Dubai is a 60 km line of districts along the coast, and the right transport depends on where on that line you are going. The Metro Red Line covers the Sheikh Zayed Road corridor (airport, Downtown, Mall of the Emirates, the Marina) for AED 3-7.5 a trip; taxis and Careem cover everything else at about AED 2 per km; the tram handles the Marina and JBR; buses are for other emirates. For the desert, Abu Dhabi and the balloon you need none of it, because our tours collect you at the hotel. Here is what to use for which trip, with the fares and timings.
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.
What is the best way to get around Dubai?
The Metro Red Line for anything along Sheikh Zayed Road, which means the airport, Downtown, Mall of the Emirates and the Marina, at AED 3-7.5 a trip, and taxis or Careem for the rest at about AED 2 per km with a minimum of around AED 12. The tram covers the Marina and JBR. For the desert, Abu Dhabi and the balloon, book a tour with hotel pickup: ours start from $45.
This guide also answers:
- How much does a taxi cost in Dubai?
- Do I need a Nol card in Dubai?
- What time does the Dubai Metro stop running?
The six ways to move around Dubai, ranked by usefulness
#1
Metro Red Line
The spine of the city. One line runs from the airport terminals through Deira, Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Business Bay and Mall of the Emirates to the two Marina stations (DMCC and Sobha Realty) and on towards Expo City, every 3-7 minutes, for AED 3-7.5 a trip on a Silver Nol card. No traffic, air-conditioned stations, and the fastest way between Downtown and the Marina at rush hour.
#2
Taxi, Careem and Uber
Cream RTA taxis are metered at about AED 5 flag fall and about AED 2 per km, with a minimum of around AED 12; Careem and Uber cost about the same or slightly more and remove the address problem. Downtown to the Marina is about AED 50-70 without traffic. Every taxi takes cards, and the local tip is simply to round up.
#3
Dubai Tram
Eleven stops threading the Marina and JBR, with interchanges to the Red Line at DMCC and Sobha Realty and a stop at the Palm Jumeirah gateway where the monorail starts. It is slow, but it stops right at The Walk and the beach, and it is the sensible way from the Metro to a JBR hotel or the yacht pier without a taxi queue.
#4
Palm Monorail and the abra
The monorail runs from the Gateway station at the base of the Palm trunk, next to the tram stop, to Atlantis Aquaventure in about 15 minutes for roughly AED 20-30 return. The abra crosses the Creek between the Textile Souk and the Deira souks in a few minutes for AED 1-2, the cheapest ride in the city and one of the best.
#5
Buses
City buses are slow and stop-heavy, so visitors rarely need them inside Dubai. The intercity routes are the exception: E100 and E101 to Abu Dhabi in about 2 hours for around AED 25, the E303, E306 and E307 to Sharjah for about AED 10, the E16 to Hatta in around 2 hours, and the F55 from DWC airport to Ibn Battuta Metro station.
#6
Hotel pickup with our tours
The Lahbab dunes, the Grand Mosque and the balloon launch site are 45 minutes to 2 hours out of the city, with no rail option and no taxi waiting for the way back. Our desert safari, Abu Dhabi day and sunrise balloon include door-to-door pickup, so the transport question disappears: you name the hotel on WhatsApp and the vehicle is in the lobby.
Which transport for which trip: the short answer
Use the Metro whenever both ends of your trip sit on the Sheikh Zayed Road corridor: the airport, Deira, Downtown and the Dubai Mall, Business Bay, Mall of the Emirates, the Marina and JLT, Expo City. It costs AED 3-7.5 a trip, runs every 3-7 minutes and ignores the traffic that turns a 25-minute drive into a 55-minute one at 6 PM.
Use a taxi or Careem for everything else: the beaches, Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab, the Palm, Old Dubai after the last train, hotel-to-restaurant hops, and any time you are three or more people or carrying luggage, when the fare per head drops below the Metro's. Add the tram for the last mile in the Marina and JBR, and forget city buses unless you are leaving the emirate.
