We were fortunate enough to ring in 2020 in Dubai. With Dubai being one of the most Notorious NYE celebrations in the world we had to check it out for ourselves. It did prove to be the most expensive, elaborate, and grandiose NYE we have ever been a part of, but took a lot of planning, was very costly, and required a lot of walking.
We are not locals and are only able to share our thoughts on one night, but hopefully the following will help give you some background if you are considering NYE in Dubai.
Planning where to be for NYE in Dubai:
If you want to spend the evening at a nice restaurant near the Burj Khalifa downtown with any sort of view of the fireworks and light and water show prepare to spend at least $400 per person. We did pretty elaborate research to find the most affordable place with the best chance to see the show as the clock strikes midnight. Almost every restaurant offers a NYE package, most becoming available online or by phone in Mid November. We found that most places offer seating inside at a discounted price, and have a patio to offer a better view of the celebration. Almost every package we found came with unlimited house drinks and either a 5 or 6-course meal or buffet.
We ended up choosing Karma Kafe due to the affordable price (competitive with other restaurants in the area), a seat on the terrace, and unlimited house drinks with a 6-course menu.
Alternative Options:
If you are looking for a more affordable way to enjoy the evening, you could consider getting a spot at the beach and have a picnic or finding a patch of grass or a park to get a nice view of the downtown skyline from further back. The downside of being so close is that we couldn’t see the tip of the Burj or any surrounding fireworks around the city. If you are closer to the beach you can get a view of the Fireworks at the Palms as well as whatever is happening downtown (although it would be a lot farther away). Planning a picnic and doing NYE on the cheap is another quality option.
Totally unrelated, if you ever want to drink alcohol in Dubai make sure you buy liquor in the Duty-Free Section of the airport when you arrive. There are no Liquor stores to purchase drinks, and you need a license to purchase alcohol at the few places that do exist. You are forced to pay for very expensive drinks at bars or restaurants.
Preparing for NYE:
Once we placed the payment and had our reservation confirmed, we found out we needed to collect a Pass at the restaurant before Dec. 31st. This pass would allow us access to the restaurant on NYE because the whole downtown area is closed off to the crowd. Only those who reserved seats at these places surrounding the Burj are allowed inside.
We had already booked our flights a few months before making these plans and we were arriving on the 31st and we had no way to collect these passes ahead of time. Our hotel was not willing to collect them for us since they did not want to be liable. Luckily, we had a friend who recently moved to Dubai who collected them for us. If not for him, we have no idea how we would have collected those passes.
Getting Around:
They shut down the metro stop at “Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall” around 6 pm making it hard to get into the area. They also close off major roads leading into town making it very difficult to get to where you need to be.
NYE Night:
We took a taxi from our hotel and it was able to drop us on the outskirts of the barricaded downtown district. We had to walk for about 30 min around the edge until we found an entrance.
Note: The pass you will receive has a map that accurately identifies the three main gate locations. Show this to a cab driver to get as close as possible the entrance near where you need to go.
Once we arrived at the entrance, we had to fight a crowd to flash our passes and get let into the grounds. From there it was another 15 min walk to a second gate, which we were unaware of, that was not labeled and very hard to find. We only figured it out due to a crowd of people trying to sneak through the gate to get closer. Upon getting through this second checkpoint with the same pass, we proceeded to a third and final checkpoint to get to the Souk Al Bahar area where the restaurant was located. After struggling to figure out where to go, and almost 45 minutes of walking, we had arrived at 9:05 pm for our 9 pm reservation.
Once we were seated at our table on the terrace, we were initially disappointed with our view. We figured by paying as much as we did for terrace seats we would get a view of the Burj and the water show. Karma Kafe had a roof above the patio so there was no way to view the celebration outside of walking to the edge, awkwardly close to someone’s table, and peering out to catch a glimpse. After taking some pictures earlier in the night before it got too crowded we waited until midnight and enjoyed our food and drinks.
With 15 min to go, the entire restaurant cleared out and went to a viewing area within the Souk Al Bahar mall area. Because we had a terrace view we did not know how great this alternative view was and we were concerned about giving up a good view from the terrace. The remaining parties that were seated on the terrace and did not choose to walk to the viewing area were all standing towards the edge trying to get a view. There were probably 10 of us huddled around one family’s table completely ruining their experience. They were extremely nice, however, and chose to move their table out of the way so everyone could move in closer and get a nice view. This led to us having an incredible view and enjoying the moment with our drinks still in hand (which is always important).
After midnight, we enjoyed the dessert tray and hit the dance floor for a few minutes. At 2 am the bar closed and we began our excursion home.
Getting Home:
Once 2 am hit, the town was noticeably quieter and calmer. We began our walk towards the hotel and started to call an Uber when we realized the prices for Ubers were through the roof due to surge pricing. We figured we could get a cab, but they were being offered for 400-500 AED (More than $100) for a 10 min cab ride down one road. So being the frugal and stubborn group we were (Allison’s mom was with us), we began the 50 min trek back to the hotel.
We were not too happy about it, but because we just came from an all you can drink party we made the most of it and the time flew by. I have no idea how anyone staying at a hotel further away would have managed to get home that evening. You would almost be forced to have a Designated Driver and park a rental car somewhere outside the blockaded zone, but that would still require a long walk. You could also walk to a further metro stop and take that the rest of the way, but I can only imagine how crowded that would have been.
Conclusion:
Outside of the stressful walk to and from the restaurant, the 5 hours we spent at the restaurant was a great time. The food was delicious, the drinks kept coming, an acoustic musician was playing most of the night, and the view was incredible. As long as you are expecting to deal with crowds, and wear comfortable walking shoes you can make the most out of wherever you decide to spend NYE in Dubai.
