Dubai Marina or Downtown? How to Choose

It is the most common question we get from people moving to Dubai for work: Marina or Downtown? On paper they are similar. Both are dense, walkable apartment districts with good transport and more restaurants than you will ever try. In practice they suit different people, and a weekend in each usually settles it.

Where you work

Start with the commute. Downtown is a short taxi or two metro stops from DIFC and Business Bay, which is why so many people in finance and law live there. Dubai Marina sits next to Media City, Internet City and JLT, so it suits people working in tech, media and the free zones in the west of the city. The drive between the two along Sheikh Zayed Road takes twenty minutes outside rush hour and considerably longer at 8.30am.

Water or skyline

The Marina is built around a canal, and life there runs along the water. The promenade is busy with runners at dawn and families in the evening, and JBR beach is a ten-minute walk. Downtown is organised around the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and the boulevard. It is more polished and more of a city centre, with the opera house, the fountain and a steady stream of visitors.

If your ideal Saturday starts with a swim in the sea, choose the Marina. If it starts with coffee on a boulevard and ends at the opera, choose Downtown.

What you get for your money

As a rough guide, Downtown costs more per square foot than the Marina, both to buy and to rent, and service charges tend to be higher. The Marina has a wider range of buildings, from older towers with generous room sizes to new ones with hotel-style amenities, so there is more choice at every budget. In both areas, the view is a large part of the price: the same apartment can vary by 20% or more depending on which way it faces.

Noise, crowds and the summer

Both districts are busy. Downtown gets crowds around the fountain shows and on New Year's Eve; the Marina gets them on the promenade at weekends. If you are sensitive to noise, look at higher floors and at towers set back from the main walkways. In summer you will appreciate covered links: Downtown has the walkway into Dubai Mall, and many Marina towers connect to the tram and metro by air-conditioned bridges.

Families

Neither area is the obvious choice for young families, who often move to villa communities such as Dubai Hills Estate within a few years. That said, plenty of families live happily in both. Look for buildings with a proper podium pool and play area, and check school bus routes before you sign anything.

Our suggestion

• Spend one evening and one morning in each area before deciding
• Time your commute at the hour you would actually travel
• Visit the building at night as well as during the day
• Ask for the last service charge invoice, even if you are renting

If you would like to see both in one afternoon, tell us what you need and we will plan a route with three or four apartments in each.

Written by Mei Tanaka

Mei looks after apartment buyers and tenants in the Marina and JBR. Before property she worked in hotel operations, which shows in how she reads a building: she will tell you whether the lifts cope at 8am and how quickly the management company answers.