For the desert, Abu Dhabi and the balloon, book the transport with the trip. Our full-day desert safari collects you at your hotel in an air-conditioned 4x4, the Abu Dhabi city tour picks up at 8:00 AM, and the sunrise balloon has a pre-dawn pickup anywhere in Dubai city. None of the three can be done sensibly by public transport.
| Trip | Best option | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DXB airport to Downtown | Metro Red Line from Terminal 1 or 3 | Allow about 40 min with the walk | AED 5-7.5 plus the Nol card |
| DXB airport to the Marina or JBR with luggage | Taxi | 35-50 min | About AED 80-110 |
| Downtown to Dubai Marina | Metro at rush hour, taxi in the evening | Metro about 40 min door to door; taxi 25-40 min | AED 5-7.5; taxi AED 50-70 |
| Marina to JBR Beach | Tram or walk | 10-20 min | One tram fare, or free |
| Marina to Atlantis, the Palm | Taxi, or tram plus monorail | 20-30 min by taxi | AED 35-50; monorail about AED 20-30 return |
| Downtown to Old Dubai (Al Fahidi, the souks) | Red Line to BurJuman, then the Green Line | Allow about 30 min | AED 5-7.5 |
| Dubai to Abu Dhabi | Our tour with pickup, or bus E100/E101 | 1.5-2 h by road; bus about 2 h | Tour from $45; bus about AED 25 |
| Dubai to the Lahbab desert | Our safari 4x4 from the hotel | 45-60 min | From $45, transport included |
Third-party fares and times are approximate and assume light traffic; check the RTA S'hail app or your taxi app for live prices.
How Dubai is laid out, and why it decides your transport
Dubai runs more than 60 km along the coast, and almost everything a visitor wants sits in a line. From north-east to south-west: Deira and Bur Dubai with the Creek (Old Dubai and the souks), the Jumeirah beaches and Burj Al Arab, Downtown and Business Bay inland along Sheikh Zayed Road, Palm Jumeirah off the coast, then Dubai Marina, JBR and Bluewaters, Jebel Ali, and finally Expo City and DWC airport at the far end.
Two consequences follow. First, distances are bigger than the skyline suggests: Downtown to the Marina is about 25 km, the airport to the Marina about 35 km, and the wrong hotel choice means an hour of commuting every day. Second, the Red Line runs down that same line, so the Metro is unusually useful for a city built around cars: one ticket covers the airport, Downtown, the big malls and the Marina.
The road network has its own clock. Sheikh Zayed Road jams from 7 to 9:30 AM and 5 to 8 PM, adding 15-30 minutes to a Downtown-Marina drive; Friday and Saturday evenings clog Downtown and the Marina; and the Dubai Mall car parks lock up around the Fountain shows after 6 PM. Plan the Metro for those windows and taxis for the rest.
The Metro: Red Line for the sights, Green Line for Old Dubai
The Red Line is the tourist line. From Centrepoint on the Rashidiya side it passes through the airport (stations at Terminals 1 and 3), Deira, Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Business Bay, Mall of the Emirates, the two Marina and JLT stations (DMCC and Sobha Realty) and Jabal Ali, with a branch to Expo City. The Green Line loops through Deira and Bur Dubai: Al Ras for the Gold Souk, Baniyas Square, Al Fahidi for the old quarter, Al Ghubaiba for the bus station and the abra. The two lines meet at BurJuman and Union.
Trains run from about 5 AM to midnight or 1 AM depending on the day, with a later start on Sundays (around 8 AM), every 3-7 minutes. The first carriage is split between Gold Class (double the fare, leather seats, usually half empty) and a women-and-children section; the rest is standard. Station sponsor names change every few years, so navigate by the area: DMCC is the Marina and JLT stop whatever the sign says this season.
One honest caveat: the stations sit on the highway, not at your door. Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall is a 10-15 minute walk to the mall along the air-conditioned Metro Link bridge with travelators, and most Marina hotels are a tram ride or a 10-minute walk from DMCC. In summer that last kilometre is the argument for a taxi. From the airport the Metro is still the cheapest way in, and the DXB to Downtown route shows exactly where the walk is; the station-by-station version of the whole network is in our Dubai Metro guide for tourists.
The Nol card: sort it on day one
You need a Nol card for the Metro, the tram and every bus; there is no cash fare on board. The sensible buy is the Silver card, about AED 25 including AED 19 of credit, sold at station ticket offices and machines and topped up the same way. The red paper ticket (about AED 2 plus the fare, loaded with 1-10 trips) only makes sense for a single ride or two.
