Is Dubai expensive?

Only if you let it be. Dubai has some of the most expensive hotels and restaurants on earth, and it also has a full day of good food for under AED 60. The city is built by people from more than 200 countries, and most of them are not eating tasting menus.

What three days actually costs

Excluding hotels and flights, budget AED 450–700 per person for three days if you eat where residents eat and use the Metro. Double that if you take taxis everywhere and eat in hotel restaurants. The gap between those two numbers is the whole answer to this question.

Real prices, checked

• Chicken shawarma — AED 8–12. More than AED 18 means you are in a tourist area.
• A full biryani or karahi with bread — AED 15–30, and the portions are large.
• Karak chai — AED 1–2 at a cafeteria window.
• A Metro trip — AED 3–7.50. A silver Nol card costs AED 25 and includes AED 19 of credit.
• The abra across the Creek — AED 1.
• Burj Khalifa — from AED 179 online, non-prime.
• A mid-tier brunch with drinks — AED 350–450 per person.

Where the cost really comes from

Not the city. It comes from three things: hotels, alcohol, and taxis. Choose a district on the Metro instead of the Palm, and the daily cost falls before you have changed anything else about the trip.

A day that costs almost nothing

Al Fahidi in the morning, the abra across the Creek for one dirham, the Gold and Spice Souks, then the Dubai Fountain in the evening from the free side of the bridge. Total: AED 1 plus about AED 12 in Metro fares and whatever you eat.

All of Dubai’s main public beaches are free and properly maintained, with showers and changing rooms. That is not true of most beach cities.

So — is it expensive?

It is as expensive as the version of it you buy. A visitor doing hotel brunches and beach clubs will spend more here than in most of Europe. A visitor eating in Karama and riding the Red Line will spend less than in most of Europe, and will see more of the actual city.

The detail is in eating well in Dubai for under AED 30, free things to do in Dubai and our costed three-day itinerary.

Prices verified August 2026. See our editorial policy.