Christmas in Dubai with kids: the 2026 guide
Festive markets, tree lightings, ice and snow: where families spend December in Dubai, and what to book early.
School breaks in mid-December and half of Dubai gets on a plane. The other half discovers that Christmas in Dubai with kids is, quietly, rather wonderful.
The weather is the best of the year. The evenings are cool enough for a jumper. There are Christmas trees on bridges, markets by the water, ice rinks in shopping malls and, if you know where to look, real snow. And because so many people fly home, the places that are packed in November can be surprisingly calm by the twentieth.
This is our guide to where families spend December in Dubai: the festive markets, the tree lightings, the ice and the snow, and a few quieter ideas. One honest note first. The 2026 dates for most of these are usually confirmed in November, so where we give details below they are last year’s, from the 2025 season, and we will update this guide as the new ones are announced. Check before you go.
Before you go: a few practical things
Go late in the day. Most festive markets open in the afternoon and come into their own after dark, when the lights go on. Arriving around four gives you daylight for the little ones and lights for everyone.
Bring a layer. December evenings by the water can be genuinely cool. A cardigan for each child saves a lot of complaining at eight o’clock.
Weekends are busy. Friday to Sunday draws crowds everywhere; a weekday evening in the week before Christmas is the calmest time to see the big markets with small children.
Free entry doesn’t mean free. Many markets are free to walk into, with rides, workshops and food paid for separately. Set a budget, or a number of rides, before you arrive.
Book what books out. Santa visits, workshops and anything with limited tickets tend to go early in December. If a child has their heart set on something, book it as soon as dates are released.
A stroller, not a carrier. Most of these involve more walking than you expect, and a buggy doubles as somewhere to put the shopping.
01
Madinat Jumeirah Festive Market
The one most Dubai families would name first. Every December, Fort Island at Madinat Jumeirah turns into a Christmas market by the canals, with a towering tree, stalls, seasonal food and a lot for children to do. In 2025 it ran from 5 to 31 December, with free entry and paid activities including a North Pole train, a four-lane bungee, a Venetian carousel and gingerbread house decorating.
In 2025 it opened from 3pm on weekdays and from noon at weekends. Go as the sun sets, when the tree lights up over the canal.
02
Madinat after dark, and an abra ride with Santa
Once the market is done, the canals are worth staying for. The waterways around Madinat are lit at night, the air is cool, and there are plenty of places to eat within a short walk. In 2025, children could take an abra ride with Santa around the canals, which is about as Dubai a Christmas experience as exists.
If you have younger children, eat early and walk the canals afterwards; the lights do the work of keeping everyone awake.
03
Winter City at Expo City Dubai
Winter City takes over Al Wasl Plaza at Expo City Dubai each December, with a market, workshops, live entertainment and seasonal food. In 2025 it ran from 6 to 31 December, opening from 4pm, with tickets at Dhs50 and children under three free, and a themed area for younger children with crafts and games.
The best moment is the evening tree lighting, which in 2025 happened every night, with one guest chosen to light the tree. Sit a child on your shoulders for it.
04
Tree lightings around the city
Hotels and malls across Dubai light their trees in late November and early December, and many of the ceremonies are free and family-friendly. In 2025, Raffles Dubai invited everyone to its tree lighting with complimentary festive treats, and the big malls each had their own.
They make a lovely small outing for children too young for a whole market: half an hour, a countdown, a lot of lights, and home before bedtime. Watch hotel and mall social media in November for dates.
05
Downtown and the Dubai Mall
Downtown dresses up properly for Christmas. The Dubai Mall has a vast tree in the atrium most years, the boulevards fill with lights, and the Burj Khalifa glows over all of it. It is busy, but it is also the easiest festive outing in the city: parking, food and a clean bathroom are never more than a few minutes away.
Go on a weekday evening, see the tree, watch the fountains and call it a night. Children will remember the lights far longer than the queues.
06
Ice skating, and snow at Ski Dubai
Nothing feels more like Christmas to a child in the desert than ice. The Dubai Mall Ice Rink is Olympic-sized and puts on festive sessions through December, and in past years has held Christmas Eve and Christmas Day parties with visits from Santa. Skate hire is on site; small children can hold a skating aid.
For real snow, Ski Dubai at Mall of the Emirates is the obvious answer. In 2025 it ran a Winter Wonderland from 1 to 25 December. Bring gloves and a hat even though they provide jackets, and plan on the children wanting to stay far longer than you do.
