Is Dubai safe?

CCTV covers the Dubai Metro, every big mall and most of Dubai Marina, and a phone left at a Dubai Mall food court tends to turn up at the lost-property desk. We'd walk the Marina promenade, JBR Walk or the Al Seef creekside alone at 1am without a second thought. Old Deira feels different. Around Naif Souk and the back lanes of Al Muraqqabat, solo women report steady staring and the odd muttered comment from groups of men after 10pm, though it rarely goes further. That's the one district where our advice is to stick to lit main roads like Al Rigga Road. Pickpocketing at the Gold Souk and the Deira Spice Souk, where cardamom and dried lime hang heavy in the warm air, is far less common than in Rome or Barcelona. Dubai Police respond to harassment complaints made on 901 or through the Dubai Police app, and an offender can be deported.

UAE law catches out more visitors than any thief does, and the UAE has zero tolerance for drugs. A trace of cannabis in a blood test, even from a trip to Amsterdam weeks earlier, can lead to a prison sentence. Codeine painkillers and some ADHD and sleep medications need a permit from the UAE Ministry of Health before you fly, so check the list before you pack. Public drunkenness, swearing and a rude hand gesture in traffic can all get you arrested, and an insulting WhatsApp message or an online review that names a business can lead to a cybercrime case. Drinking is legal in licensed hotel bars and restaurants. Since the 2020 reforms, unmarried couples can legally share a hotel room. Same-sex relations are still a crime, which is why our LGBTQ+ rating is close to the bottom of the scale.

Heat is the risk most visitors underestimate. At 9pm on 17 October it was still 31.5°C with 80% humidity, which felt like 39.2°C, and sunglasses fog up the moment you step outside an air-conditioned station. From Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro station, take the long air-conditioned walkway with moving travelators to Dubai Mall rather than the street outside. Call 998 for an ambulance if someone stops sweating and turns confused. Roads are the other danger: Sheikh Zayed Road runs up to 12 lanes wide with few crossings, and jaywalking costs AED 400, about USD 109 at 3.6725 dirhams to the dollar. Rip currents on the open stretches of Jumeirah have drowned swimmers in past winters, so swim between the flags at Kite Beach or JBR Beach, where lifeguards stay on duty until sunset.

Getting around alone at night is easy. The Dubai Metro Red and Green lines run until roughly midnight on most nights and later on Fridays; each train has a pink-marked Women and Children section at the front, and men who sit there face an AED 100 fine. After the last train, RTA taxis run on the meter, and you can book pink-roofed Ladies and Families taxis with female drivers through Careem. Desert safaris are where we most often see solo travellers get hurt, so pick an operator whose Land Cruisers have seatbelts in every seat and skip the cheapest hotel-desk deals at around AED 80, which can pack six strangers into one car. A Viator small-group safari capped at 12 people also solves dinner for one, because you eat at the camp with the group. For company, the 1-dirham abra across Dubai Creek between Bur Dubai and Deira is where we've struck up the most conversations, and on Sunday 18 October the Dubai Comedy Festival brings Vir Das to Coca-Cola Arena.