Fares are by zone: roughly AED 3 for one zone, AED 5 for two and AED 7.5 for three or more on a Silver card, double in Gold Class. The airport to the Marina is the top fare; the Marina to Downtown is two to three zones. Tap in at the gate and tap out at the far end, otherwise the system charges the maximum. Check the current fares in the RTA S'hail app before you travel.
| Ticket or fare | About | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Silver Nol card | AED 25 | Includes AED 19 credit; Metro, tram and buses |
| Red paper ticket | AED 2 plus the fare | 1-10 trips; only worth it for a single ride |
| 1 zone | AED 3 | A short hop of a few stations |
| 2 zones | AED 5 | Airport to Downtown; Downtown to the Marina is 2-3 zones |
| 3 or more zones | AED 7.5 | Airport to the Marina, the top standard fare |
| Gold Class | Double the standard fare | First carriage, leather seats, a guaranteed seat at rush hour |
Fares are approximate; the RTA adjusts them from time to time.
Taxis, Careem, Uber and Hala
Dubai's cream RTA taxis are everywhere, metered and honest. Flag fall is about AED 5 (about AED 25 when you start from an airport taxi rank), then about AED 2 per km, with a minimum fare of around AED 12. Cars with pink roofs are ladies' taxis with women drivers. Every taxi takes cards, and the polite tip is to round up the fare.
Careem and Uber both work in Dubai at similar or slightly higher prices than the meter, with the advantage that the driver already has the address and the fare is fixed in the app; Hala, inside the Careem app, books an ordinary street taxi at meter rates. Install one of them before you land; the apps guide covers the set-up and the other apps worth having.
Typical fares without traffic: DXB to Downtown about AED 40-60, DXB to the Marina or JBR AED 80-110, Downtown to the Marina AED 50-70, the Marina to Atlantis AED 35-50, Downtown to the Palm AED 50-70, and Dubai to Abu Dhabi AED 250-350 one way. Sharjah is AED 40-80 plus a small inter-emirate surcharge. Our taxi and Careem guide has the full fare table, the surcharges and the situations where a taxi is the wrong choice.
Tram, monorail and abra: the short rides
The Dubai Tram has 11 stops along Al Sufouh Road, through Dubai Marina and JBR. It interchanges with the Red Line at DMCC and Sobha Realty, stops at the Palm Jumeirah gateway where the monorail starts, and puts you at The Walk and JBR Beach. It is not fast, but it is the answer to 'how do I get from the Metro to my JBR hotel', and it runs on the same Nol card.
The Palm Monorail climbs the Palm trunk from the Gateway station beside the tram stop to Atlantis Aquaventure in about 15 minutes, roughly AED 20-30 return, with views down the fronds you cannot get from a taxi. The abra is the opposite end of the scale: a wooden boat across the Creek between Bur Dubai and Deira, a few minutes long, AED 1-2, and the best AED 2 you will spend in the city.
The Marina's own water option is the yacht pier behind Al Majara Tower. The 1-hour shared yacht tour from $32 leaves hourly from Level P of the tower, reached from DMCC station by tram, a short taxi or a walk, with check-in 20 minutes before departure; the yacht party boards at the same pier at 8:30 PM for the 9 PM sailing, and Marina Mall next door gives three hours of free parking if you do drive. Directions are in how to get to the yacht pier.
Buses: only for leaving the emirate
Inside the city, buses lose to the Metro on speed and to taxis on convenience, so most visitors never board one. The intercity routes are different. The E100 from Al Ghubaiba in Bur Dubai and the E101 from Ibn Battuta on the Marina side run to Abu Dhabi Central bus station roughly every 20-30 minutes, take about 2 hours and cost around AED 25 on a Nol card. The catch is the far end: the Grand Mosque and the Corniche are a further taxi or local bus from the station.
Sharjah is served by the E303, E306 and E307 from Union, Al Ghubaiba and Deira City Centre for about AED 10, Hatta by the E16 from the Deira side in around 2 hours for about AED 10-15, and DWC airport by the F55 to Ibn Battuta Metro station, the only public link from that airport. The DWC options are compared in DWC to Dubai Marina, Downtown and the Palm.
For Abu Dhabi, compare the bus with our Abu Dhabi city tour from Dubai. From $45 per person, about AED 165, you get the 8:00 AM hotel pickup, a licensed guide, the Grand Mosque with registration help, the BAPS Mandir, the Corniche, Heritage Village and Yas Island, and the drive home; the bus is about AED 50 return, and every stop in Abu Dhabi is then a taxi on top. There is no prepayment: you agree the date on WhatsApp and pay on the day.
