Dubai Guide
Getting around
Pending the full opening of the desperately needed Dubai Metro, the best and virtually the only way of getting around Dubai is by taxi. These are abundant almost everywhere in the city and at all times of day and night, although you might occasionally have problems finding a free cab in Bur Dubai and Deira around lunchtime and during the evening rush hour. Large malls and big hotels are always good places to pick up a cab; if not, just stand on the street and wave at anything that passes. Taxis are operated by various companies and come in assorted colours – white, sandy-brown and silver are the most common – though all have yellow taxi signs on the roof, illuminated when the vehicle is available for hire. You can also ring for a cab for a very small surcharge. Try 
04-208 8080 (Dubai Transport Corporation), 04-269 3344 (Cars Taxi) or 04-339 0002 (National Taxi).
Fares are good value. There's a basic flag fare of 3dh, plus around 1.2dh per kilometre (rising to 3.5dh plus 1.7dh per km between 10pm and 6am), except in airport taxis (20dh flag fare plus 1dh per km). In practice this works out as follows. From Bur Dubai in the city centre count on approximately 15–25dh to Sheikh Zayed Road, 40dh to the Burj Al Arab and 50dh to Dubai Marina, or about an extra 10dh to all these places if travelling from Deira. The good news is that since you only pay for kilometres travelled, if you get stuck in one of Dubai's chronic traffic jams, the journey's not going to cost you any more than it would in light traffic. If you want a taxi to wait for you it will cost around 15dh per 30min, assuming the driver is willing to hang around.
Taxi drivers (the vast majority of which are Indian) are reasonably well trained and are familiar with all the main city landmarks, although if you're going anywhere more obscure you might have to help them find the way; if in doubt, try to have directions or a full address to hand. Rumours of taxi drivers inflating fares by driving newly arrived tourists five times around the block occasionally surface, but appear to have no basis in reality; the whole industry is stringently regulated, and drivers are unlikely to risk their jobs for the sake of a few extra dirhams. Be aware, though, that Dubai's labyrinthine traffic systems often add considerably to the distances between A and B. If you get into a cab and the driver heads off in completely the wrong direction it's likely to be because he has to do so in order to turn around or find the correct exit/entrance to a particular road. If you think you have a genuine grievance and you wish to lodge a complaint, you can phone the number posted in all the cabs. Make sure you take the driver's ID number and explain your problem to him before you leave. Tips aren't really necessary, though many taxi drivers have got into the slightly annoying habit of automatically keeping the small change from fares. If, say, you pay for a 13dh taxi ride with 15dh, your driver might well expect to pocket the difference, unless you make it obvious that you want it back.
Note that taxi drivers might occasionally refuse to take you if you're travelling only a short distance. This is most frequently the case outside hotels and malls where drivers are obliged to join a long queue to pick up a fare. Strictly speaking, they're obliged to accept your fare, however short the journey, though in practice if they've been waiting for an hour and you only want to go around the block, you can see their point. If this happens, just walk back down the queue of taxis until you find a driver who's happy to take you where you want to go. The only other occasion when a driver is likely to refuse your fare if it's likely to get them stuck in a massive traffic jam (such as when crossing the Creek during the morning or evening rush hours). Again you can see their point of view, though you're perfectly within your rights to take their number and threaten to report them – or alternatively to offer them a decent tip to compensate for their wasted time.
There are a couple of other things to watch out for. Occasional rogue unmetred taxis (often from neighbouring emirates) or other unlicenced cars appear on the streets of Dubai touting for custom. If you use one of these you'll have to agree a fare before setting off, and it's unlikely to be to your advantage, unless you bargain very hard – it's best to avoid these cabs unless you're desperate. Even worse are the hotel limousines which sometimes try to pass themselves off as conventional taxis (hotel doormen may sometimes try to get you into one of these cars, insisting that they're ordinary taxis, which they're patently not). These vehicles are metred, but usually cost around twice the price of a normal cab, and again are best avoided unless you're completely stuck or have a particular need to travel in a car with leather upholstery and an overpowering stink of air freshener. Remember that if it doesn't have the usual yellow taxi sign on the roof, it's not a proper taxi.
Dubai Metro
Scheduled to be fully operational by 2014, the Dubai Metro will offer a cheap and convenient way of getting around all parts of the city, and hopefully at least slightly ameliorate the city's appalling traffic congestion. At present the metro consists of most of the "Red Line", which, when finished, will run from the airport across the city centre and down the coast to Dubai Marina and Jebel Ali. The second (the "Green Line") will run in a loop around the city centre up through Bur Dubai and then back down through Deira to the airport. The metro is being built by a Japanese-led consortium headed up by Mitsubishi and will use state-of-the-art driverless trains running on a mixture of underground and overground lines.