Five days turns the 3-day core — Downtown, the desert, the coast — into the full first trip: the sunrise balloon over the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, a proper evening in Old Dubai and the Abu Dhabi day with the Grand Mosque and the BAPS Mandir. The order matters more than the list: the balloon on day 2 so a weather cancellation can be rebooked later in the week, Abu Dhabi on day 3 while you are fresh for the 8:00 AM pickup, the desert safari on day 4 after a slow morning, and the Palm, JBR and a sunset yacht on day 5.
By SB Excursions · Published 15 September 2026 · Updated 23 October 2026
Tour on this route: Full-Day Desert Safari in Dubai — From $45 per person, 7 hours.
Is 5 days enough for Dubai and Abu Dhabi?
Yes. Five days covers Downtown, Old Dubai, the 7-hour desert safari, the coast with a sunset yacht hour, the 9-hour Abu Dhabi day from an 8:00 AM pickup and the sunrise balloon. Budget roughly $530 per person for tours, tickets and transport, plus hotel and meals, and expect two early starts and one late night.
This guide also answers:
- What order should I do the tours in?
- Can I do the balloon and the desert safari on the same day?
- How much does 5 days in Dubai cost per person?
The five days at a glance
#1
Day 1: Downtown
The gentle first day: the Red Line to Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, the view from At the Top or the cheaper Sky Views, the mall and the free aquarium tunnel, then Burj Park and the Fountain shows from 6 PM every 30 minutes. Nothing is booked for the morning, so a late arrival the night before does no damage.
#2
Day 2: the balloon, then Old Dubai
Pickup before sunrise, a 40-70 minute flight at 2,000-4,000 feet over gazelles and oryx, breakfast at a Bedouin camp and back at the hotel by mid-morning. Sleep, then the Creek at its best hour: Al Fahidi, the abra for AED 1-2, the Gold and Spice Souks and dinner at Al Seef. Booking the balloon early in the week leaves room to rebook if the wind says no.
#3
Day 3: Abu Dhabi
The Grand Mosque before the midday heat and crowds, the BAPS Hindu Mandir, the Corniche and Emirates Palace, Heritage Village, a Ferrari World photo stop with lunch at Yas Mall and the Dates Market on the way home. Transport, a licensed guide, mosque registration and bottled water are included; no prepayment. A private car for up to 7 is $245.
#4
Day 4: a slow morning, then the desert
The morning is deliberately empty — JBR beach, Kite Beach or the hotel pool — because the afternoon is the 45-60 minute drive to the Lahbab Red Dunes, 30-45 minutes of dune bashing, sandboarding, the camel ride at sunset and the full evening at Al Khayma camp with air-conditioned tents. Back late; $65 with the 30-minute quad bike.
#5
Day 5: the Palm and the Marina by sea
Palm Jumeirah in the morning, JBR and the Bluewaters footbridge in the afternoon, then the shared yacht hour from the pier at Al Majara Tower with a photo stop under Ain Dubai. If everyone is 21+, the 9 PM yacht party is the last night; if not, dinner on Marina Walk with the towers lit above the water.
#6
Old Dubai on the evening of day 2
On a 5-day plan Old Dubai gets the slot it deserves: the late afternoon and evening, when the lanes of Al Fahidi are in shade, the abra crossing catches the low light and the Gold Souk is at its brightest. Green Line stations Sharaf DG (formerly Al Fahidi) and Al Ras bracket the walk; the whole half-day costs a few dirhams in fares and the abra.
How the five days fit together
Five days is the length at which a Dubai trip stops being a checklist and gets its pacing right. The extra two days buy the three things the 3-day itinerary has to leave out: the Abu Dhabi day, the sunrise balloon and an unhurried evening in Old Dubai. The rule for ordering them is simple — two early starts, never on the same day as a late night, and the weather-dependent flight as early in the week as possible.
