Where to stay in ME when you're paying

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Where to stay in ME when you're paying

Postby deselby » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:37 pm

Sometimes you have to travel on your own dime, or just want to hang out. You don't want to stay at the Hyatt or Crown Plaza as you do when someone else is paying, if you're cheap like me. Of course there are cheaper places, but these are kind of cheap and fun.

I recommend these places:

Amman:

Dove Hotel - this place is funky in a nice way, it's old and run down, but free internet, 100+ satellite channels, large rooms, a breakfast and two bars make it a steal at around $60. It's near the Egyptian Embassy (and not much else, unfortunately).

Kuwait:

Ghani Palace / Kuwait Palace:

These two joined hotels in Salmiya are designed in an Orientalist motif, the rooms are small apartments with a kitchenette and bedroom loft. Canopy beds have a mirror on the ceiling. A mediocre breakfast buffet, but what do you expect for only $100 in Kuwait? It's an easy walk to Al Fanar Mall and the rest of the things on Salem Al Mubarak street.

Dubai:

The Jumeirah Rotana is clean and cheaper than other hotels. It has the Boston Bar and is close to a bunch of restaurants. It's really more in Satwa than in Jumeriah, on Al Diyafa Street.

The Splendid Hotel Apartments are brand new - about 120-150 for a huge one bedroom apartment with full kitchen and balcony. It's near Lamcy Plaza, a more downmarket Dubai mall and a good people watching place. Many restaurants nearby if you don't want to cook.

Cairo:

The Windsor Hotel is great, just get a room on the front (pedestrian) side of the hotel rather than the noisy street side. The bar not only looks like a movie set in the 1930's, it is a movie set for movies set in the 1930s. It's really cheap, like $50 per night. http://www.windsorcairo.com/
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Re: Where to stay in ME when you're paying

Postby Atrax » Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:05 pm

I really need to see more of the Middle East than Iraq.
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Re: Where to stay in ME when you're paying

Postby deselby » Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:02 pm

Just break your trip a bit on the way in and out. You can always spend a day or two in Amman or Kuwait. If you can fly commercial out of BIAP, you can go through Istanbul, Cairo or Dubai (Damascus and Beirut are probably out, although I've known contractors who've done R&R in Beirut).

A break is also more restful on the way in and a rest/decompression on the way out. I'm done with jumping on some long flight itinerary home right after getting up at 0330 to catch the helicopter/C-130 out and going to Amman or Kuwait. I would get off the plane in the USA looking and feeling like hell.
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