Guide · 9 minute read
Madinat Jumeirah is a resort complex behind the Burj Al Arab built around roughly three kilometres of artificial waterways, with wooden abras running through them. Souk Madinat at its centre is free to walk and open to everyone; the abra rides are for hotel guests and restaurant bookings, or bookable separately.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
A large resort development on the Jumeirah coast comprising several hotels, a souk, restaurants and about three kilometres of artificial waterways threaded between them. Everything is built in a traditional Arabian style (wind towers, timber, stone) at a scale that is unmistakably modern.
It sits directly behind the Burj Al Arab, which means the terraces along its seaward side have the best land-based view of that building anywhere in Dubai. That alone is a reason to walk through.
Wooden abras run the canals, carrying guests between the hotels, the souk and the restaurants. They are a genuinely pleasant way to move around a large complex and the routes pass through landscaped water gardens rather than along a road.
It is worth being clear that these are not the Creek abras. The Creek crossing is a working public ferry costing AED 1; the Madinat abras are a resort amenity, primarily for guests and diners, and priced accordingly when bought separately.
A covered market at the centre of the complex, free to enter and open to non-guests, with shops, restaurants and bars along timber-roofed lanes. It is a constructed souk rather than a historic one and it does not pretend otherwise.
Where it earns its place is the seaward terraces. The restaurants and bars along that side look straight across at the Burj Al Arab with the water between, and at sunset it is the best view of that building available without a boat or a hotel booking.
Both, and not as substitutes. Madinat Jumeirah is a comfortable, air-conditioned, landscaped version of an idea: good restaurants, an excellent view, easy parking, and no grit.
The Creek at Deira is the actual thing: a working port with cargo dhows loading by hand, souks that sell to residents rather than visitors, and an abra crossing for one dirham. It is hotter, busier and considerably more interesting.
If you have one evening, take the Creek. If you have an afternoon, want the Burj Al Arab view and would rather not be uncomfortable, take Madinat.
It is larger than it looks from the road and it helps to know the parts before arriving, because the signage assumes you are staying in one of the hotels.
Four hotels sit within it. Al Qasr and Mina A'Salam are the two landmarks, with Jumeirah Al Naseem on the seaward side and Dar Al Masyaf's courtyard summer houses spread through the gardens. Souk Madinat is the public centre. Wild Wadi waterpark is immediately adjacent, and the private beach runs along the seaward edge in front of the Burj Al Arab.
The public parts are the souk, its restaurants and terraces, and the walkways between them. The gardens, the waterways and the beach are for guests, though nobody polices a walk through the landscaping with any enthusiasm.
Late afternoon into sunset, without much argument. The whole reason to be here rather than anywhere else is the Burj Al Arab across the water from the souk terraces, and that view is at its best in the last hour of light and for the half hour after, when the hotel is floodlit and the sky behind it is still colouring.
Parking is at Souk Madinat and it is straightforward, which is not true of many places on this coast. It fills on weekend evenings, so arrive before six if you want a table on a terrace with the view. There is valet if you would rather not look.
Between May and September the outdoor parts are uncomfortable before about eight. The souk itself is covered and air-conditioned, so the shopping half works all year; the terraces do not.
Three kilometres of canal sounds substantial and the reality is more modest. The waterways thread between buildings and through landscaped gardens rather than running as one continuous route, and an abra journey across the complex is a matter of minutes rather than a trip.
What they do well is move people through a large resort without roads, and they are genuinely pleasant to travel on: open wooden boats, slow, quiet, passing under bridges and beside planting. As transport within a hotel complex it is a considerable improvement on a shuttle bus.
What they are not is an attraction in the way the Creek or the Water Canal are. Nobody should come to Dubai to ride the Madinat abras specifically. Come for the Burj Al Arab view, eat on a terrace, and take an abra because it is there and it is nicer than walking.
The restaurants are the main reason residents come, and there are a lot of them across the souk and the four hotels, considerably more than the souk's size suggests, because many are tucked into the hotels rather than on the public lanes.
The terraces facing the Burj Al Arab are the ones worth having and they carry a premium for it. Expect AED 200 to AED 500 a head for dinner with the view, which is Dubai resort pricing rather than a rip-off, and book for a weekend evening. The lanes inside the souk are cheaper and have no view at all, which is the trade.
For a drink rather than a meal, the bars along the seaward side are the best-value way to use this place: one drink buys you the same view a full dinner does, at sunset, from the same terrace. That is genuinely the move if the Burj Al Arab is what you came for.
Madinat sits directly inshore of the stretch of coast that every RIB tour and jet ski route runs along, which makes an obvious pairing that few people think of.
The Burj Al Arab is about fifteen minutes from Dubai Marina on a RIB at 30 knots and thirty on a charter yacht. A tour stops beneath it on the seaward side (the side you cannot see from Madinat), and then you can drive round and look at the other face from the souk terraces the same evening. Seeing the same building from both sides in one day is genuinely worth doing, and the two views are completely different.
The other pairing is the Creek, on a different day. Madinat is the constructed version and Deira is the original, and doing both makes the comparison rather than reading it. One dirham for the abra there, and considerably more for the one here.
Yes. Souk Madinat Jumeirah is open to everyone at no charge, including non-hotel guests. Only the shops, restaurants and the abra rides cost anything.
They are primarily a resort amenity for hotel guests and restaurant bookings, and can be bought separately. They are not the same as the AED 1 public abras on Dubai Creek.
The seaward terraces at Souk Madinat Jumeirah, which look straight across the water at it. At sunset it is the best view available without a boat or a hotel booking.
About three kilometres of artificial canals threaded through the resort complex, with wooden abras running between the hotels, the souk and the restaurants.
They are different things. Madinat is a comfortable constructed version with good restaurants and the best land view of the Burj Al Arab. The Creek at Deira is a working port with real souks and a one-dirham abra, and is more interesting if you only do one.
Late afternoon into sunset. The Burj Al Arab across the water from the souk terraces is the reason to be here, and it is best in the last hour of light and the half hour after, when the hotel is floodlit and the sky is still colouring.
Yes, and it is straightforward, which is not true of many places on this coast. It fills on weekend evenings, so arrive before six if you want a terrace table with the view. Valet is available.
Four: Al Qasr and Mina A'Salam are the two landmarks, Jumeirah Al Naseem sits on the seaward side, and Dar Al Masyaf's courtyard summer houses are spread through the gardens. Wild Wadi waterpark is adjacent on a separate ticket.
Leave the date and roughly how many of you there are and we will come back with the boats that are free and what each costs. No deposit at this stage.
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