Dubai city tour

The stops and how long you spend at each

The full day runs from 9:00 to about 17:00 and covers both halves of the city. Drive times are without traffic, from OpenStreetMap routing. Your chauffeur adjusts the order on the day if Sheikh Zayed Road or the Creek crossings are slow.

Stop	Area	Time at the stop	Drive from the stop before
Jumeirah Mosque	Jumeirah 1	15 min, photos outside	6 km from Downtown, 10 min
Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood	Bur Dubai	45 min on foot	6 km, 7 min
Abra across Dubai Creek	Bur Dubai to Deira	the crossing only	on the water; the car drives 5.5 km round
Spice Souk and Gold Souk	Deira	1 hour	walking from the abra station
Burj Al Arab view	Jumeirah Beach, Umm Suqeim	20 min	21 km, 24 min
Souk Madinat Jumeirah	Umm Suqeim	30 min	3 km, 5 min
Atlantis The Palm	Palm Jumeirah crescent	30 min	11 km, 16 min
Dubai Marina	Marina Walk	40 min	12 km, 19 min
Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa	Downtown Dubai	as long as you like	25 km, 25 min

Lunch takes about an hour between the souks and Jumeirah Beach, at a place you choose.

Half day or full day

A half day takes about 4 hours and covers one side of the city.

• Old Dubai half day: Jumeirah Mosque, Al Fahidi, the abra, the Spice Souk and the Gold Souk. Add Dubai Frame in Zabeel Park, 8 km from the Gold Souk, for the view from its 150 m upper bridge.
• New Dubai half day: the Burj Al Arab from the beach, Madinat Jumeirah, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai Marina and Dubai Mall.
• Full day: both, in about 8 hours, with lunch in between.

If you want neither list, book a car and chauffeur by the hour and choose your own stops. The private tours page shows how a day like that is planned.

Old Dubai: the Creek, the abra and the souks

Old Dubai is small enough to walk. The Al Fahidi lanes, the Bur Dubai abra station and the Deira souks sit within a few hundred metres of the Creek. Your chauffeur drops you at Al Fahidi and you go on foot from there.

The abra is an open wooden boat that carries passengers across Dubai Creek. RTA runs the crossing from Bur Dubai abra station to Deira Old Souq for AED 1 a person, paid in cash. While you cross, the car drives round by road, about 5.5 km, and waits for you on the Deira side.

The Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding works from House 26 in Al Fahidi. It runs visits inside Jumeirah Mosque, one of the few Dubai mosques open to non-Muslims. On this tour the mosque is a stop outside; ask the centre for its visit times if you want to go in.

New Dubai: south along the coast to the Palm and the Marina

From the souks, the drive south to Jumeirah Beach takes about 25 minutes without traffic. The public beach at Umm Suqeim looks straight out at the Burj Al Arab from the sand.

Madinat Jumeirah is 3 km further on. Then the car runs up the trunk of Palm Jumeirah to Atlantis on the crescent, 11 km away. Dubai Marina comes next, 12 km from Atlantis, with the Marina Walk along the water.

Adding Burj Khalifa At the Top

The full day finishes at Dubai Mall because that is where the At the Top entrance is. The main deck is on level 124, at 452 m. At the Top SKY is higher, on level 148 at 555 m, in a tower 828 m tall.

Tickets are sold for a time slot, so buy yours before the day and tell us the time. The route is then set so you reach Dubai Mall 30 minutes early. You can also add the ticket through our attraction tickets page.

Dubai at night

The afternoon half day, from 15:00, turns into an evening tour. Al Fahidi and the souks are cooler to walk after 17:00. After dark, the car takes you to Dubai Marina and then Dubai Mall, where the fountain shows play on the lake below Burj Khalifa.

For dinner on the water, pair the evening with a dhow cruise on Dubai Creek, which sails the same stretch of water you crossed by abra. The Dubai Marina dhow cruise suits a tour that ends in the south of the city.

Private car or a shared seat

This page describes the tour in a private car: your group only, your pickup address and your pace. A shared seat on a set departure is on request, where one runs on your date. A shared departure collects several hotels in turn and returns to the pickup area, so it does not suit an airport start or a finish at a dinner cruise.

Driver or tour guide

Your chauffeur drives, waits at each stop and knows where the car can stand in Bur Dubai and Deira. Commentary inside Al Fahidi or the souks is a different job, done only by a guide with a Dubai licence badge (the FAQ below gives the rule).

To have a guide walk the old Dubai half with you, name the language you need when you ask for the quote. We tell you whether one is free on your date.

Heat, walking and dress

• Walking: the old Dubai half covers about 2 hours on foot, on lanes and in covered souks.
• The abra: you step down from the quay into an open boat. If anyone in the group uses a wheelchair, tell us, and the car takes the whole group round by road instead.
• Heat: from May to September, start at 8:00 or keep the walking stops for late afternoon.
• Mosque visits: if you plan to go inside Jumeirah Mosque, ask the Sheikh Mohammed Centre about its dress rules when you book the visit.
• Children: send their ages, and child seats are confirmed with the quote. The souks are busy, so agree a meeting point at the Deira abra station.

What sets the price

There is no fixed tour price on this page. Four things set the figure in your WhatsApp quote.

Factor	What changes it
The car	A Lexus ES 300h for up to 3, a GMC Yukon for 6, a 13-seat Mercedes-Benz Sprinter for a group
Hours	About 4 hours for a half day, about 8 for a full day
Start and finish	A hotel in Dubai Marina adds the 32 km run to Al Fahidi
Tickets added	Burj Khalifa At the Top, Dubai Frame, a dhow dinner

Starting from the airport or a cruise ship

The city tour can begin the moment you land. From Dubai International (DXB), Terminal 3 is about 7.5 km from Al Fahidi. Your chauffeur waits in arrivals with your name on a board, and the luggage rides in the boot.

Cruise passengers with a day in port start from Mina Rashid, about 8 km from Al Fahidi, or from Dubai Harbour by the Marina, about 27 km away. The cruise terminal transfers page explains where the chauffeur meets you at each terminal.

How to book

1. Send the date, half or full day, your pickup address and the number of people on WhatsApp to +971 56 684 8148, or use the trip form on this page.
2. Add any Burj Khalifa ticket time, and the ages of any children.
3. We reply on WhatsApp with the car, the stop order with clock times, what is included and the cancellation terms. Reply to confirm, and the day is booked.

Assure is RTA licensed and has driven Dubai’s roads for 10+ years. WhatsApp and phone are answered 24/7, so a question about a 9:00 start gets an answer the evening before.

Plan the stops with places to visit in Dubai, Dubai attractions by car and our Dubai itinerary.