Do I need cash in Dubai?

Barely. Cards work almost everywhere in Dubai, including in every official taxi. But there are four specific places where cash is still the only thing that works, and one of them costs a single dirham.

Where you will actually need it

• The abra across Dubai Creek — AED 1, handed to the driver once you are aboard. There is no card reader on a wooden boat, and this is the cheapest good thing in the city. How the abra works →
• Haggling in the souks. Cash gives you a position that a card does not, and the smallest stalls in the Spice Souk often prefer it outright.
• The smallest cafeterias. Most now take cards, but not all, and these are exactly the places where a meal costs AED 15 — see eating well for under AED 30.
• Extras at a desert camp. Camel photos, henna and the like are usually cash — the desert safari guide covers which extras are worth it.

Where you will not

Official taxis all take cards. So do malls, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, attraction ticket desks, the Metro ticket counter, and petrol stations. Contactless is standard.

Getting dirhams

Use the ATMs inside the airport terminal rather than an exchange counter — the rate is better. There is no need to arrive with dirhams; nothing on the way out of the airport requires them, since the taxi rank takes cards and the Metro counter does too.

How much to carry

AED 100–200 covers a day of everything above with room to spare. That is not a security precaution — street crime here is very low and residents routinely leave phones on café tables — it is simply that you will rarely reach for it.

More of what surprises first-time visitors is in first time in Dubai.

Verified August 2026. See our editorial policy.