A Dubai Fountain boat ride: the lake, and what you see

What the Dubai Fountain boat ride actually is

A small traditional-style abra takes a handful of passengers across Burj Lake while the fountain is running, putting you inside the arc of the water rather than looking at it from a railing. It is a crossing rather than a cruise: the lake is a few hundred metres across, and the ride is timed around a single show.

Tickets are sold at kiosks on the lakeside near Dubai Mall's waterfront promenade and at Souk Al Bahar. There is more than one boat type at more than one price, and the difference is the boat rather than the view.

Book on the day, in person, and go for a mid-evening show. The 6pm and the 11pm are the quietest; the ones between about 7.30 and 9.30 are the ones everybody wants.

Why no charter boat can get there

This is the single most common misunderstanding about Downtown, and it is worth stating plainly. Burj Lake is an artificial basin built as part of the Downtown development, thirty hectares of water with no channel to the Gulf, no lock, and no route in or out for a vessel of any size.

So there is no yacht charter, no dhow cruise and no boat tour anywhere in Dubai that reaches the fountain. The only boats on that water are the lake's own, and they live there.

The related and reachable thing is the Dubai Water Canal, which is a genuine waterway cut from Business Bay to the sea — that one takes boats, and it is covered in the Dubai Water Canal on foot.

The show itself

The fountain sits on Burj Lake at the foot of the Burj Khalifa and is one of the largest choreographed fountains in the world, with jets that throw water well over a hundred metres. Each show runs a few minutes to a single piece of music, and the programme rotates.

Shows run every half hour through the evening, from around six until about eleven, with a couple of afternoon shows earlier in the day. Times shift on public holidays and during Ramadan, and the fountain occasionally closes for maintenance, so it is worth a check on the day rather than a plan made a week out.

• Every 30 minutes, roughly 18:00–23:00, plus two afternoon shows.
• A few minutes each, one piece of music, rotating programme.
• Free from the promenade and the Souk Al Bahar bridge.
• Times move on public holidays and in Ramadan.

Where to stand if you do not take the boat

The Dubai Mall waterfront promenade is the obvious one and the busiest — arrive twenty minutes early for a front position at a peak show, or stand two rows back and see almost as much.

The Souk Al Bahar bridge is the better answer. It crosses the lake, it is elevated, and it gives you the fountain with the Burj Khalifa directly behind it, which is the photograph everybody is trying to take from ground level and mostly failing to.

The restaurant terraces around the lake charge for the position through the bill rather than a ticket, and they need booking well ahead for an evening show.