Jumeirah Mina Al Salam, Souk Madinat Jumeirah: free to walk in, the boat costs

Q: Is Souk Madinat Jumeirah free to enter?

Yes, free for all4, with or without a hotel room. You pay for what you eat, buy or ride.

Q: Can non-residents ride the abra?

Yes. Visitors5 buy at the booth in the souk; the tour is free only for guests of the Madinat Jumeirah hotels.

Q: Is parking free at Souk Madinat Jumeirah?

For 3 hours3, once you have spent AED 100 at a participating outlet and had the ticket validated before going down to the car.

Q: When is the Madinat Jumeirah festive market?

4 to 27 December 20268 on Fort Island: Monday to Thursday from 3pm, Friday to Sunday from noon, free, first come first served. Decorated abras run, and with parking short the resort advises a taxi.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah has no ticket: anyone walks in free, staying or not, to more than 60 shops and over 20 restaurants beside Burj Al Arab. The abra, the boat on its canals, is the part you pay for.

Updated 1 November 20265 min readHow we write the guide

Abra boats on the green water of Madinat Jumeirah

Who the souk suits

Why go

A Dubai evening with no entry fee: Areej Al Oud for perfume, Velvet Sweets for dates, then dinner on the canal at The Meat Co. or Taverna.

What you can pay for

Before you set off

Mall of the Emirates is the nearest metro and the last stretch is still a taxi, so this is no hop off the train.

Visitor or guest

An evening at the souk, from the taxi to the table

By taxi or by car
The souk itself recommends a taxi¹, bookable on +971 4 208 0808, or ride with Careem or Hala. By car, a service lane⁴ off the Umm Suqeim Street junction leads to valet or self parking.
Perfume, gold, camels
Arabian Oud stocks over 400 scents², Liali sells gold and gemstones and The Camel Company turns the animal into souvenirs. Haggling⁴ is part of the game, as in any souk.
The abra
The boat follows a 5 km route⁴ through the waterways, 20 minutes⁶ with Burj Al Arab behind it.
Along the canal
Anar² cooks Persian, USHNA Indian, and McGettigan’s is the Irish pub with live sport.

The souk, the hotel and the metro

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Souk Madinat JumeirahShops, restaurants and the abra booth
Jumeirah Mina Al Salam12 minutes on foot from the souk
Mall of the Emirates metroThe nearest station

What you can pay for here

The abra packages, in dirhams

Full tour for a family of 2 adults and 3 children: AED 299
Private abra with a bottle for 2: AED 1,000
Private abra with afternoon tea and a bottle for 2: AED 1,480
Private family abra, 2 adults and 3 children: AED 749

What else is there

Telephone	800 738245
Where	Inside the Madinat Jumeirah resort, just south of Burj Al Arab
Wheelchairs	Lifts from the main entrance and the Shopping Alleys; wheelchairs at the Mall Management offices
Prayer rooms	On the ground floor
Parking	Underground, open 24 hours: AED 20 an hour, at most AED 200 for 24 hours

Rooms above these waterways

The waterway with abra boats, palms and the sea from a Deluxe Ocean room

From the hotel the walk to the souk is 915 m, 12 minutes⁹, and the abras cover the same ground by water.

All the rooms, with photos

What a visitor pays, and what a hotel guest pays

What	Visitor	Madinat Jumeirah hotel guest
Full abra tour, 20 minutes	AED 100, child AED 50	Free, 10am to midnight
Private abra for 2, 20 minutes	AED 650	AED 300
Private abra with afternoon tea for 2	AED 1,130	AED 779

Mina Al Salam, Al Naseem, Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf are the souk’s hotels².

Questions about Souk Madinat Jumeirah

Is Souk Madinat Jumeirah free to enter?

Yes, free for all⁴, with or without a hotel room. You pay for what you eat, buy or ride.

Can non-residents ride the abra?

Yes. Visitors⁵ buy at the booth in the souk; the tour is free only for guests of the Madinat Jumeirah hotels.

Is parking free at Souk Madinat Jumeirah?

For 3 hours³, once you have spent AED 100 at a participating outlet and had the ticket validated before going down to the car.

When is the Madinat Jumeirah festive market?

4 to 27 December 2026⁸ on Fort Island: Monday to Thursday from 3pm, Friday to Sunday from noon, free, first come first served. Decorated abras run, and with parking short the resort advises a taxi.

Walk in free, buy the abra at the booth, and book 24 hours ahead for a private boat

Abra tours on Jumeirah

We wrote this on our own: Jumeirah Mina Al Salam reads it as you do. We sell no rooms: the links go where we read it.

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