High Life Dubai - Ditch Shopping And Aquariums In Favour Of Actual Fun

Dubai in November is basically perfect.

Visiting the city at any time of year can be a wild, chaotic experience - full of fabulous parties, music festivals, fine dining and a race to experience all of the impossibly beautiful views.

But in November, the weather is spot on at around 30 degrees celsius, giving you an ideal excuse to escape the madness for at least a day, to bask in the sun and enjoy the gentle breeze.

So then why - with all of these options on offer - do so many people waste away their holidays inside the shopping malls?

The enormous Dubai Mall remains the most visited tourist destination in the whole world.

Baffling.

If you're absolutely determined to fritter away all your money, there are much more spectacular ways to do this.

So, here's my guide for spending big in the UAE, without coming home with a suitcase full of tat:

Brunch At Blue Marlin Ibiza UAE

Any big hotel worth its salt will do a Friday brunch.

But, if you want to really feel like a blinged-out Will Smith on a yachting holiday while you're in the Middle East, Blue Marlin's UAE chapter is the only place to be.

Travelling about 20 minutes out of the city towards Abu Dhabi, you'll find cabanas and beds on the beach, all decked out in beautiful fresh white linens, dining tables with plush chairs, white chandeliers suspended above you, big shiny boats just beyond....

It's all very Miami in the '90s.

And it's awesome.

There are two brunch options - basically the same, except that one comes with a load more champagne.

The food is sublime (especially anything seared...and the beef ribs, ALWAYS TRY THE RIBS) and the music is great.

We were serenaded by a talented American crooner called Stephon LaMar - a man whose velvety voice and twinkly smile had the women dancing in the aisles and jealous boyfriends grumbling and trying not to look too put out.

And the scenery wasn't bad either.

The Party Is Upstairs

The best way, of course, to really get rid of your money, is to drink it.*

If the bottomless sangria didn't satisfy you at brunch-by-the-beach, then take the party elsewhere.

And "elsewhere" should definitely be somewhere really high up, preferrably with a viewing platform or at least loads of windows, so you can see the glittering view of Dubai by night.

Most of the best clubs are at the top of Dubai's numerous skyscrapers.

Electric Days at Tamanya Terrace in the Dubai Media City is a firm favourite among young, cash-rich ex-pats.

After stopping of briefly there, we found ourselves in Q43, a New York style loft bar, breathtakingly high above sea-level, with cocktails and leather furniture a-plenty.

Further details unavailble due to 12am - 3am's hazy memory.

Even Further Up

Of all the tourist attractions that most poeple talk about, my advice would be to largely ignore them.

Camels are smelly and better in cartoons than in real life, the souk at the Madinat Jumeirah isn't a real Arab marketplace, an artificial ski slope in the middle of the desert has limited novelty value and aquariums are aquariums.

However, if you go to just ONE mainstream tourist attraction, it has to be the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world.

The viewing platforms on levels 123 and 125 are fine, but for the real acrophilias among you, why stop at the 125th floor, when for a bit of extra dosh, you could zip all the way up to the beautiful VIP lounge 'Sky - At The Top' on level 148.

A very lovely host called Alaa from the Burj team took us up for a private sneak peek and it was utterly glorious.

The building's architecture is as impressive as everyone makes out.

Looking at it from below, it ressembles a magic wand piercing the heavens.

Inspired by the spider lily, the Burj Khalifa actually has it's own scent, designed by a perfumier, which is pumped throughout the interior.

You want to live the high-life? This is it.

Blowing The Last Bit Of Budget

When it comes to purposefully spending big, it would be a shame to fall at the final hurdle.

If you're looking for THE PERFECT final evening in Dubai, save up all your last pennies and unload them unapologetically at restaurant La Serre.

This restaurant had, genuinely, one of the best, most flavoursome roster of dishes I've ever experienced (and we tried nearly all of them).

The burrata (mozzarella and cream) was melt-in-your-mouth good, the seared langoustines on gnocchi with truffle butter was EVERY bit as completely delicious as you would imagine it to be, the whole roasted chicken with foie gras was succulent and the sauce that it came with was so rich I almost couldn't handle it (no exaggeration).

The pièce de résistance, though, was the 50-hour slow-cooked beef.

I have run out of words to describe the food without resorting to "nom nom nom" and a series of celebratory emojis, but suffice it to say, don't miss out on this place.

Don't Go It Alone

To leave you with a final, slightly more sincere note that doesn't involve frittering away your savings, one of the best things about Dubai, as a young traveller, is the ease with which you can find yourself with chums.

The heady, lavish party culture might seem a little gauche at times (and occasionally outright obscene), but I have always found everyone to be overwhelmingly friendly.

If you're there to have fun, you'll easily find people to have fun with and some of them might even turn into lifelong friends.

Is your taste less expensive? We've also compiled a "local secrets" cost-cutting guide to having a great time in Bahrain, Dubai and the UAE, check it out.

 [Nine Inspiring Travel Trends For 2015: To Make Your Friends Jealous]

*We're half joking of course....consuming shed loads of booze isn't a sensible investment in your long-term future.