That gives the sequence in the table: Downtown to settle in, the balloon and the Creek on day 2, Abu Dhabi on day 3, a slow morning and the desert on day 4, the coast and the sunset on the water on day 5. The desert finishes late, so it stays off the night before the flight home; the balloon has a 30% deposit and sells out 1-2 weeks ahead, so it is the first thing to book.
| Morning | Afternoon | Evening | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrive or sleep in; metro to Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall | At the Top or Sky Views, Dubai Mall, the aquarium tunnel | Burj Park, the Fountain from 6 PM, Souk Al Bahar |
| Day 2 | Pre-dawn pickup, sunrise balloon flight, Bedouin breakfast, back by mid-morning | Rest; Green Line to Sharaf DG from about 4 PM | Abra across the Creek, Gold and Spice Souks, dinner at Al Seef |
| Day 3 | 8:00 AM pickup, drive to Abu Dhabi, Grand Mosque, BAPS Mandir | Corniche, Emirates Palace, Heritage Village, Yas Island, Dates Market | Back in Dubai; an easy dinner near the hotel |
| Day 4 | Beach or pool; Museum of the Future if you booked it | Hotel pickup for the 7-hour desert safari | Al Khayma camp: BBQ, fire show, Tanoura, belly dance; back late |
| Day 5 | Palm Jumeirah: The View at The Palm or Aquaventure | JBR beach, The Walk, the footbridge to Bluewaters | Shared yacht hour at sunset from $32; yacht party at 9 PM (21+) |
Two early starts (days 2 and 3) and one late night (day 4), and the late night is never followed by an early pickup. The free SB AI planner puts the same five days on a map for your own dates.
Day 1: Downtown, at walking pace
Keep the first day unbooked and central. The Red Line runs from the airport and from every hotel district to Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station, and the Metro Link bridge — air-conditioned, with travelators — brings you into the mall in 10-15 minutes. Buy a Silver Nol card (about AED 25 including AED 19 of credit) at the first station; single rides cost roughly AED 3-7.5 by zone.
The afternoon is the view and the mall. At the Top on levels 124-125 of Burj Khalifa starts from $55 per person with us and costs more at sunset; Sky Views Observatory on the Address Sky View is the cheaper alternative. The aquarium tunnel in the mall is free to walk past. From 5 PM go down to Burj Park for the classic free view of the tower, cross to the Souk Al Bahar terraces for a table facing the lake, and stay for the Fountain shows, which run every 30 minutes from 6 PM. Rush hour on Sheikh Zayed Road is 5-8 PM and the mall car parks jam at Fountain time, so this is a metro day end to end.
Day 2: the balloon at dawn, Old Dubai in the evening
The sunrise hot air balloon starts with a pickup from your hotel before dawn — earlier in June, when the sun is up by about 5:30 AM, than in January, when it rises around 7 AM. At the take-off site you watch the balloons inflate, get the briefing from GCAA-licensed pilots and drift for 40-70 minutes at 2,000-4,000 feet over the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve: gazelles, oryx and camels below, the Hajar Mountains on the horizon. After landing a vintage Land Rover or SUV takes you to a private Bedouin camp for breakfast with veg and non-veg options, a short camel ride and a falcon photo, and you are back at the hotel by mid-morning; the whole outing is 4-5 hours.
It is $275 per person with a 30% deposit to confirm, minimum age 7, not suitable for guests over 80, pregnant women or anyone with serious heart or back issues, and guests over 120 kg may be charged extra under safety rules. Bring a passport or a clear copy for the flight manifest, layers and closed shoes — desert mornings are cold. Flights are weather-dependent: if the pilots cancel, you get a full refund or a new date, which is exactly why the flight sits on day 2 rather than day 5.
Sleep through the middle of the day, then take the Green Line to Sharaf DG at about 4 PM. The Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood — wind towers, courtyard cafés, the Coffee Museum — and the Textile Souk are best in the late afternoon; cross the Creek by abra for AED 1-2 and walk to the Gold Souk and Spice Souk in Deira as the lights come on, then take an abra back or the Green Line from Al Ras. Dinner is at Al Seef, the lantern-lit lanes along the Creek. The Old Dubai guide has the walking order and the stations.
