Before you travel to Dubai: fees, formalities and what is closed
The questions that decide a trip before it starts are also the ones Dubai's authorities answer least consistently. The overstay fine is AED 50 a day per one federal authority and AED 100 per another. Two federal tax pages give two different VAT refund formulas. A garden's own FAQ says it closes for summer while its own visitor page says it opens year-round. Every conflict below is published as a conflict, not resolved by us.
Money and formalities
What is charged, by whom, and under which published instrument.
- Visa fees & overstay finesTwo authorities disagree
- Hotel fees & taxesTourism Dirham, 7%, VAT
- Street parking & finesTwo fine schedules
When to come, and what will be shut
Season dates as each operator publishes them, and the closures that have no date at all.
- Seasonal closuresNo two operators agree
- What is closed right now9 venues, 3 with no date
- Hatta: season and prices1 Oct to 5 May
Outdoors and public spaces
Where the Municipality publishes a rule, and the much larger set where it does not.
- Public beachesThree flags, no green one
- Park entry feesAED 3–5, published nowhere
- Mall opening hoursNo two use the same week
A note on what this page is not
These pages transcribe what Dubai's authorities publish, with the source and the date attached. They are not legal, tax or immigration advice, and no figure here is universal — visa costs depend on nationality and on which authority issues, and tax treatment depends on definitions that are not always published in English. For a decision that turns on any of them, go to the authority itself; every page links its sources in full.
Where an authority contradicts itself, we say so instead of choosing. The pattern, catalogued.