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Andrew was extremely helpful and he checked about flight issues with British Airways and kept us fully informed
I have booked with DialAFlight so many times and recommend them to family and friends. Kennedy always books exactly what I need and her attention to detail is amazing
Needed to come home a day early. And Kelly managed to sort flights out straight away. Very helpful - it took all the stress away for us. Many thanks for all your help.
Only booked a flight but everything was good
We have already recommended DialAFlight to friends and have used them many times
Thanks again Freddie, will always recommend
Perfect trip. Thankyou
All as planned/promised and great communication, thank you. This was a bonus extra trip because of the value you offered!
Amazing service - helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. Toby was brilliant. Thank you
Rectified a naming issue on the boarding passes on a Sunday evening! Would highly recommend.
Perfect. Always book with DialAFlight
As usual. Stacey made sure our holiday was what we wanted, everything went to plan. She always rings before you are due to leave on your holiday to make sure everything is OK and I shall be booking again because of her professionalism.
Leah was amazing. Small issue with flights when checking in. She immediately rang the airline and sorted it. (Their issue) This is the reason we use a ‘proper’ travel agent.
Only ever use you for our long haul flights. Jamie is an excellent provider for our requirements.
Nadia was amazing. Recommended and booked us a great hotel
Always exceptional service from Darryll
Thanks Arthur - had a fab time!
A huge thank you to Tara and the team for sorting out the hotel which contacted us saying we needed to vacate before the end of our stay as they needed the building back. Tara reassured me not to worry and they moved us to a different hotel. I'm sure the team worked incredibly hard to make this happen behind the scenes for which my family and I are grateful
I have built up a relationship over time with Marie. She knows exactly the type of holidays and accommodation I like and I end up selecting her recommendations on a regular basis. As a consequence I often recommend DialAFlight to family and friends.
Everything went as planned, nothing too much trouble. Had a fantastic holiday, many thanks to Isaac who was very helpful.
As usual Zoe did everything she said she would on the phone. Thank you. We will be contacting you for our 2026 holiday.
I’ve dealt with George Burke twice. Once to Jamaica and this year to Dubai. Both amazing holidays. Brilliant customer service and an excellent person to deal with. No hassle. It was so smooth I thought I was missing something!
As always another great trip booked by Ash.
Philippa booked the perfect stay for us, the hotel was brilliant and the flight times worked out well. You aways pull together the best holidays and now know our family and what we like so well.
I had my first solo trip and it was very well planned - I had the best time. Everything flowed and I had no stress.
Excellent once again. Thank you.
Faultless service
Amazing hotel recommended by Lloyd as always
Lauren Canning always delivers top level service, hence why we always book with her
I would not fly with BA again. Extremely poor like being on Easyjet
It could well be the emirate of which you've never heard. It's not far down the coast from Dubai - but in many other ways it's a world away.
Ajman is the smallest emirate (it's about two-thirds the size of the Isle of Wight) but has some wonderful attractions - lovely natural beaches among them. A handful of five-star hotels are dotted along its ten-mile coastline - and an increasing number of Brits are attracted here for a sunshine holiday that is both quieter and cheaper than the glitzier side of the Emirates. And believe it or not, its most popular attraction is a dusty museum.
I checked in at the five-star Ajman Saray, a Marriott hotel, which is right on the beach and boasts a spa, two pools, four excellent restaurants and rooms staring out to sea.
Dubai's glitz is on the doorstep
The top hotels here have free shuttles throughout the day to and from central Dubai 30 minutes down the coast, so all aspects of the Gulf are available - but at a very attractive price as far as luxury accommodation is concerned.
Ajman's beaches are white sand and shelve into warm water all-year round. The weather is bankably balmy – even December temperatures are about 20C.
Its malls aren't a match for the Gulf's glitziest, and its souks are not olde worlde, but it's friendly and laid-back.
When I go for a jog along the corniche, a one-mile seafront promenade buzzing with juice bars and falafel joints, a group of locals draw me into their game of beach football, then invite me for a juice afterwards. At the entrance to the creek, I haggle for a shimmering mackerel at the fish market and have it grilled over a barbecue on the quay.
I get chatting to my Yemeni mackerel-griller, Mubarak, and his mates, who ply me with enamel-dissolving coffee and photos of their kids. 'Why did you move to Ajman?'I ask him. He gestures to the sea and the sinking sun, and shakes his head in the international language for 'Why do you think?'
'It is a relaxed place, friendly,' he tells me. 'Not crazy modern,' his friend says.
Modernisation is inevitable
Not crazy modern, perhaps, but it's getting there – at least if Al Zorah is anything to go by. Wedged between mangrove and beach, it's a 1,300-acre villa, hotel and leisure development in high-end isolation across the creek from downtown Ajman.
Much of it is still under construction, but there's a wakeboarding park, a golf course designed by the Nicklaus group and a sleek new Oberoi hotel (with a 280ft infinity pool) that combines concrete and glass design with Italian textiles and Arabian antiques.
The beach here is long, white and empty, with a wild feel.
Wildlife in abundance
Better still, Al Zorah borders a 250-acre mangrove reserve, where I recommend doing the two-hour kayak tour in search of the 60 or so bird species that shelter here. At one point, a flock of flamingos blaze past in a fiery crimson flyby; later, as we paddle below twisting branches, a rare collared kingfisher zips past in the late-afternoon sun.
That evening, on a sunset dhow cruise on the same creek, my guide recounts Ajman's pearl-diving past, then opens an oyster and finds one inside. 'Keep it,' he tells me. 'Ajman welcomes you.'
In the end, I even fall for that dusty museum. For one thing, it's housed in an 18th-century fort, the oldest building in Ajman and home until 1970 to the emirate's royal family; for another, it has some fascinating exhibits, including an ancient Koran and Ajman's first car (a 1940s Land Rover owned by the current sheikh's father). But it's my guide, Tariq, who really swings it, clucking at the exhibits as if they were his grandchildren.
'I really love it,' he says, leading me through ancient teak doors into the oldest working barjeel, or wind tower, in the UAE. We linger, fanned by the cool air from the vents above. It is a moment of ancient, mesmerising peace. 'Wonderful,' Tariq whispers. 'Wonderful.'
First published in the Sunday Times - July 2019
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