the world, the terminals are enormous, and the walk from security to a far gate at T3 can take twenty-five minutes.
Emirates offers city check-in at some metro stations and hotels, which is worth using if your flight is late in the evening and you want a final day without a suitcase.
Layovers
DXB is built for them and a long connection is genuinely usable. With six hours or more, the metro from T1 or T3 puts you in Deira in ten minutes and at the Creek in fifteen — enough for an abra crossing, a walk through the Gold Souk and a meal, for the price of a couple of metro fares.
There is left luggage at the airport, and both Emirates and Dubai Duty Free run transit hotels and rest zones airside if you would rather not leave.
Visa-free or visa-on-arrival nationalities can exit and re-enter without difficulty; check your own before planning it.