After visiting Dubai Miracle Garden, we went straight to another “must-see” place here in Dubai called Global Village. Perfect timing for us since it opens 4 in the afternoon.
Global Village showcases pavilions of different countries–each being a village of street bazaars. Aside from shopping, there’s also shows, carnival rides and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not attraction.
UAE flag made of Global Village tickets displayed on the entrance wall. This made it to Guinness World Records being the largest ticket mosaic made into a flag.
Speaking of tickets, entrance fee is at 15 AED per person but children under 3 years old, People of Determination and senior citizens can enter free of charge.
The entrance facade changes color and is such a beautiful welcome sight.
The entire village lights up at night and each pavilion entices you to visit them with their welcome arc all bright and dazzling.
From food, clothing, beauty to home items, each pavilion offers a variety of products from a specific country.
African products ranging from home decor to hair care. Like Asia, they have an affinity for beauty products too and one of the products I noticed in most shops are hair care products. They even offer hair service like braiding.
Egypt has a lot of decor too!
Though the Americas pavilion would’ve been better represented if they offered different products from both North America & South America. Aside from these vintage items most products were native Americans like dreamcatchers and tribal pieces like statues, war bonnets & sombrero hats. Maybe a bit of Canada, USA, and Caribbean (maybe Puerto Rico & Cuba to name two) would’ve been nice to make it more interesting.
If you’re more of a ride than shop kind of person then Carnaval is for you. Located inside Global Village, Carnaval has a handful of fun rides and games you can enjoy with family or friends. Tickets to Carnaval is sold separately.
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. This brought back memories as I remember going to one during a trip. Lots of fascinating facts & trivia. This Swarovski embellished Mini Copper being one of them. Tickets to Ripley’s can be bought on site or online.
There are a lot of restaurants at Global Village as well as two street markets (think Sunday market lined up with food stalls) but we opted to try the Floating Market. It’s near the Carnaval and has two sides that you need to go around to cross. I like that capacity is limited which makes it comfortable for people like me who are anxious of crowds especially now that we’re in a global pandemic.
I miss Filipino food so much so it was the first stall I went to. I was craving for Puto Bumbong (sticky rice dish) that is usually available only during Christmas season. Unfortunately it was already sold out when I got there huhu.
The highlight of the night for our kids was watching Mission Speed show. It was so much fun seeing the stunt of motorcycles and cars drifting while on a chase scene.
Some photos of us individually shot since we forgot to take a family photo! Hahaha.
Before heading home, we passed by this Turkish shop and couldn’t help but try some Turkish treats so we got Baklava and Sutlu Nuriye. Even though my gut couldn’t be able to digest these properly, I still gave it a try because both were delicious!
So last March we went back again to Global Village because our kids were on a mission: To buy more popits!
So my kids saw on a YouTube video that popits are available at Global Village China pavilion. Of course! How could we have missed that the first time we went? I guess my kids were already tired walking around the first time that they didn’t see these popits then. To be fair it wasn’t positioned strategically. You literally have to search the shop for it. So far we saw 2-3 shops around Asia pavilions selling it. All same price of 15 AED for simple dimple and 25 (last price 20) AED for popits. Mission accomplished.
Walk around Global Village and check out their selfie spots to get the best backdrop featuring different pavilions & attractions.
Meanwhile, my mission is to go back to Amango to have my Mango Sticky Rice fix.
These two were willing to walk an extra mile because they got what they came for–popits and simple dimples!
While the kids and I got what we came for, my husband was busy looking for unique items. So we cap off our second Global Village visit by bringing home one of these lamps with us.
It gets really crowded come night time. Visitors are still rushing in when we left early in the evening.
You can see replicas of the famous landmarks from different countries as you enter and exit the vicinity.
Best effort family selfwe we can do before heading home.
Global Village Season 25 is from October 25, 2020 to May 2, 2021. From 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM (Ramadan timings). You can also purchase tickets online and download their app. For more information visit https://globalvillage.ae/en
What a lovely place! 🙂
Hi Meikah! It is lovely that it made us go back twice maybe we’ll visit again before they close to get ready for the next season. 🙂