Guide · 6 minute read
The best free swimming in Dubai is at Kite Beach and Umm Suqeim for facilities, Al Mamzar for quiet, and Umm Suqeim 1 for night swimming, which is lit and lifeguarded until midnight. The calmest water of all is off a boat inside the Palm Jumeirah crescent.
Published
JBR (The Beach) and Kite Beach are the two most-used public beaches in the city and both are free. They have showers, changing rooms, lifeguards, food and parking, and on a Friday afternoon in February they are packed. If you want facilities and do not mind people, these are the ones.
Marina Beach sits just north of JBR and is marginally quieter for the same water. La Mer and Jumeirah Beach Residence both charge for parking but have more shade.
Al Mamzar Beach Park in Deira is the least-known good beach in Dubai. It charges a few dirhams to enter, which is exactly why it is empty, and it has five separate beaches, grass, trees and proper shade.
Black Palace Beach — the one people call the secret beach or the hidden beach — sits between the Palm and Burj Al Arab, reached down an unmarked track off Al Sufouh Road. There are no facilities whatsoever, which is the point. Bring water and take everything away with you.
Umm Suqeim 2 and 3 are quieter than Kite Beach for the same stretch of coast and have the better view of the Burj Al Arab.
Umm Suqeim 1 is Dubai's lit night-swimming beach: floodlights over the water, lifeguards on duty until around midnight, and free entry. It is genuinely one of the better things to do in Dubai in summer, when the daytime sea is too warm to be refreshing.
Swimming at night on unlit beaches is not permitted and not sensible. Stick to the lit stretch.
Most Dubai public beaches do not allow dogs. The exception people mean by 'dog beach' is the unofficial stretch near Jumeirah 3, close to the Umm Suqeim end, where dogs swim off-lead. It has no facilities and no lifeguard, and its status has shifted more than once, so check locally before making the drive.
The flattest, cleanest water anywhere near Dubai is inside the Palm Jumeirah crescent, and you can only get to it by boat. The crescent breaks the swell so the water sits still even when the open sea is choppy, and there is nobody else in it.
Any private charter of three hours or more includes a swim stop with a ladder, snorkels and floating mats. It is the single best thing about a half-day charter and the reason not to book only two hours.
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.