Dubai calculators
12 calculators, and one rule behind all of them: every number that goes in is one an authority or an operator published, attributed on the line where it is used. The arithmetic is ours and is labelled as ours. What nobody publishes is named rather than filled in.
Three of these give you two answers
The overstay fine, the tourist visa fee and the VAT refund are each published twice by UAE authorities, with different figures. ICP says an overstay costs AED 50 a day; GDRFA Dubai says AED 100 plus AED 200 for an out pass. The Federal Tax Authority describes its own refund as 85% less AED 4.80 in one place and 87% less AED 3.60 in another.
Every other calculator on the internet picks one and presents it as the answer. These print both, name the source of each, and say plainly that we cannot tell you which will be applied to you. That is not a limitation of the tool. It is the state of the published record, and hiding it would be the error. The rule we follow when official sources disagree.
All 12 calculators
- Dubai taxi fare calculatorWork out a Dubai taxi fare from the starting charge RTA publishes and the per-kilometre rate the operator publishes — with both sources named and the gaps stated.
- Dubai Salik toll calculatorSalik is charged per gate, at AED 6 in peak hours and AED 4 otherwise, and nothing between 01:00 and 06:00. Worked out from RTA's published tariff.
- Dubai metro fare calculatorEvery RTA nol single-journey fare, by card type and number of zones, multiplied out for as many journeys as you plan. Silver, Blue, Gold and Red ticket.
- nol pass break-even calculatorHow many journeys a Silver or Gold nol pass has to cover before it beats paying per journey — worked out from RTA's own published pass prices and single fares.
- Dubai hotel bill calculatorWhat a Dubai room really costs once the Tourism Dirham, 10% service, 7% municipality fee and 5% VAT are added — each shown separately, with its source.
- Dubai overstay fine calculatorTwo UAE authorities publish different overstay fines — AED 50 and AED 100 a day. This prints both totals, attributed, instead of guessing which applies.
- Dubai VAT refund calculatorThe Federal Tax Authority publishes two different descriptions of the same tourist VAT refund. This calculator works out both, side by side, on your purchase amount.
- Dubai cinema ticket calculatorDubai cinema ticket prices from Reel and Novo's own FAQs, multiplied for your party, with the 'from' prices flagged as floors rather than fares.
- Dubai parking fine checkerWhat each Dubai parking offence costs, under both published schedules — roadside and plots against parking lots, where the same offence can differ by AED 850.
- Dubai currency converterThe dirham against 30 currencies, from the Central Bank of the UAE's own published rates and its fixed dollar peg — dated, and honest about the margin.
- Dubai child ticket age checkerPick an age and see which Dubai attractions charge the child rate and which charge full price — every band quoted from the operator's own published definition.
- Dubai height restriction checkerFour Dubai attractions publish a usable height rule and one of them publishes two different ones. Check a height against every published limit at once.
Why these work without JavaScript
This site runs no script at all, and its security policy forbids any. So every combination is worked out when the page is built and written into the HTML; the buttons are labels attached to hidden radio inputs, and CSS reveals the one you selected. Nothing is computed in your browser.
That is not a compromise, it is the better design for a reference site. A search engine does not run a calculator, so a scripted one is an empty page to it — while every result on these pages is in the document, readable by anyone and anything that opens it, including with scripting disabled entirely.
What we will not calculate
We do not convert currency into a total, because exchange rates move and a converted price presented as a price is a fiction with a shelf life. We do not estimate a figure an operator has not published in order to complete a sum — where an input is missing, the calculator says so instead of filling the gap. And we use no reseller price anywhere, for the reason set out in the editorial policy: a reseller is not a source.
Common questions
Are these Dubai calculators accurate?
The arithmetic is exact and shown line by line so you can check it. Whether the result matches what you actually pay depends on inputs nobody publishes — taxi waiting time, which Salik gates your route crosses, whether a hotel has already included service charge in its rate. Each calculator names what is missing rather than absorbing it into a single confident number.
Where do the figures come from?
From the authority or operator that published them: RTA for transport fares and Salik, the Federal Tax Authority for VAT, Executive Council Resolution No. (2) of 2014 for the Tourism Dirham, ICP and GDRFA Dubai for visa figures, and each cinema chain's own FAQ for ticket prices. No reseller price is used anywhere on this site.
Why do some calculators show two different totals?
Because two UAE authorities have published different figures for the same thing and neither acknowledges the other. Rather than choosing a side, we show both with their sources and dates, and say that we cannot tell you which one will be applied.
Do these calculators work without JavaScript?
Yes — there is no JavaScript on this site at all. Every possible result is written into the page when it is built, and CSS shows the one matching your selection. They work with scripting disabled, and every result is visible to search engines.