Guide · 5 minute read
Dubai fires several separate displays at midnight — Burj Khalifa and Downtown, Atlantis and the Palm, and Bluewaters. From land you see one. From a boat anchored offshore you usually see two or three at once, which is the only real argument for spending New Year's Eve on the water rather than on a rooftop.
Published
Downtown's Burj Khalifa show is the famous one and the most crowded. Getting into Downtown on 31 December means booked restaurants, closed roads and a metro that stops taking passengers at the busiest stations. It is spectacular and it costs you the whole evening.
Atlantis and the Palm run their own display over the crescent, visible from a wide arc of coast and from anywhere on the water off the Palm. Bluewaters fires from the island, best seen from JBR beach or from the sea off the Marina.
JBR beach is the best free option: you get Bluewaters directly in front of you and the Palm display along the coast to the left. Arrive by early evening and expect to stay put until well after midnight, because the crowd does not disperse quickly.
Kite Beach and Umm Suqeim give you the Palm display and the Burj Al Arab lit, with fewer people. Creek Park and the Deira side give you a completely different, quieter New Year with a view of nothing much — which some people prefer.
A boat anchored a few kilometres offshore is the only way to see more than one display at the same time. The usual pattern is boarding around 19:00, running out and anchoring before the water fills up, dinner at anchor, midnight offshore, and back alongside about 01:30 — the return is slow because every boat leaves at once.
Charters on 31 December are priced per boat for the night rather than per hour, cost several times a normal evening, and are usually gone by early November. Deposits are non-refundable. If this is the plan, ask in September.
Roads around Downtown and the Marina close progressively from the afternoon. Taxis effectively stop working from about 22:00 until well after 01:00. Whatever you choose, plan how you leave before you plan where you watch.
December nights on the water are genuinely cold on deck — low twenties with wind. Everyone underestimates this and someone always ends up in a borrowed towel.
FAQ
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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.