Which desert night. Which tower. Which day trip.

★★★★★★★★★★4.9· 68,962 travellers on the run that fills first

Dune bashing, a camel, a camp, a buffet: the listing looks identical on all of them. What actually changes is the hour you leave, which sand you end up on, and how many other 4x4s share the ridge.

• 1Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Campfrom $32
• 2Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride and Sandboardingfrom $29
• 3Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, and Buffet Dinnerfrom $46

Leave at dawn

Morning runs, cold sand, empty ridges

4–6h· from $30· back by lunch

Pickup around six, dune bashing while the sand is still firm, sandboarding down a ridge nobody has walked on yet. No camp dinner, no crowd, and you keep the rest of the day.

The standard evening

Red dunes, camel, camp, buffet

6–7h· from $35· hotel pickup

The one most people book. Afternoon pickup, an hour of dune bashing at Lahbab, then a camp with henna, a fire show and an open buffet until the coaches leave together around nine.

The quiet version

Vintage Land Rovers, oasis camps, no fire show

5–7h· from $95· small group

Al Marmoom instead of Lahbab, an open-sided 1950s Land Rover instead of a Land Cruiser, and dinner at a camp that seats twenty rather than three hundred. Costs more, feels nothing like the coach run.

Line up every desert night side by side →

The dunes, the top of the Burj Khalifa, a boat out of the marina, the old creek quarter, a day in Abu Dhabi and a morning in the snow. Everything else fits around these.

One observation deck and a run of desert nights carry more travellers than the rest of the country put together. Here is what each one is actually like.

1

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 90,891 reviews

Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + Options

See Dubai from Burj Khalifa Levels 124 and 125, with 360-degree views, fast elevator access, telescope views, and optional extras.

From · $43

Read our review →

2 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 68,962 reviews Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp from $32 3 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 43,505 reviews Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride and Sandboarding from $29 4 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 33,424 reviews Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, and Buffet Dinner from $46 5 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 32,185 reviews Red Dune Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, BBQ Dinner from $29 6 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 30,335 reviews Premium Safari, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp 3-Buffets from $79 7 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 23,827 reviews Burj Khalifa Sky Level 148, 124, & 125 Entry Ticket from $122 8 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 22,529 reviews The View At The Palm Observatory Entry Ticket from $29

Every tour on the site, cheapest first. The gap between the cheapest desert night and the most expensive one is a factor of twenty, and the difference is not the desert.

Under $50

182 tours

Souk walks, an abra across the creek, aquarium and Frame tickets, and the shared desert runs that still feed you at the camp.

• 1Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + Optionsfrom $43
• 2Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Campfrom $32
• 3Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride and Sandboardingfrom $29

$50–120

224 tours

The standard Emirates day: a red-dune safari with hotel pickup, a marina yacht morning, the Burj Khalifa at sunset, Abu Dhabi and back.

• 1Premium Safari, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp 3-Buffetsfrom $79
• 2Dubai Red Dunes ATV, Camels, Stargazing & 5* BBQ Al Khayma Campfrom $88
• 3Dubai Premium Red Dunes Safari, Camels & 5* BBQ at Al Khayma campfrom $75

$120 and up

121 tours

Your own 4x4 and driver, helicopter loops over the Palm, balloons at first light, and yachts hired by the hour.

• 1Burj Khalifa Sky Level 148, 124, & 125 Entry Ticketfrom $122
• 2Sightseeing Helicopter Ride from The Palmfrom $195
• 3Marina Ziplining with Photos, Video and Mealfrom $190

Dune drives and boat trips exist all along the Gulf. An indoor mountain, a lift to 555 metres and a falcon on your arm at dusk do not.

Minus four, all year

The Mountain Inside the Mall

On Sheikh Zayed Road, behind a shopping centre, there is a 22,500 square metre indoor mountain held at minus four degrees every day of the year, with five graded runs and a working chairlift. Jacket, trousers and boots come with the ticket; gloves and a hat do not, and the rental queue is longer than the lift queue. Sessions are sold in fixed blocks, so a two-hour pass means two hours from the moment it scans.

1. 12-Hour or Full-Day Slope Session at Ski Dubai★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,202 reviews
2. 2Ski Dubai Snow Park Classic Pass★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 625 reviews
3. 3Ski Dubai Snow Plus Pass★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 440 reviews

See all 4 →

Three ways up

The 555-Metre Lift

The tower sells three different heights and they are not interchangeable. Levels 124 and 125 are the standard ticket and the one most people mean. Level 148, marketed as Sky, is higher, skips the main queue and costs roughly double. Level 154 adds a lounge and a drink. Every ticket is a timed slot chosen when you buy, and the half-hour either side of sunset is gone weeks before the rest.

1. 1Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125 Entry Ticket + Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 90,891 reviews
2. 2Burj Khalifa Sky Level 148, 124, & 125 Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 23,827 reviews
3. 3Burj Khalifa Level 124, 125 & Sky Views Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 3,596 reviews

See all 19 →

Older than the oil

Falcons and Land Rovers

Falconry here predates the towers by a few thousand years and is still a licensed, passport-carrying business: Emirati birds travel with their own documents. The heritage drives out to Al Marmoom put a bird on your arm at dusk, run on open-sided Land Rovers from the fifties, and swap the fire show for coffee, dates and a camp that seats twenty. It is the same desert as the coach runs, approached from the other end.

1. 1Dubai Evening Heritage Safari by Vintage G Class Al Marmoom Oasis★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,500 reviews
2. 2Dubai Camel Desert Safari, Traditional Meal & Heritage Activities★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 937 reviews
3. 3Heritage Safari in Vintage Land Rover with Dinner★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 861 reviews

See all 12 →