Things to do in Dubai: the best, the free and what works with kids

The best things to do in Dubai, from free to expensive

Split the city into free, mid-priced and expensive and the planning gets easier. Free covers the Dubai Fountain, the public beaches, the Gold and Spice souks, the Al Fahidi lanes and the creek crossing. Mid-priced covers the desert half-day and the observation decks. Expensive covers the water parks, the theme parks and anything involving a boat or a helicopter.

The best things to do in Dubai are spread across all three tiers, but most visitors overspend on the middle one and underspend on the free one. The free things to do in Dubai are also the ones that tell you most about the place, the souks and the creek are a working city, not an attraction with a queue.

Things to do with kids, and what to skip

Things to do in Dubai with kids are governed by shade and distance, not by cost. The aquarium, the malls, the indoor snow slope and the museums all work in the heat; the souks and the historic lanes work early in the morning and are unpleasant at two in the afternoon.

Most of the free things to do in Dubai work with kids too, provided you go early. Water parks are the reliable win and the reliable expense. If you are doing one, do it on a day you have nothing else planned. They take the whole day and nobody wants to walk a souk afterwards. Doing Dubai with kids in summer means accepting that the plan is built around indoor hours.

Things to do in summer versus winter

From October to April the outdoor list is fully open: beaches, promenades, the desert, the fountain, walking anywhere. From June to September the middle of the day belongs indoors, and the outdoor list shifts to early morning and after dark. The desert is still comfortable in the evening in summer, and the beaches are usable at either end of the day.

May and September are the shoulder months and behave unpredictably, plan them as summer and be pleased when they are not.

Things to do at night

Dubai is an evening city for at least half the year, and in summer the evening is the only usable part of the day. The fountain runs every half hour until late and costs nothing. The souks are at their best after dark, lit and fully open after the afternoon closure. The Marina Walk and the JBR promenade are built for evening walking and are busy until well past midnight.

Beyond walking, the desert camps run evening trips with dinner, the dhow cruises on the creek and the Marina are sedate and cheap, and the observation decks stay open late, a night slot is cheaper than sunset and the city reads differently in the dark.

Licensed nightlife is concentrated in hotels, which is a legal consequence, not a stylistic one. Outside them, evenings are about food, promenades and shopping, and the city is genuinely comfortable to walk at night.

Unusual things to do

Several of the most memorable things here are not on the standard list. The abra across the creek costs a nominal fare and is the best few minutes in the city. The fish market at Deira Waterfront at dawn is a working market with no visitor infrastructure at all. Al Seef, along the Bur Dubai creek, is a modern development built in old-city style that reads better than it sounds.

For something genuinely odd: the Coffee Museum in Al Fahidi, the Museum of Illusions nearby, and the camel market out at Al Lisaili are all small, cheap and unlike anything in the brochures. The Etihad Museum covers the founding of the UAE in a building shaped like the constitution it commemorates.

The Alserkal Avenue arts district in Al Quoz is the one that surprises people most, warehouse galleries and independent spaces in an industrial quarter, with no relationship to the tourist city at all.

Romantic things to do, and things for couples

The reliable ones are simple. A sunset slot on an observation deck, dinner on a Souk Al Bahar terrace with the fountain below, a dhow cruise on the Marina, or the desert at dusk when the light does most of the work.

Less obvious but better value: the Jumeirah beaches at sunset with the Burj Al Arab in the frame, a walk along the Marina after dark, and a table at one of the Al Fahidi courtyard cafés in the early evening when the tour groups have gone.

The expensive end (helicopter tours, private yacht charters, the restaurant on level 122) delivers what it promises and is priced accordingly.

Things to do with friends and groups

Groups do better with activity than with sightseeing here. The desert half-day works well for four or more because the vehicle cost splits. Water parks are the other obvious one. Skydive Dubai over the Palm is the photograph everyone wants and the one thing on this list that genuinely justifies its price.

For a cheaper day, the beach at Kite Beach has watersports operators, a running track and food trucks behind it, and needs no booking. Brunch on a Friday or Saturday is the local group institution and should be booked well ahead.

What to do when it rains

Rain is rare and brief, mostly in winter, and the city handles it badly: drainage is limited and traffic slows sharply. The practical answer is the same as the summer answer: the malls, the aquarium, the ski slope, the museums and the observation decks are all indoors and unaffected.

The one thing worth knowing is that heavy rain closes outdoor attractions and desert trips at short notice, and refunds vary by operator. It is also the only time the air is genuinely clear, so the day after rain is the best observation-deck day of the year.

Adventure and adrenaline

Skydiving over the Palm is the headline. Below it: indoor skydiving, the zipline across the Marina, dune buggies and sandboarding in the desert, and flyboarding and jet-skiing off the Jumeirah coast. Most of these are half-day commitments with a pickup and most need booking a day or two ahead.

Diving is better than the reputation suggests, the wreck sites off the coast and the day trips to the east coast at Fujairah both work, though the Gulf visibility is variable and the summer water temperature is genuinely too warm to be pleasant in a wetsuit.

Water: beaches, parks and boats

The free beaches at JBR, Kite Beach and Jumeirah are well equipped with showers, changing rooms and lifeguards, and they are the single best-value thing to do in the city on a winter day. Beach clubs sell day passes for a lounger and a pool, which is a comfort purchase rather than access.

The water parks (Aquaventure at Atlantis, Wild Wadi, Laguna) are each a full day and should not be paired with anything else. On the water, the options run from an abra at a few fils to a yacht charter, with dhow cruises and speedboat tours filling the middle.

The desert, and how to choose an operator

A desert half-day is the one excursion almost everyone should do, and the quality varies more than the price does. The protected reserves (Al Marmoom and the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve) restrict operator behaviour, which generally means less aggressive dune driving and better treatment of the animals.

Ask three things before booking: whether the trip runs inside a protected reserve, how many vehicles are in the convoy, and whether the camp is shared with several operators. A small convoy to a private camp is a different experience from a forty-vehicle line to a mass camp at the same headline price.

Morning trips are cooler and quieter; evening trips include dinner and the sunset and are what most operators sell by default.

Things to do near the main districts

Near the Burj Khalifa: the mall, the aquarium, the fountain, Souk Al Bahar and the Dubai Opera, all on foot. Near Dubai Marina: the promenade, Ain Dubai and Bluewaters across the bridge, the JBR beach, and boat trips from the piers. On the Palm: Atlantis and its waterpark, The View observation deck, and the beach clubs along the crescent.

In the creek district: the souks on the Deira bank, the historic quarter and museums on the Bur Dubai bank, and the abra between them. Those four lists are also four separate days, see the three-day itinerary for how they fit together.

First visit against a return visit

A first visit should do the icons, because they are genuinely worth it and because not doing them nags. The deck, the fountain, one souk, one beach, one desert trip: that is a complete first trip and it fits into three days.

A second visit is where the city gets interesting. Alserkal Avenue, the Etihad Museum, the Al Shindagha museum district, the east coast at Fujairah, the fish market at dawn, and the neighbourhoods (Karama, Al Quoz, Satwa) that no first itinerary reaches. The common report from repeat visitors is that the second trip was better than the first, which says something about how the city is usually sold.

Photographing the city

Almost everything on this page photographs better at one specific time of day than at any other, and midday is never it. The photo guide sets out which viewpoint works when, the fountain at blue hour, the Burj Al Arab from Sunset Beach in the late afternoon, the Creek and Al Fahidi at sunrise before anyone is about.

It also covers the rules, which are stricter than most visitors expect: photographing a person without their consent is a criminal offence here, government buildings and airport interiors are restricted, and flying a drone requires permits that take time to obtain.