The Burj before sunset, the red dunes after dark. Here is what each one costs.
Which safari actually reaches the red dunes at Lahbab. What the Burj Khalifa costs at the hour everybody wants. Reviews of every tour you can book across the Emirates.
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3The four bookings a first week in Dubai is built around.
The tower, the dunes, the marina and the drive down to Abu Dhabi. What each one costs, and the hour to take it.
01The first eveningBurj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + OptionsLevels 124 and 125 about an hour before sunset, so the city goes from gold to lit while you are up there. Slots are timed and the sunset hour costs more.
02The desert nightDesert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma CampDune bashing, a quad bike and a camel, then dinner at a camp under the sand. The version most first-timers mean when they say desert safari.
03The marina eveningLuxury Yacht Tour with Breakfast or BBQ OptionA yacht out of Dubai Marina with breakfast or the grill going, past the Palm and the Burj Al Arab. Flat water, and the skyline from underneath.
04The day southAbu Dhabi Premium Full-Day Sightseeing TourAbu Dhabi in one long day: the Grand Mosque, the corniche and usually Qasr Al Watan. Ninety minutes each way on the E11.
Four kinds of desert trip, and they are not the same day out.
What separates them is the drive and the dinner. Red sand sits an hour south at Lahbab; the closer camps are quicker and cheaper. Mornings skip the heat, evenings end around a fire.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Dubai Desert Safari, Dune Bashing, Camel Ride, Sandboarding & BBQ
Red dunesThe deep orange sand at Lahbab, an hour south of the city.
Evening runsOut around four, dune bashing in low light, back by nine.
Morning runsCollected at dawn and finished before the heat arrives.
Camp and dinnerA grill, henna and a fire once the sun is off the sand.
All 855 desert trips reviewed →
Dubai holds most of it. The rest of the country is an hour up the road.
Nearly everything on this site leaves from Dubai. Abu Dhabi has the Grand Mosque and the Yas Island parks. The northern emirates are desert and water: buggies at Mleiha, dune bashing outside Ras Al Khaimah, turtles off the Fujairah coast.
The most booked days out in the Emirates.
Every review on the site →These are the days the whole city funnels visitors into. What they cost, how long they take, and whether the queue is part of the deal.
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Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + Options
Ride the Burj Khalifa’s fast elevator to Levels 124 and 125 for Dubai views, telescopes, fountain shows, and optional café treats.
From · $43
Read our review →
2
Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp
from $32
3
Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, and Buffet Dinner
from $46
4
Red Dune Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, BBQ Dinner
from $29
5
Abu Dhabi Premium Full-Day Sightseeing Tour
from $99
6
Burj Khalifa Sky Level 148, 124, & 125 Entry Ticket
from $122
7
The View At The Palm Observatory Entry Ticket
from $29
8
Jetski to Burj Arab-Atlantis w Pic, Video & Icecream
Dubai reads better from half a kilometre up.
Three decks and a building shaped like an eye. The Burj Khalifa sells timed slots and the sunset hour goes first. The View at the Palm looks back at the skyline instead of down at it. The Museum of the Future is worth the ticket for the outside of it.
Every ticket and deck →
Dinner in the Emirates happens on a boat, in a camp or on the ninety-second floor.
Evening plans here are usually a meal with something attached. A wooden dhow down the creek, a buffet under the dunes with the fire going, a marina yacht with the grill on the back deck.
What a day out in the Emirates actually costs.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. The desert works out cheaper than the tower, and both are cheaper than the hotel breakfast.
Entry tickets, the shorter safaris, souk walks in Deira and the creek boats.
Full desert evenings with dinner, the observation decks with an extra floor, the Abu Dhabi day trip.
Private drivers for the day, yacht charters out of the marina, helicopter runs over the Palm.
Three things that only happen in the Emirates.
Dune buggies and camel camps turn up all over the Gulf. Sand this colour, a mosque built on this scale, and a hotel standing on its own island do not.
The Red Dunes
The sand south of the city runs deep orange because of the iron in it, and the dunes near Lahbab are the tallest within reach of a half day. Drivers let the tyres down at the roadside before they go in. Operators sell the same route at two prices: the difference is usually whether the camp is shared with four other convoys.
- 1Red Dune Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, BBQ Dinner★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 32,185 reviews
- 2Dubai Red Dunes ATV, Camels, Stargazing & 5* BBQ Al Khayma Camp★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 21,620 reviews
- 3Dubai Premium Red Dunes Safari, Camels & 5* BBQ at Al Khayma camp★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,388 reviews
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Eighty two domes, a courtyard floored in marble inlay and the largest hand-knotted carpet ever made. It is an active mosque, so visiting hours close around Friday prayers and the dress code is checked at the gate: ankles and wrists covered, hair covered for women. Entry itself is free and most tours are really the drive from Dubai.
- 1Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Mosque Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 9,962 reviews
- 2Dubai To Abu Dhabi: Grand Mosque, Royal Palace & Etihad Towers★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,632 reviews
- 3Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque & Louvre Museum Full-Day★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 6,227 reviews
The Burj Al Arab
The sail sits on a reclaimed island 280 metres offshore, joined to the mainland by a private causeway, and for years the only way in was to book a table. That has loosened: there are inside tours now, plus the terrace and the jet skis that run past it for the photograph everyone actually wants.
- 1Inside Burj Al Arab Guided Tour with Optional Extras★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,262 reviews
- 2Jet Ski Tour of Burj Al Arab with Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,505 reviews
- 3Jet Ski to Burj Al Arab included Photos and Videos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,888 reviews
Four Emirates bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before from a hotel desk. These four run on timed slots, prayer times and seasonal calendars that take no interest in when you land.
- 01Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + OptionsEntry is sold in timed slots and the hour either side of sunset goes weeks ahead. The off-peak slots cost roughly half as much for the same view.
- 02Dubai To Abu Dhabi: Grand Mosque, Royal Palace & Etihad TowersVisiting hours close for Friday prayers and the dress code is enforced at the gate. Ankles, shoulders and, for women, hair.
- 03Ferrari World Entry Ticket with Free ShuttleThe Yas Island parks run seasonal hours and shut on some weekdays out of season. Check the date before you build a day around it.
- 04Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma CampPickups run in windows across the city and the camp fills from the first collection. Book the run that suits where you are staying, not the cheapest one on the page.
At forty five degrees, Dubai moves indoors and after dark.
Midsummer here is not a heatwave, it is the season. Anything outdoors shifts to the evening and the middle of the day belongs to air conditioning. Tanks, galleries and an indoor rainforest until about five, then the sand once the sun is off it.
Marina, Downtown, the old creek, the dunes, then the drive to Abu Dhabi.
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