Downtown Dubai: what is here and what it costs
Downtown Dubai holds more of this site than any other district by a wide margin, and it is also where the spread is widest. Inside a twenty-minute walk you can pay nothing at all to watch the fountain or AED 769 to stand on the Burj Khalifa’s top tier, and eat a main course at anything from the low tens to the mid hundreds. It is the one district where the metro genuinely works: almost everything here shares a single Red Line station.
The thing to know before you come
Downtown is compact enough to walk and dense enough that the mistake people make is budgeting for it as one place. It is not. The fountain show is free and runs on a published timetable; the tower above it is one of the most expensive tickets in Dubai and the price changes by which floor you buy. Both are the same hundred metres of pavement.
The other thing worth planning is parking, because The Dubai Mall publishes a free window and a tariff after it, and the difference between leaving inside that window and outside it is the largest avoidable cost of a Downtown day. The mall tariffs are compared here, and street parking is a separate system entirely.
What is in Downtown Dubai
46 venues on this site sit in Downtown Dubai: 21 restaurants · 14 attractions · 3 malls · 2 cafes · 2 theatres · 1 museum · 1 park · 1 district · 1 foodhall. Every one carries the date its details were last checked against the operator’s own source.
Eat and drink (21)
- AmayaFusion & shisha lounge · Dubai Mall, 1st Floor
- BosporusTurkish · Dubai Mall · Lower Ground Floor
- Butcha Turkish Steakhouse & GrillTurkish steakhouse · City Walk · ribeye AED 245 · open to 1am Thu–Sun
- Carluccio's The Dubai MallItalian · The Dubai Mall, Lower Ground Floor Boardwalk · pasta AED 81–106 · opens 9am
- Din Tai FungTaiwanese · Xiao Long Bao · 6 Dubai branches
- EggspectationAll-day breakfast · The Boulevard, City Walk
- Jamavar DubaiIndian fine dining · Downtown · Dubai Opera
- La Maison AniFrench · Fashion Avenue, The Dubai Mall · daily 09:30–23:30
- LogmaKhaleeji · Dubai Mall, Third Floor · hours not published
- MarketteCrêperie & comfort food · Dubai Mall, Ground Floor
- Mythos Urban Greek EateryGreek · City Walk, C2 · prices include VAT, service & municipality fee · open noon–midnight
- PAUL The Dubai MallFrench bakery-café · The Dubai Mall, Ground Floor · prices include 5% VAT
- PicklCheeseburgers and fried chicken · The Boulevard, City Walk
- RARE Brasserie & BarModern French brasserie · City Walk · live music weekends
- SALTBurgers and sliders · The Dubai Mall · no unit-level address published
- SomewhereMediterranean · Dubai Mall, First Floor · hours not published
- TATEL DubaiSpanish · Downtown · open evenings
- TOTÓ DubaiItalian · Downtown · open to 1am
- The Cheesecake FactoryAmerican · Dubai Mall · Ground Floor near the Aquarium
- WagamamaJapanese-inspired Asian · Dubai Mall · Lower Ground, Star Atrium
- Zaatar w Zeit The Dubai MallLebanese manakeesh and wraps · The Dubai Mall, Lower Ground · prices include 5% VAT
Cafés (2)
- Armani/Caffè Dubai MallItalian café · Dubai Mall · Fashion Avenue
- Novikov Cafe DubaiMediterranean · Dubai Mall Fashion Avenue · open to 1am
Attractions (14)
- Boo Boo LaandKids' indoor playground · Dubai Mall, 1st Floor
- Burj KhalifaObservation deck · Downtown · open 10:00–20:00
- Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo
- Dubai Hills Golf Club18 holes, par 72 · Troon · Burj Khalifa views
- Dubai Ice RinkThe Dubai Mall · ground floor
- Emirates A380 ExperienceDubai Mall Level 2 · 15 min from AED 160–180 · ages 9+
- Five Iron Golf DubaiIndoor golf simulators · Dubai Marina & Business Bay
- Hysteria Haunted AttractionAED 105 · 16+ advised · The Dubai Mall, 2nd floor
- KidZania DubaiAges 4–16 from AED 195 · adults AED 90 · The Dubai Mall
- Play DXB Dubai MallPay & Play from AED 250 · credit valid 6 months · Level 2
- ROXY Cinemas6 Dubai cinemas · Silver from AED 36.75 (Visit Dubai) · Monday 2-for-1
- Sky Views ObservatoryAddress Sky View, Tower 1 · 219.5m observation deck with glass floor and slide
- The Dubai FountainDowntown · free from the promenade · shows every 30 min
- The Green Planet
Museums (1)
Parks and outdoors (1)
Malls (3)
- City Walk, DubaiAl Wasl · 1 hour free then AED 5/hr · Boulevard zone priced separately
- Souk Al BaharDowntown Dubai · ticketless paid parking · connects to Dubai Mall
- The Dubai MallDowntown Dubai · paid parking after 4-6 free hours · Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro
Getting there
The stations these venues name for themselves are Dubai Mall, Downtown's, Burj Khalifa. A single journey is AED 3 to 7.50 on a Silver nol card, and this is what the metro reaches across the whole city.
