Downtown Dubai · Dubai

The Dubai Mall

One of the largest malls in the world by area and the busiest visitor attraction in the UAE. Free to walk into, and inside it are an aquarium with a walk-through tunnel, an Olympic ice rink, a waterfall, a dinosaur skeleton and the entrance to the Burj Khalifa.

Downtown Dubai towers rising above the Burj Lake at dusk

Why go

Free entry; the aquarium tunnel is visible from the concourse at no cost
Olympic-size ice rink and a large indoor theme park for children
Burj Khalifa entrance and the fountain promenade are both inside
Directly on the Red Line with a covered walkway from the station

Treat it as a district, not a shop

Dubai Mall is civic space as much as retail. In August it is where people walk. The aquarium's 48-metre tunnel is visible for free from the ground floor — the ticket buys you the tunnel and the underwater zoo above it — and the ice rink, the waterfall sculpture and the 155-million-year-old diplodocus skeleton cost nothing to look at.

Allow far longer than you think to cross it. The Burj Khalifa entrance is at the lower-ground level near the aquarium, and the fountain promenade runs along the back.

The other malls, briefly

Mall of the Emirates has the indoor ski slope and is easier to navigate. Ibn Battuta is themed by region and is the most interesting building of the three. Dubai Outlet Village and Dubai Outlet Mall, out on the Al Ain road, are where last season's stock goes at 30–80% off and are worth the drive if you are actually shopping rather than sightseeing.

The Dubai Mall, answered

Which is the best mall in Dubai?

Dubai Mall for scale and for everything attached to it. Mall of the Emirates if you actually want to shop without walking five kilometres. Ibn Battuta if you want the building to be the reason you went.

Do you have to pay to see the Dubai Aquarium?

No, not to see it. The 750,000-litre tank is visible from the mall concourse for free. The ticket buys the walk-through tunnel and the Underwater Zoo above it.