Dubai Festival City Mall is the mall Dubai’s winter visitors find by accident and then recommend to everyone: a waterfront centre on Dubai Creek with a free laser, water and fire show every evening, a Christmas market that has become one of the biggest in the city, and none of the crowds of Downtown. It is ten minutes from the airport, has 400 shops including the largest IKEA in the Emirates, and a promenade – Festival Bay – where a December evening at 22°C with the Creek in front of you and the Burj Khalifa on the skyline behind is the whole point.
Christmas Market at Dubai Festival City Mall
Festival Bay turns into a European-style Christmas market every December – wooden chalets, mulled drinks, a giant tree, live music, a Santa’s grotto and workshops for children, all with free entry. Last season it ran from 11 December to 3 January; for 2026/27 we expect similar dates, to be confirmed by the mall. It is the best-placed market in Dubai because the IMAGINE show plays behind it every hour. Dates, programme and tips on our Christmas Market at Dubai Festival City page, and compare it with the others in Christmas markets in Dubai.
IMAGINE: the free water, laser and fire show
IMAGINE is Festival City’s answer to the Dubai Fountain, and in some ways the better show: water screens, lasers, fire and projections on the InterContinental’s façade, set to music, on Festival Bay. Shows run every evening, roughly hourly from around 18:00 until late (the mall publishes the exact schedule per season; December often adds themed festive shows). It is free, you watch from the promenade steps, and the best seats are the terraces of the waterfront restaurants – book one for the 20:00 show and you have your evening sorted. In winter the timing works perfectly with the sunset over the Creek about 17:40.
Shops, food and the Creek
The line-up is family and home rather than haute couture: IKEA, ACE Hardware, Marks and Spencer, Robinsons department store, a VOX cinema and a large Carrefour. That makes it the practical mall – the place to buy a jumper for a desert evening or a proper coffee machine for an apartment stay. Festival Bay has 30-odd restaurants with Creek views, and the Festival City marina next door is a boarding point for Creek dhow cruises. A dinner cruise from here up to the old souks and back is the classic winter-evening combination; book one below.
Opening hours and how to get there
Open daily 10:00–22:00, until midnight on Thursday to Saturday and through the festive season (check the mall website). There is no metro station: the nearest is Creek station on the green line, ten minutes by taxi, or take the Dubai Ferry / water taxi from Al Jaddaf or Al Seef to the Festival City marina – the scenic way. Bus routes 44 and C16 stop at the mall. From the airport it is a ten-minute taxi (about AED 30), which is why many visitors make it their first or last stop. Parking is free.
Stay on the waterfront
Three hotels are attached to the mall: the InterContinental Dubai Festival City (whose façade is the IMAGINE screen – ask for a Creek-view room), the Crowne Plaza Festival City and the good-value Holiday Inn Festival City. All three are a walk from the market and a short taxi from the airport. Compare Festival City hotels on Booking.com.
Good to know
Expected from mid-December to early January 2026/27; last season it ran 11 December – 3 January. Entry is free.
Every evening, roughly hourly from around 18:00. The mall publishes the exact times each season; December often has extra festive shows.
Yes, about ten minutes by taxi from Terminals 1 and 3 – the closest big mall to the airport.
None directly. Creek station on the green line is the nearest, ten minutes by taxi; the water taxi from Al Seef is the scenic alternative.
Yes, mainly for the evening: the Christmas market, the IMAGINE show and dinner on Festival Bay. As a shopping destination it is practical rather than glamorous.
