Dubai Spice Souk () or the Old Souk is a traditional market (or ''

souk A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets that have doors ...

'') in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

(UAE). The Spice Souk is located in

Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/ or ; or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic , meaning 'oak' ( in modern Welsh), in which case ...

, in eastern Dubai, and is adjacent to the

Dubai Gold Souk Dubai Gold Souk or Gold Souk (), is a traditional market (or ''souk'') in Dubai, UAE. The souk is located in Dubai's commercial business district in Deira, in the locality of Al Ras. The souk consists of over 380 retailers, most of whom are jew ...

. The Spice Souk is in the locality of Al Ras, on Baniyas Street, near the Old Souk abra station on

Dubai Creek Dubai Creek () is a natural Seawater, saltwater creek (tidal), creek in Dubai. It extends about inwards and forms a natural port that has traditionally been used for trade and transport. The creek ranges from in width while the average depth ...

. The souk comprises several narrow lanes which are lined with open and closed-roof stores, and is a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

Stores in the Spice Souk sell a variety of fragrances and spices from

frankincense Frankincense, also known as olibanum (), is an Aroma compound, aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family (biology), family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality in ...

and

shisha Shisha, sheesha, or Shisheh may refer to: * Mu‘assel or shisha tobacco, the molasses-based tobacco product heated in a hookah * Hookah lounge, or shisha bar * Hookah also known as waterpipe, the heated tobacco product or the device used to smoke ...

to the many

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

s used in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

food. In addition, several

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

rugs A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...

and artifacts are also sold in the Spice Souk. A majority of the trading occurs through

haggling In the social sciences, bargaining or haggling is a type of negotiation in which the buyer and seller of a good or service debate the price or nature of a transaction. If the bargaining produces agreement on terms, the transaction takes plac ...

. The quantity of trade, as well as the number of stores trading spices in the Spice Souk, have not increased in recent years due to the growth of larger stores and

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

References

External links

Video of the Spice Souk
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Year of establishment missing Food markets in the United Arab Emirates Retailing in Dubai Tourist attractions in Dubai Souks in the United Arab Emirates Economy of Dubai {{UnitedArabEmirates-geo-stub