Day 3: Abu Dhabi in one organised loop
The Abu Dhabi city tour collects you at 8:00 AM — be in the lobby, and expect an earlier pickup from Sharjah or the far ends of Dubai, since those guests are first on the route. The drive down the E11 takes 1.5-2 hours, and the day is built so the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque comes first, with a 40-minute stop before the midday heat and the crowds; registration assistance is included. Then the BAPS Hindu Mandir, the first traditional stone Hindu temple in the region, a drive along the 8 km Corniche with a photo stop at Emirates Palace, Bedouin history at Heritage Village, a Ferrari World photo op on Yas Island with a lunch stop at Yas Mall, and the Dates Market before the return to Dubai.
It is $45 per person for the shared tour — transport, a licensed guide and bottled water, with all the sites on the route free to enter — and there is no prepayment. Families and groups of up to 7 can take the same day as a private VIP car with a flexible schedule for $245. Two rules decide whether the day goes smoothly: the dress code, which is mandatory at the mosque and the temple — women in loose clothes covering ankles and wrists plus a headscarf, men with shoulders and knees covered — and a physical or digital copy of your passport or Emirates ID for security checks. Leave large suitcases at the hotel; Abu Dhabi is 2-3 degrees hotter than Dubai, so drink the water on board.
The stop-by-stop version, with what a self-drive or bus day costs against it, is in Abu Dhabi in one day from Dubai. Note the calendar: the mosque's prayer halls can be restricted during Friday prayers, and the Mandir is closed on Mondays, so if your day 3 falls on a Friday or a Monday, consider swapping it with day 4.
Day 4: a slow morning, then the desert
After two early starts, the morning is a beach — JBR, Kite Beach or Sunset Beach with Burj Al Arab in the frame — or the hotel pool, or the Museum of the Future (about AED 150; it sells out on weekends, so book ahead) if you would rather spend the cool hours indoors on Sheikh Zayed Road. Eat lightly at lunch: the dune bashing is rough on a full stomach, and the safari asks you to avoid a heavy meal 2-3 hours before pickup.
The full-day desert safari collects you at the hotel in the afternoon in an air-conditioned 4x4 — anywhere in Dubai, and in Sharjah and Ajman — and drives 45-60 minutes to the Lahbab desert. Dune bashing first, 30-45 minutes on the Big Red dunes with the driver adjusting the intensity to the group; then sandboarding, the optional quad bike or buggy, and the camel ride and falcon photos as the light turns gold. After sunset Al Khayma camp takes over: henna, the shisha station, a BBQ buffet with vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, unlimited water, soft drinks, tea and Arabic coffee, then the fire show, Tanoura and belly dance in air-conditioned tents, and the drive back late in the evening.
From $45 per person, $65 with the 30-minute quad bike ride, no prepayment — the date is agreed on WhatsApp and paid on the day. Sandals or shoes you can empty of sand, sunglasses, a hat and, between December and February, a light jacket for the camp. Not recommended for pregnant women, people with back or heart problems or infants under 3; children over 5 tend to enjoy it most.
Day 5: the Palm, JBR and the sunset from the water
The last full day moves south-west along the coast so it ends at the yacht pier. In the morning take a taxi to Palm Jumeirah — 12-15 km and 20-30 minutes from the Marina (about AED 35-50), 25 km and 25-35 minutes from Downtown (about AED 50-70) — and choose one: The View at The Palm on the 52nd floor (about AED 70-100) for the shape of the island, or Aquaventure at Atlantis if the family would rather have a waterpark day. The Palm Monorail connects the Gateway station at the base of the trunk with Atlantis in about 15 minutes, roughly AED 20-30 return; Palm West Beach is the stroll afterwards.
