Dubai is easier with children than most people expect. It is safe, almost everything is air conditioned, and the attractions are built for families rather than tolerating them. The difficulty is the heat and the distances, and both are solved by planning around the age of the children rather than the list of sights. For the version without children in it, see our guide to things to do in Dubai.

Under fives

Short visits, cool rooms, nothing with a height restriction.

  • The Green Planet, from AED 120. An indoor rainforest in a glass cube with sloths, birds and a flooded forest floor. Small enough to finish before anyone melts down.
  • Butterfly Garden, from AED 35. Nine domes, thousands of butterflies landing on people. Open in winter only.
  • Dolphinarium show, from AED 80. Forty five minutes, seated, indoors.
  • Dubai Fountain. Free, outdoors, thirty minutes between shows, and toddlers are transfixed.

Six to twelve

The best age for Dubai. Old enough for most rides, young enough for the whole thing to be astonishing.

  • LEGOLAND Dubai, from AED 229. Built for two to twelve and honest about it. Miniland rebuilds the city in Lego and is better than it sounds.
  • IMG Worlds of Adventure, from AED 185. Entirely indoors, which matters from May to September. Marvel, Cartoon Network and a dinosaur zone, with enough variety that nobody is too small for everything.
  • Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, from AED 135. The tunnel, then three floors of otters, crocodiles and penguins above it.
  • Ski Dubai Snow Park, from AED 220. Tobogganing, a chairlift and penguins, at minus two degrees. Jackets and boots provided.
  • Dubai Safari Park, from AED 50. Open winter only, and the best value family day in the city.

Teenagers

Height restrictions stop being a problem and speed starts being the point.

  • Motiongate, from AED 295. The strongest rollercoasters in the country. Mostly outdoors, so avoid midsummer afternoons.
  • Ferrari World, from AED 305. Formula Rossa reaches 240 km/h and is the one that gets talked about afterwards. Indoors.
  • Aquaventure, from AED 205. The best water park in the region and a full day.
  • Jet ski around the Burj Al Arab, from AED 199. Thirty or sixty minutes, briefing included.
  • iFly indoor skydiving, from AED 195. The flying sensation without the aircraft.

Things that work for the whole family

  • Premium desert safari, from AED 100. Camel rides, sandboarding and dinner. Ask for a gentler dune drive with young children, and know that it is a late evening.
  • Global Village, from AED 25. Winter only. Funfair, food from seventy countries, and it costs almost nothing to get in.
  • Hop on hop off bus, from AED 125. Useful with children because you set the pace and the upper deck is the entertainment.
  • Creek dhow cruise, from AED 99. Calmer and shorter transfers than the Marina route, which matters at the end of a day.

Practical things that make the difference

  • Do the outdoor thing first. From opening until about eleven, then indoors. This single rule rescues summer trips.
  • Check height restrictions before you promise anything. They are enforced strictly and a disappointed eight year old at the front of a queue is a bad afternoon.
  • Prams are fine everywhere. Malls, metro and attractions are all step free, and most venues lend them.
  • Family rooms in restaurants are common and nobody minds noise. Dubai is unusually relaxed about children in public.
  • Taxis take child seats only if you bring one. Book transfers if you need one. Our airport transfer from AED 119 is per vehicle rather than per person and seats can be arranged.
  • Carry water everywhere and more than you think, including in winter. The air is dry all year.
  • Attractions in Abu Dhabi are ninety minutes away. Ferrari World and Warner Bros World are a full day with the drive, not an afternoon. The National Aquarium, with its shark tunnel and ray touch pool, is the Abu Dhabi stop that fits an afternoon. If you want the city rather than the parks, our Abu Dhabi city tour from Dubai covers the mosque, the Corniche and Yas Island in one day with the transfer included.

A workable four day plan

  1. Day one, settling in: Dubai Mall, the aquarium, the fountain in the evening. Nothing that needs an early start.
  2. Day two, the big one: a theme park, from opening.
  3. Day three, slow: beach or water park in the morning, Green Planet or Ski Dubai in the afternoon.
  4. Day four, the memory: desert safari, decoded in the late afternoon and evening.

Putting the safari last is deliberate. It finishes late, it is the thing children talk about afterwards, and nobody has to be anywhere the next morning.