If you leave RAK around 11.30 or midday then the journey time should be around 1 1/2 hours or maybe a bit more.

Nearer to mid day rather than 9am. There is a bottleneck at Sharjah up until mid morning generally.

Having done the RAK/Dubai commute I'd say 2 hours on a fully clear middle of the day run, outside of that....? I've had 5 hours on numerous occasions during rush hours (6am to 10am, 4pm to 7pm).

Cheers

Marc

It is, however, now possible to avoid the Sharjah/Dubai bottleneck as long as you don't want to get to anywhere near the Creek. The Dubai Outer Bypass (E611) is now open from Ajman and joins SZR somewhere near Jebel Ali.

From RAK you take the 2nd exit off Emirates Road (E311) which is marked Ajman/Al Helio (ignore the 1st exit you see marked Ajman/Al Helio), go under the flyover and and then bear right up onto the Al Helio road. Follow that road up to a T junction and turn left. Take next right and find your way onto E611 (it's still under construction but not that difficult - about 2k).

E611 is still under construction, especially until you get to the E88 (Sharjah/Al Dhaid) junction) but it is still really quiet. Carry on along the E611 until you get to the Arabian Ranches/Al Quoz/Al Barsha roundabout and take the slip road right onto al Qudra road. Follow that until you see the Madinat Jumeirah in front of you and take a left turn. LRM is about 5 mins or so on your right.

This may be a longer journey but at least the wheels keep turning and you get to see a bit more of the UAE while you're at it.

We'll be doing this trip tomorrow - will try and give more precise info when we get back.

Give your taxi driver these instructions and you'll freak him out lol! He'll think you live here!

If you can get a UAE taxi driver to understand and follow those directions then you've got a job with me anytime! Name your price!

Most speak very limited English, and in RAK even less so.

They wont be impressed - just confused.

Get the hotel to organise a driver - you'll pay a bit more but stand more chance of getting to your destination.

Marc