Things to Do in Dubai · Shopping & Malls

Mall of the Emirates

The mall with a ski resort inside — luxury shopping meets real snow in the desert

Shopping & Malls ✓ Self-guided · No booking needed

📍 Location Al Barsha, Sheikh Zayed Road

🕒 Timings Daily, 10:00 AM – midnight

🎟️ Entry Fee Free — Ski Dubai ticketed separately

⏱️ Duration 3–5 hours

🌅 Best Time Weekday afternoons; Ski Dubai is quietest at opening time

🚇 Getting There Metro Red Line to Mall of the Emirates station — direct bridge into the mall

📖 About

Mall of the Emirates made world headlines when it opened with a fully-fledged indoor ski resort — and twenty years on, watching skiers carve real snow while it's 45°C outside still doesn't get old. Ski Dubai has five runs, a chairlift, a snow park, and a colony of resident king and gentoo penguins.

The mall itself is arguably Dubai's most comfortable luxury shopping experience: around 630 stores including a strong designer line-up, the upscale Fashion Dome under its glass roof, a 24-screen VOX cinema, and some of the best mall dining in the city overlooking the snow slope.

It's more manageable than The Dubai Mall — you can actually cover it in an afternoon — and the metro delivers you straight inside, which makes it the easiest big mall to reach in all of Dubai.

⭐ Highlights

Ski Dubai — indoor ski slopes, snow park and penguins
Around 630 shops under the glass-roofed Fashion Dome
Snow-view restaurants (watch skiers while you eat)
VOX Cinemas 24-screen multiplex
Direct metro bridge — no taxi needed

💡 Insider Tips

You don't need to ski: the Snow Park ticket covers sledging, the snow cinema and penguin encounters.
All winter gear except gloves is included in Ski Dubai tickets — buy gloves cheaply in the mall first.
Book penguin encounters ahead; slots are small and sell out.
Après Ski restaurant windows face the slope — the best free show in the mall.