What a main course costs here
19 venues in Downtown Dubai publish a priced menu on this site, ranging from a median main course of AED 47 at Zaatar w Zeit The Dubai Mall to AED 179 at Jamavar Dubai. Every figure is the restaurant’s own, and the median is our arithmetic on its published main courses.
| Restaurant | Median main | Menu range | Items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zaatar w Zeit The Dubai MallLebanese: manakeesh, wraps, salads | AED 47 | AED 4–51 | 104 |
| Din Tai FungTaiwanese | AED 56 | AED 6–98 | 145 |
| PicklCheeseburgers and fried chicken | AED 62 | AED 0–83 | 72 |
| WagamamaJapanese-inspired Asian | AED 65 | AED 4–175 | 136 |
| EggspectationAll-day breakfast and brunch | AED 73 | AED 10–169 | 130 |
| SALTBurgers and sliders | AED 73 | AED 5–390 | 50 |
| PAUL The Dubai MallFrench bakery and café | AED 78 | AED 16–144 | 105 |
| MarketteFrench crêperie and comfort food | AED 80 | AED 18–165 | 20 |
| The Cheesecake FactoryAmerican | AED 92 | AED 18–301 | 262 |
| Carluccio's The Dubai MallItalian | AED 93 | AED 13–166 | 108 |
| BosporusTurkish | AED 95 | AED 7–199 | 79 |
| La Maison AniFrench | AED 95 | AED 22–420 | 74 |
| SomewhereMediterranean | AED 95 | AED 9–395 | 60 |
| Mythos Urban Greek EateryGreek | AED 102 | AED 9–194 | 39 |
| TOTÓ DubaiItalian | AED 117 | AED 30–1,200 | 47 |
| RARE Brasserie & BarModern French brasserie | AED 148 | AED 18–315 | 37 |
| AmayaMediterranean and international fusion | AED 150 | AED 39–435 | 89 |
| Butcha Turkish Steakhouse & GrillTurkish steakhouse | AED 160 | AED 20–1,200 | 67 |
| Jamavar DubaiIndian | AED 179 | AED 85–1,050 | 26 |
Compared against the whole city on the full price ladder.
What a ticket costs here
| Attraction | What it buys | Price |
|---|---|---|
| ROXY Cinemas | Silver ticket | From AED 36.75 to AED 50 depending on the cinema, per Visit Dubai; ROXY does not print prices outside its booking flow |
| Boo Boo Laand | Adult entry | One adult ticket free with every child or toddler ticket; additional adults AED 70 |
| Sky Views Observatory | Observatory + Glass Slide — adult (8+) | AED 89 |
| KidZania Dubai | Adult (17+) | AED 90; adults must come with a toddler or a child |
| Hysteria Haunted Attraction | Ticket | AED 105 per person, single admission |
| ARTE MUSEUM Dubai | Admission only — Adult (18–60) | AED 149 full price; AED 74.50 under the current 50% offer printed on the homepage |
| The Green Planet | Day Pass, adult (11+) | AED 175 (read 10 October 2026; AED 155 when read between 29 September and 8 October 2026) |
| Burj Khalifa | Silver — Levels 124 & 125 | AED 189 per adult — outdoor terrace, indoor deck, WiFi. Last entry 19:00. |
| Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo | Silver ticket | AED 199 — Aquarium Tunnel, Underwater Zoo, Penguin Cove, plus an AED 20 shop voucher |
| Dubai Ice Rink | Day Pass | AED 299 per day, all sessions, valid on public holidays (not shown on the 9–18 October ticket table) |
Free here: Burj Park, The Dubai Fountain. Every published Dubai ticket price, ranked.
More in Areas
Common questions
What is there to do in Downtown Dubai?
It is the densest district on this site: the Burj Khalifa, The Dubai Mall, the fountain, the aquarium, Souk Al Bahar and around two dozen priced restaurants, almost all within a twenty-minute walk of one metro station.
Is the Dubai Fountain free?
Yes, and it runs to a published timetable. That is the sharpest contrast in the district — the fountain costs nothing and the tower above it is one of Dubai's most expensive tickets, on the same hundred metres of pavement.
How much is parking in Downtown Dubai?
The Dubai Mall publishes a free window and a tariff after it, and leaving inside or outside that window is the largest avoidable cost of a Downtown day. Street parking is a separate system: zone GP covers the area at AED 4.20 off-peak and AED 6.30 at peak.
Which metro station is Downtown Dubai?
Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall on the Red Line, which is the nearest station for almost everything in the district — 29 of the places we cover share it.
How much does a day in Downtown Dubai cost?
Anything from nothing to several hundred dirhams, which is why this page lists each figure separately rather than giving an average. The fountain is free; the Burj Khalifa's top tier is AED 769.