Guide · 4 minute read
Eid is the busiest holiday in the Dubai calendar and everything on the water sells out first. Book a charter or a dinner cruise two to three weeks ahead, expect fireworks at several locations on the first evening, and treat the public beaches as full from mid-morning.
Published
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha both bring several consecutive days off across the UAE and the wider Gulf, and Dubai fills with residents who are not working and visitors who are. Restaurants, malls, beaches and boats all run at capacity.
For anything on the water this matters more than usual, because the supply is fixed — there is no way to add boats for a long weekend. Charters, dinner cruises and jet ski slots over Eid are usually gone two weeks beforehand, and sunset slots go first.
Public beaches over Eid are genuinely crowded from about ten in the morning. Being on the water rather than beside it solves that entirely: a half-day charter with a swim stop inside the Palm crescent puts you in flat, empty water while Kite Beach is standing room.
For smaller budgets, a dinner cruise is the Eid staple and there is a reason for it — it is two hours, it includes food, and at AED 99 to AED 149 a head it works for a large family group where a charter would not.
Fireworks usually run on the first evening of Eid at several points along the coast, and from a boat offshore you can often see more than one display. Charters that night book out earliest of all.
Prayer timings shift the shape of the first morning, and some venues open late. Roads around the malls and the beaches are heavy from mid-afternoon. If you are chartering, allow far more time than usual to reach the Marina.
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