The afternoon is JBR: The Beach and The Walk, the sand, and the footbridge across to Bluewaters Island for the Ain Dubai photo with the wheel filling the frame. Then the sunset. Check in 20 minutes before departure at the marina pier on Level P of Al Majara Tower, Dubai Marina, with an original passport or Emirates ID; shoes come off to protect the decks. The shared yacht tour runs the Marina canal, JBR and Bluewaters with a photo stop in front of Ain Dubai and comes back along the skyline — from $32, full prepayment, because the hourly slots sell out.
If everyone in the group is 21+, the Dubai Marina yacht party is the last night: boarding 8:30 PM at the same pier, departure 9 PM sharp, four hours with a live DJ, a live BBQ and unlimited soft drinks past the Palm lagoon and Burj Al Arab, $99 paid in advance, original ID mandatory. For a family or a group of up to 12 who want the sunset to themselves, a private charter replaces the shared hour: the 48 ft Orion is from AED 800 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, captain, crew, fuel, water and ice included, and the yacht is confirmed with the marina before you pay anything.
Budget for five days (per person, without hotel and meals)
The table adds up the plan above. Third-party tickets and fares change by day and season, so treat them as budgets and check the official sites before you go; our tour prices are the ones on the tour pages.
| Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Silver Nol card and rides | About AED 25 plus AED 3-7.5 per ride | Downtown day, Old Dubai evening, the Marina |
| Taxis | About AED 100-120 in total | Downtown to Marina AED 50-70; Marina to the Palm AED 35-50 |
| Burj Khalifa At the Top | From $55 | Sky Views is the cheaper alternative |
| Abra across the Creek | AED 1-2 | Twice if you cross back |
| The View at The Palm and the monorail | About AED 90-130 | Or Aquaventure for a full day |
| Sunrise hot air balloon | $275 | 4-5 hours door to door, breakfast included, 30% deposit |
| Abu Dhabi city tour | $45 shared ($245 private car for up to 7) | 9 hours, guide and water included, no prepayment |
| Full-day desert safari | $45 ($65 with the quad bike) | 7 hours, dinner and shows included, no prepayment |
| Shared yacht hour | From $32 | Full prepayment; slots sell out |
| Museum of the Future | About AED 150 | Optional |
| Yacht party | $99 | Optional, 21+, full prepayment |
The core plan comes to roughly $530 per person in tours, tickets and transport; with the Museum of the Future and the yacht party it is about $670. Hotel and food by area and by budget are in how much a Dubai trip costs.
Pacing: what to swap, drop or add
The order can flex around your flights and the calendar. If you land late on day 1, push Downtown to the evening of day 4 in place of the beach morning, and keep the balloon on day 2 only if you can sleep before it. If day 3 falls on a Friday or a Monday, swap Abu Dhabi and the desert. If the balloon is cancelled for wind, the refund or new date is automatic; the free morning becomes a beach or a mall, and the flight moves to day 4 or day 5 with the safari or the yacht shifting a day.
- Short on money: drop the paid Burj Khalifa ticket (Burj Park and the Fountain are free) and the Museum of the Future before you drop any of the four tours; the balloon is the one splurge, and it is the morning people remember.
- Short on energy: the balloon and the desert can share a day — fly at dawn, ride the dunes from the afternoon — which frees a whole day for the beach; most guests prefer them apart.
- Travelling with children: the balloon has a minimum age of 7; under that, give the family the morning at Aquaventure instead and keep the safari, where children over 5 enjoy it most, and the shared yacht hour, which has life jackets for all sizes.
- Two more days: the 7-day itinerary adds beach days, Hatta or Sharjah and a longer private yacht afternoon, and the month you travel changes every timing — see best time to visit Dubai.
FAQ
Is 5 days enough for Dubai and Abu Dhabi?
