I second Greenish and Bunny - you may say that you wish to choose a nice family environment now - but once you get here and discover that DH works here, and kids go to school/nursery there, you'll soon find that you will move again so that your life makes sense. Many women spend hours a day in cars here between school runs and after school activities and it takes a whole lot out of you. You REALLY need to find out where DH will work, but MORE importantly, what schools you can get your kids into as this is a major issue in Dubai. From there, you should choose a place to live. Please listen to this advice. It's like when people tell you that raising kids is hard work - you hear them but you don't really get it until you have them yourself. This is the same deal...pay extra importance to it to save yourself a whole lot of aggravation. All of the places listed below are great to live in - if they make sense to the rest of your life with Dh's work and Kid's school. No point living in the best family places if you are never there because you spend so much time on the road. FYI - DSO is also great for families - especially if you can get them into Gems Wellington Academy (WSO) which is a 2 min drive!!!
We live on the Palm. Whilst location wise it's a bit out of the way compared to Jumeirah it is amazing for children.
Every afternoon my kids go downstairs to play with the other kids in our apartment complex. There's little gangs of all ages and genders. They run around, ride bikes/scooters (sharing is the norm), jump in and out of the pool, buy smoothies from the restaurant (on parents accounts), or buy a snack from the shop, go down to the beach to swim/fish/collect shells/build sandcastles/play games etc. It's kid heaven.
Thursday evenings are all about visiting the restaurant with or without a drink whilst the kids play on the lawns.
Happymom,
I've heard that there are a lot of bugs and roaches in villas. I'm moving to dubai this septmeber and I have three kids so I was cosidering gated community villas such as the lakes, but the bugs thing has really put me off , cause I have zero tollerance for bugs. Can u pls let me know how bad it is?
Goodness me! I lived in the Lakes for almost 7 years and hardly saw a bug, of course you do get mossies and some hornets but that is all over Dubai and quite seasonal, cockroaches are kept at bay by keeping your villa clean and every so often having pest control but I only had that done once in my whole 7 years there although the garden was treated more frequently.
Being in a gated community does not make you immune to bugs - I hate to burst your bubble.
I live in Umm Suqeim- whilst I love the location ie close to beach, malls, reasonable drive to school (12-15mins)/ work and children's extracurricular activitis- there is no community feel here. We never see any kids playing outside so have to invite kids home from school for playdates. But we have a huge villa with a large garden and a decent sized pool, which I am not sure if you get in the compiounds....................food for thought
Happymom,
I've heard that there are a lot of bugs and roaches in villas. I'm moving to dubai this septmeber and I have three kids so I was cosidering gated community villas such as the lakes, but the bugs thing has really put me off , cause I have zero tollerance for bugs. Can u pls let me know how bad it is?