Cards, phones and cash
The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, so a price in AED converts at a rate that does not change while you are here. Divide by roughly 3.67 for dollars.
Contactless cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted almost everywhere, including taxis and the Metro top-up machines.
Carry a little cash for the souks, small cafes in Deira and Bur Dubai, and anywhere you want to bargain. Everywhere else takes plastic.
Tipping is common but not compulsory. Ten percent is normal in a restaurant, and a few dirhams for a taxi driver or a porter is the usual.
Crypto in Dubai
Dubai regulates virtual assets through VARA, and licensed exchanges and brokers operate openly here. That is a large part of why this conference is in this city.
Everyday merchant acceptance of crypto is still limited. Some restaurants, some property agents and a handful of retailers take it. Do not plan to eat on it.
Crypto-backed cards are the practical route: they settle in dirhams at the terminal and take the balance from your wallet on the back end.
Rules here are enforced and worth reading rather than guessing at. If you are moving a serious amount, take advice before you travel, not after.
What a week costs
Shawarma or a Deira lunch, five to fifteen dirhams. A restaurant meal, eighty to two hundred. Hotel brunch, four hundred and up.
Alcohol is taxed and only served in licensed venues, mostly hotels. A beer is expensive by any standard.
Taxis are the cheap part. Hotels during a conference week are not, so book early or stay a district away and taxi in.
Every one of these payment methods needs a data connection. That is the whole argument for sorting your phone before you fly.
