Dubai Transfers: Between the Airports and the City

DXB is on the north side of the city, only 5 kilometers from Deira and 15 kilometers from Downtown. It has three terminals. Terminal 1 handles most international carriers other than Emirates. Terminal 2 is for regional and low cost carriers. Terminal 3 is the Emirates hub. All three have their own arrival areas and taxi queues.

The Red Line of the metro connects Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 directly. A ride from either terminal to Downtown Dubai, the Burj Khalifa area, is about 30 minutes and 7.5 dirhams. Trains run from 05:00 to midnight most days, and until 01:00 on Thursdays and Fridays. Terminal 2 has no metro station and requires a bus transfer, so if you are landing in Terminal 2 the taxi becomes more sensible.

Dubai taxis are metered, air conditioned, and monitored. A taxi from DXB Terminal 1 to Downtown costs about 55 to 75 dirhams. To Dubai Marina, 100 to 130 dirhams. To the Palm Jumeirah, 90 to 120 dirhams. There is a small airport surcharge of 25 dirhams and drivers accept card payment.

Careem, the local rideshare, and Uber both operate, but their fares from DXB are typically 15 to 30 percent higher than a metered taxi and the pickup process is more complicated. Use them from the city, not from the airport. There is no queue jumping advantage.

Al Maktoum, DWC, is 45 kilometers southwest of central Dubai on the road to Abu Dhabi. It is used by a small number of low cost carriers, primarily flydubai and Wizz Air. Emirates is planning to move there in the coming years but is not yet.

There is no metro to DWC. The transfer options are the F55 bus from Ibn Battuta metro station, which takes 30 minutes and costs 7.5 dirhams, or a taxi, which costs around 150 to 200 dirhams from central Dubai. If your flight is out of DWC, allow 90 minutes minimum for the transfer from any hotel not in Jebel Ali or the Marina.

Sharjah International is 15 kilometers north of DXB, in the neighboring emirate. It is used almost entirely by Air Arabia. Sharjah is a straightforward taxi from Dubai but the traffic across the border can be heavy on Thursday and Friday evenings when the weekend starts. A taxi from central Dubai to Sharjah airport is 80 to 120 dirhams.

Sharjah is only worth flying into if the Air Arabia fare is genuinely much cheaper. Otherwise, DXB Terminal 2 handles most of the same regional destinations at similar prices with a much shorter transfer.

The metro has two lines. The Red Line runs the length of the city along Sheikh Zayed Road, from Deira to Jebel Ali. The Green Line runs east to west across the north of the city, through Deira and Bur Dubai. Between them they cover most tourist destinations.

The gap is Dubai Marina and the Palm. The Marina is on the Red Line at DMCC and Marina stations, but the Palm Jumeirah requires the Palm Monorail from Al Sufouh, and the monorail does not accept the Nol card. It is a separate 20 dirham ticket. Most visitors take a taxi to the Palm and skip the monorail.

For the old city on the Creek, the abras, small wooden ferries, cross the Creek between Deira and Bur Dubai for 1 dirham. This is the cheapest and one of the more atmospheric transfers in the city.

Sheikh Zayed Road is jammed from 07:30 to 10:00 and again from 17:00 to 20:00 on weekdays. The metro during the same hours is busy but moving. If your onward destination is on the Red Line, the metro will beat any taxi during rush hour by a solid 30 to 45 minutes. Outside those hours, the taxi is often faster because it is direct.