The trips where the transport is included
Three of the best days out of Dubai have no public transport at all, and they are the ones we run with the pickup built in. The full-day desert safari (7 hours, from $45, or $65 with the 30-minute quad bike) collects you at your hotel or apartment in Dubai, Sharjah or Ajman in an air-conditioned 4x4, drives 45-60 minutes to the Lahbab Red Dunes and brings you back after the camp dinner and shows. The Abu Dhabi day covers the 140 km each way with a licensed guide, and the sunrise balloon ($275, 4-5 hours door to door) collects you before dawn from anywhere in Dubai city. The balloon sells out one to two weeks ahead, so that is the booking to make first.
The safari and the Abu Dhabi day need no prepayment: you agree the date and the pickup point on WhatsApp and pay on the day. The yacht cruises are the exception, paid in advance because the slots sell out, and they are the ones you do reach by Metro and tram. If you are laying out a whole trip, the free SB AI planner places these days on the Dubai map so the transport between them makes sense.
One last local habit: between 5 and 8 PM add 15-30 minutes to whatever the map says, and if you are meeting a boat or a pickup, take the Metro for the long leg and a taxi for the last kilometre. Dubai's distances are honest; its rush hour is not.
FAQ
What is the best way to get around Dubai?
The Metro Red Line for anything along Sheikh Zayed Road, which means the airport, Downtown, Mall of the Emirates and the Marina, at AED 3-7.5 a trip, and taxis or Careem for the rest at about AED 2 per km with a minimum of around AED 12. The tram covers the Marina and JBR. For the desert, Abu Dhabi and the balloon, book a tour with hotel pickup: ours start from $45.
How much does a taxi cost in Dubai?
About AED 5 flag fall (AED 25 from an airport rank), then about AED 2 per km, with a minimum fare of around AED 12. Typical rides without heavy traffic: DXB to Downtown AED 40-60, Downtown to the Marina AED 50-70, DXB to the Marina AED 80-110. Cards are accepted in every taxi, and rounding up is the normal tip.
Do I need a Nol card in Dubai?
Yes, for the Metro, the tram and the buses; there is no cash fare on board. Buy a Silver Nol card for about AED 25 (AED 19 of credit included) at any station, tap in and out, and top it up at the machines. Taxis do not use it: they take cash and cards.
Does Uber work in Dubai?
Yes. Uber and Careem both operate in Dubai at similar or slightly higher prices than the metered street taxi, and Hala inside the Careem app books a regular RTA taxi at meter rates. Install one before you land so the airport ride and the first evening are one tap, then use the meter taxis freely: they are plentiful and honest.
What time does the Dubai Metro stop running?
Around midnight or 1 AM depending on the day, with the first trains at about 5 AM and a later start on Sundays, around 8 AM. Trains come every 3-7 minutes. After the last train, taxis are the only option, and they are easy to find outside the malls and hotels.
Can I get around Dubai without renting a car?
Easily. Between the Metro, the tram, taxis at about AED 2 per km and the apps, a visitor never needs a car, and parking around Downtown and the Marina is the hardest part of driving here anyway. The only trips that need a vehicle are the desert, Abu Dhabi and the balloon, and our tours include the pickup for those.
How do I get from my hotel to the desert safari?
You do not need to: the 4x4 comes to you. Our full-day desert safari collects guests at hotels and apartments in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, drives 45-60 minutes to the Lahbab Red Dunes and returns after the camp dinner and shows, from $45 per person with no prepayment. The Abu Dhabi day and the sunrise balloon include the pickup as well.
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
View tour
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.
- Duration
- 9 hours
- Area
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Format
- Full-day guided city tour (shared or private)
- Best for
- families, seniors and first-time visitors who want the capital's landmarks in one day
From $45 per person No prepayment
View tour
Dubai Marina Shared Yacht Tour
It is the most stylish way to see the skyline without paying for a private charter: a premium yacht with spacious decks and 5-star hospitality, a red carpet at the pier and the crew helping with photos against JBR and Ain Dubai. Full pre-payment secures your slot — the hourly departures sell out — and the yacht leaves strictly on time.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Area
- Dubai Marina
- Format
- Shared 1-hour sightseeing cruise
- Best for
- families, couples and anyone who wants the Marina skyline from the water without a private charter
From $32 per person Full prepayment
View tour📚 Keep reading
Photos: Dubai Tram — Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0, Palm Monorail and the abra — trolvag, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).