07
A Christmas morning in the desert
Some of the best Dubai Christmases we have heard about happen outside the city altogether. December is the one month when a morning in the desert is comfortable from start to finish: a picnic on the dunes, a camp with a fire pit, or simply a drive out to watch the sun come up over the sand.
Take blankets, a flask of hot chocolate, a football and a Santa hat for everyone, and leave before the sun gets high. It won’t look like anyone else’s Christmas card, which is rather the point.
The smaller markets worth knowing
Beyond the big two, Dubai has a handful of smaller Christmas markets that are easier with little ones. In 2025 these included the Winter District at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, from 13 to 28 December, with live performances, games and a festive market; the Dubai Festival City Mall Christmas Market, which ran from 12 December into the new year; and the Winter Garden at Al Habtoor Palace, with food kiosks and a dedicated play area for children.
They are calmer, closer to home for many families, and very often the one the children enjoy most. Smaller markets also tend to have shorter queues for Santa, more room for a buggy, and stallholders who have time to talk to a curious five-year-old about how the decorations were made.
Christmas in Dubai with kids, week by week
December goes quickly, and the best things fill up. This is roughly how we would plan the month with children.
Late November. Watch for market dates and tree lightings, book anything with limited tickets, and get the Christmas family photographs done while everyone is still in the country and still has a tan.
The first week of December. Trees go up and the markets open. Go to the big ones on a weekday evening now, before the school holidays bring the crowds.
The second week. School finishes and flights leave. If you are staying, this is when the city starts to feel like it belongs to you: calmer markets, easier restaurant bookings and a lot of space at the ice rink.
Christmas week. Keep it small. One outing a day at most, a Christmas Eve that ends early, and a morning at home. The markets will still be there on the twenty-seventh.
If you are flying home for Christmas
Half the families we know spend December between two countries, and Christmas becomes something that happens in a suitcase. It is worth doing a little of it in Dubai before you go: put the tree up early, open one present on your last evening, and visit a market in the first week of December before the packing starts.
Take the family photographs before you leave, too. Christmas away is wonderful, but it is rarely the place to get a picture of everyone together and looking like themselves, and by the time you are back in January the moment has gone. A gallery that arrives before you fly also makes the easiest present there is for the grandparents waiting at the other end.
And pack the advent calendar. Children notice.
Christmas Day itself
Many families in Dubai have grandparents flying in, or are flying out to them, and Christmas Day becomes a question of logistics. Our advice is to protect the morning. Presents by the tree, breakfast in pyjamas and nowhere to be until lunch. If the grandparents are here, this is the photograph to take: everyone on one sofa, paper everywhere, nobody dressed yet.
For lunch, plenty of hotels and restaurants serve a traditional Christmas lunch, and they book out early, so reserve one in November if you would rather not cook. If you would rather cook, lay the table the night before and let the children decorate their end.
Family photos, before everyone flies
Every year, the Christmas photograph families mean to take gets taken in a departure hall, by a stranger, with somebody squinting. If you want a proper one, with everyone in it, including you, it needs to happen before the school break. That is exactly why our season runs in the weeks before the school break, not the week everyone actually wants.
And the best one might be at home
For all the markets and the lights, the Christmas many children remember most is the one spent in their own living room. Lay a proper table, with ideas in our festive tablescapes, and spend an afternoon baking with the children. Then sit by the tree and do nothing at all. In a city that does everything, that can be the most festive thing of the lot.
Let’s sum up
Christmas in Dubai with kids is a lot better than most people expect: markets by the water at Madinat Jumeirah, Winter City at Expo City, tree lightings across the city, ice at the Dubai Mall and snow at Ski Dubai, with the desert and your own living room in between. Go in the late afternoon, bring a layer, book the things that book out, and check this year’s dates before you set off. We will keep this guide updated as the 2026 details are announced.
Details above are from the 2025 season, as published by Jumeirah, Time Out Dubai, What’s On and Gulf News. Always check the organiser’s own website for current dates and prices.
Questions about Christmas in Dubai
Yes, widely. Hotels, malls and markets across the city put up trees and hold festive events through December, churches hold services, and many restaurants serve Christmas lunches. It is a working day for many, so plan around school and office calendars.
The most comfortable of the year. Days are warm and sunny, evenings are cool, especially by the water and in the desert. Pack a light layer for children after dark.
Usually in November. The big markets have run through most of December in recent years; we will update this guide as the 2026 dates are confirmed.
The Setup Collective builds three Christmas rooms in Dubai each season, The Forest, The Tree and The Kitchen, then photographs families in them. Candidly: nobody gets told to tuck their chin in. Who we are
