Dubai with children
Dubai is genuinely one of the easiest destinations in the world to take children to, and we say that without qualification. It is also one of the easiest places in the world to spend a great deal of money on a family holiday and come home with very little to show for it. Both of those things are tru
This is what we tell families before a Gulf trip, based on the ones we have built.
Why it is easy
Nothing goes wrong. Tap water is safe, food hygiene is enforced and inspection grades are posted, pharmacies are excellent and open late, medical care is genuinely good, and street crime is close to nonexistent. The stomach upset that shapes a family trip to South Asia is not a feature here.
Everything is built for it. Baby changing facilities everywhere, high chairs everywhere, lifts and ramps in every public building, family rooms and connecting rooms in almost every hotel, cots as standard. The malls and attractions are designed around families as their primary market.
Everyone speaks English. At every level, in every situation. Nothing has to be negotiated in a second language.
It is short. Flight times from Europe are six to seven hours, and there is no jet lag worth the name for European travellers. From North America it is longer, but the time zone shift is manageable.
The distances are drives, not journeys. Nothing on a family itinerary is more than ninety minutes away, air-conditioned the whole way.
Children are welcome, visibly. This is a family culture and children are treated warmly in restaurants and public places rather than tolerated. A crying toddler in a Dubai restaurant provokes help, not stares.
The heat, which decides everything
From November to March a family day works normally: outside in the morning, out again from four o’clock, a break in the middle. That is a good holiday.
From June to September, an outdoor family day does not exist. Highs around 106F (41C), nights above 85F (30C), and a hotel pool warmed by the sun to bath temperature and providing no relief. A summer family trip to Dubai is water parks, aquariums, indoor ski, malls and hotel days. Some children love exactly that, the rates are the lowest of the year, and if the school holidays are your only window we will build it well. But you are giving up the desert, the creek and any pleasure in being outside, and we would rather say so now. See Dubai month by month.
The overlooked risk in season as well as out of it: children dehydrate faster than adults and complain later. Water constantly, hats, and a genuine indoor break between 11am and 3pm.
What works, by age
| Age | What works | What does not |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 | Hotel pool, beach, short mall visits, the abra crossing, aquarium | Anything ticketed and expensive, desert camps, long drives |
| 3 to 6 | Aquarium, small water parks, the beach, an early desert visit, the parks | Observation decks, museums, theme park queues in the heat |
| 7 to 11 | Water parks, the desert with dune driving and camels, indoor ski, the creek and souks, the Museum of the Future, Jebel Jais | Serious museums, long souk shopping, brunches |
| 12 and up | All of the above plus the mountains, wadis on the Omani side, the art warehouses, the food | Nothing much. This is the easiest age here |
What genuinely works
The water parks. These are the best in the world at what they do, and it is not close. They are large, immaculately run, and they will occupy a family for a full day. In summer they are the only outdoor activity that functions. Budget a full day and expect to pay properly for it.
The beach. Underrated by families who came for attractions. The public beaches are clean, free, well maintained and have shade and showers. Sea temperature runs 72F (22C) in January to 93F (34C) in August. A morning on the beach costs nothing and children remember it as much as the $90 ticket.
The desert, from about age five. A small camp rather than the coach version: dune driving, camels, a fire, a sky with actual stars in it, and dinner. The night temperature in January drops sharply and children need a jumper. This is the single most memorable thing most families do here.
The aquarium. Genuinely good, indoors, and an hour and a half rather than a day. Fine at any age.
The abra across the creek. A wooden boat, a few coins, five minutes, and an enormous hit with children of every age. It is also the cheapest thing in this article by a factor of about two hundred.
Indoor ski. Absurd and completely enjoyable, particularly for children who have never seen snow. Two hours, warm clothing provided.
Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque. Children are welcome, the scale of it works on them, and robes are provided at the door. Late afternoon.
Al Fahidi and the souks, early. Children do better in the old city than parents expect, because there are boats, animals, spice smells and things to bargain for. Go at 8am. See old Dubai in two days.
What does not work
Observation decks with young children. A long queue, a lift, a view they will look at for four minutes, and a gift shop on the way out. From about ten it is fine. Below that it is expensive queueing.
Two theme parks in one trip. They are more similar than the marketing suggests, they are hot in the queue, and the second one produces noticeably less enjoyment than the first for the same money.
Museums that require reading. With the exception of the Museum of the Future, which is designed around walking through things rather than reading about them, and works from about eight.
A packed schedule. The most common mistake on a family Gulf itinerary is three ticketed attractions a day. Children in heat manage one significant thing per day plus water. That is the honest capacity.
Brunch. It is a drinking event. Some venues are family-friendly and it is still not a use of a family day.
What we would skip
We will say this plainly because it saves families the most money of anything on this page.
The full attraction pass. Bundled multi-attraction tickets look like value and produce a schedule where you visit things because you have paid for them.
The coach desert safari. Sixty people, a buffet, a stage show, a fixed timetable and a two-hour round trip in a minibus with strangers. A small private camp costs more per person and is a different experience entirely.
The dinosaur, ice, candy and character attractions inside the malls. Individually $25 to $50 a child for twenty minutes. Four of them is a hundred and sixty dollars and nothing anyone remembers.
The helicopter tour. Twelve minutes, several hundred dollars, and children under a certain size cannot see out well.
Cutting these is where the family budget is actually won. See what a trip to Dubai costs and what we would skip in Dubai.
The shape of a family day that works
Breakfast at the hotel, unhurried. One outdoor thing from 8.30 to 11, whether that is the creek, the beach or the souks. Back to the hotel or into somewhere air-conditioned from 11 to 3, which means the pool, a long lunch, a nap for small children and the parents pretending to read. One thing from 4 to 7, indoor or outdoor depending on the month. Dinner early, in a neighbourhood restaurant rather than the hotel, where a family of four eats very well for forty dollars.
Six days of that, with one desert night and one Abu Dhabi day inside it, is the trip we build most often for families. See Dubai with children in 6 days.
Practical notes
- Hotels. Connecting rooms are common and worth asking for. A hotel with a genuinely good pool is worth more to a family here than location, which is the reverse of our usual advice.
- Car seats. Not standard in taxis. We provide them in the private cars we arrange, and you should ask for them by age.
- Food. Fussy eaters are extremely well served. Every cuisine on earth, plus every international chain, plus rice and grilled chicken in any Lebanese or Pakistani restaurant.
- Prams. Fine everywhere except the souks, which are crowded and uneven.
- Medication. Some common children’s medicines are controlled in the UAE. Bring the prescription and tell us in advance.
Related
- Dubai with children in 6 days
- What we would skip in Dubai
- Dubai month by month
- What a trip to Dubai costs
- All our Gulf trips