Yes. Five days covers Downtown, Old Dubai, the 7-hour desert safari, the coast with a sunset yacht hour, the 9-hour Abu Dhabi day from an 8:00 AM pickup and the sunrise balloon. Budget roughly $530 per person for tours, tickets and transport, plus hotel and meals, and expect two early starts and one late night.
What order should I do the tours in?
Balloon on day 2, Abu Dhabi on day 3, the desert safari on day 4, the yacht at sunset on day 5. The balloon goes early so a weather cancellation can be rebooked later in the week; Abu Dhabi needs an 8:00 AM start; the safari finishes late and should never be the night before a flight or a pre-dawn pickup.
Can I do the balloon and the desert safari on the same day?
Yes. The balloon has you back at the hotel by mid-morning after a 4-5 hour outing, and the safari picks up in the afternoon for 7 hours, so the two fit in one day with a rest between. It frees a day for the beach, but it is a long day; on a 5-day trip we keep them apart.
How much does 5 days in Dubai cost per person?
About $530 per person in tours, tickets and transport for the plan above: the balloon $275, Abu Dhabi $45, the desert safari from $45, the shared yacht hour from $32, Burj Khalifa from $55, The View at The Palm and the monorail, a Nol card and a few taxis. Add the Museum of the Future and the yacht party and it is about $670; hotel and meals are on top.
What do I need for the Abu Dhabi day?
Be in the lobby for the 8:00 AM pickup, earlier from Sharjah or remote parts of Dubai. Dress for the mosque and the temple — women in loose clothes covering ankles and wrists with a headscarf, men with shoulders and knees covered — and carry a physical or digital copy of your passport or Emirates ID. No large suitcases in the vehicle; bottled water is provided.
Where should I stay for a 5-day trip?
Downtown or Business Bay for the metro and the central pickups, or the Marina and JBR for the beach and a walk to the yacht pier. The balloon, the Abu Dhabi tour and the desert safari all collect you at any Dubai hotel, so the choice only changes days 1 and 5: Downtown is one Red Line ride from the Marina, 25 km and 25-40 minutes by taxi.
When should I book the tours for a 5-day trip?
The balloon first: a 30% deposit confirms it and the baskets sell out 1-2 weeks ahead, earlier around Eid and in late December. The shared yacht hour and the yacht party are paid in advance and the slots sell out, so book them once the dates are fixed. The desert safari and the Abu Dhabi day are agreed on WhatsApp with no prepayment and can move if plans change.
Recommended Dubai tours for this guide
Full-Day Desert Safari in Dubai
It is the slow-travel version of the classic safari: more time on the dunes, sunset without the crowds and a full evening programme at a premium camp with air-conditioned tents, unlimited drinks and a large BBQ buffet with vegetarian and gluten-free options. Everything is arranged from the hotel door — a licensed English-speaking driver, the 4x4, the camp and the shows.
- Duration
- 7 hours
- Area
- Lahbab Desert, Dubai
- Format
- Full-day desert safari
- Best for
- families, couples and first-time desert visitors who want the full evening programme
From $45 per person No prepayment
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Abu Dhabi City Tour from Dubai
It is the classic capital day in one organised loop: the mosque before the midday heat and crowds, the newly opened BAPS Mandir, the skyline from the Corniche, Bedouin history at Heritage Village and a photo op at Ferrari World. Transport, a licensed guide, mosque registration assistance and bottled water are included; the $45 shared tour covers all free-entry sites, and a private VIP car for up to 7 people is $245.
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Sunrise Hot Air Balloon in Dubai
It is the desert from above at first light: gazelles, oryx and camels in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, the Hajar Mountains on the horizon and the dunes turning gold. After landing a vintage Land Rover or SUV takes you to a private Bedouin camp for a gourmet breakfast (veg and non-veg options), a short camel ride and a falcon photo, and every guest gets an electronic flight certificate signed by the pilot.
- Duration
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- Area
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From $275 per person 30% deposit
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Photos: Old Dubai on the evening of day 2 — Radosław Botev, CC BY 3.0 pl (Wikimedia Commons).