Guide · 5 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.
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.
FAQ
Check a date
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.