Dubai Guide
Jumeirah
A couple of kilometres south of the Creek, the beachside suburb of Jumeirah (or Jumeira) marks the beginning of southern Dubai's endless suburban sprawl. The area's swathes of chintzy low-rise villas are home to many of the city's European expats and their wives – immortalized in Dubai legend as the so-called "Jumeirah Janes" – who (the stereotype runs) spend their days in an endless round of luncheons and beach parties, while their hard-working spouses slave away to keep them in the style to which they have very rapidly become accustomed.
The suburb is strung out along the Jumeirah Road, which arrows straight down the coast and provides the area with its principal focus, lined with a long string of shopping malls and cafés, most of them fairly low key, apart from the bizarre, Italian-themed Mercato mall. The suburb also offers a handful of modest attractions, ranging from the traditional Jumeirah Mosque and Majlis Ghorfat Um Al Sheef to the more hedonistic Jumeirah Beach Park, the city's most attractive public beach.