Global Village Dubai: Experience UAE culture on a budget

We flew through Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways on our way back from the Maldives, so decided to make our first visit to the Middle East and take a few days to check out one of the world’s top tourist destinations: Dubai. We only had 2 days to check out the vast new city so were extremely busy exploring full-speed ahead. We made sure to hit up the must-sees on day one, including the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai Fountains, textile souk and Souk Madinat. On our second day, we were interested in Dubai cultural attractions. There are so many cool things to do in Dubai that are lesser known to tourists. We visited Miracle Garden, the world’s largest natural flower garden, and Global Village Dubai. These are two unique things to do in Dubai that don’t cost a fortune. They are also fun activities in Dubai for kids and families. Global Village gives you a taste of UAE culture and other cultures around the world, which made it one of our favorite things to do in Dubai. It is also one of the best Dubai attractions for kids since it can be compared to Disney’s Epcot Center, but at a fraction of the cost. Finally, Global Village is one of the most exciting places to visit in Dubai at night because it is open really late and will keep you entertained for hours on a budget.

What is Global Village Dubai?

First of all, you may be wondering exactly what is Global Village Dubai? It is a huge family entertainment complex, Dubai cultural attraction, and theme park with carnival rides for kids and adults. Global Village offers unique shopping at 30 pavilions representing countries from around the world. They also have dance and musical performances and costumed characters walking around the park.  You can get a taste of UAE culture at the heritage village sites where locals make traditional Emirati food and products.

Global Village Location

Global Village is located at Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, Exit 37. Since Miracle Garden is nearby, it makes sense to visit both attractions on the same day.

How to go to Global Village

To get to Global Village, you can take a taxi or RTA transportation. We opted for the taxi since they are cheap in Dubai, but public transportation is even cheaper. There are 4 bus routes- 102, 103, 104, and 106. The service runs from 3:15pm to 11:15pm, with 30 minutes of travel time.

Global Village Dubai Timings

If you plan to visit Global Village, be aware that they are only open seasonally during the cooler months from November to April. This is the best time to visit Dubai when the temperatures are tolerable. It would be too hot and miserable for anyone to attend during the summer. The vendors also need the rest of the year to return to their countries of origin and restock their supplies of authentic items from around the world.

Global Village Opening Hours

Global Village is open 7 days a week, from 4pm to midnight (Saturday to Wednesday), and until 1am on Thursday, Friday, and public holidays.

Global Village Family Day

Please note that Mondays are family days so only children and their parents are admitted to allow for quality family time. Plan your visit accordingly.

Global Village Parking

When we drove up, my first impression was that we were at a large amusement park due to the huge parking lot and multiple entrance gates. We were dropped off by our taxi at the staff entry gate, so we decided to pay 10 AED ($2.70 for both of us) for a ride to the main gate on a fun passenger cart pulled by a bicycle. I loved his costume, and it was nice feeling the breeze while riding to the main gate. It actually wasn’t very far, but the ride was fun.

Global Village Dubai Ticket Price

Once we arrived to the main gate, I felt like we were no longer at just any amusement park, but at the most magical place on earth: Disney World. There were long ticket lines, but they went extremely quickly thanks to electronic ticket kiosks manned by staff. You can also purchase a Global Village online ticket ahead of time to skip the line completely.

I was shocked (in a good way) at the Global Village entry fee. It is only 15 AED ($4.10) per person for a Global Village ticket! Kids age 3 and under and senior citizens age 65 and over are free. I am still am in disbelief over how cheap it is to get in this fabulous place! The excellent Global Village ticket price makes this one of the best Dubai attractions for kids. Family fun that is affordable is always a plus, especially when it’s as exciting as Disney World!

Global Village Dress Code

Respectful attire (covered torso, including shoulders and covered legs, including knees) must be worn by male and female guests at all times.  I was wearing a dress that barely reached the top of my knees, and was warned by one security guard that I might not be admitted since my dress did not cover my knees. Thankfully I had a pashmina to cover my shoulders. The guard said I may have to go buy a long skirt or pants and come back, but that I could try my luck and see if they would let me in. So I stretched my dress down to cover my knees and walked very carefully through the entry gates hoping no one would say anything about it being too short. Whew, I made it. Thank goodness.

So please make sure to wear a long skirt or pants when visiting, or you may be turned away and sent to buy some proper clothing. We learned the hard way in Abu Dhabi when visiting Emirates Palace and were sent away due to Bertaut wearing shorts.

Discover cultures around the world

Once inside, we were snapping photos right and left of the different countries that are represented throughout the enormous site. If you’ve ever been to Disney’s Epcot Center, this is my best way to explain what it’s like, but with a mix of state fair and carnival all in one. However, instead of each country offering kiddie rides like at Epcot, there are live music and dance performances from each culture and thousands of vendors selling crafts, merchandise, and food from their country. Locals describe it as an international bazaar. We were pleasantly surprised to see how many locals were there enjoying the village.  We like to go where the locals go when traveling, as they know the best stuff to do.

Some of the best bargain shopping in Dubai

It is a bargain shopper’s paradise, and we negotiated some incredible deals on gorgeous tribal jewelry from Turkey made with lapis lazuli, turquoise, and coral. We even scored a giant antique emerald ring that Bertaut decided to get for himself, and joked about someone chopping off his hand to steal his ring since it is THAT BIG. You know what they say about too good to be true though? After our return trip home, one of our friends who is in the jewelry business said the ring was a lab-created emerald and therefore not as valuable. 🙁 Oh well, he still likes it and can pull it off. After leaving, I was kicking myself for not buying more jewelry at the unbeatable prices. Next time, I’m not holding back.

Global Village Food Kiosks

While wandering around exploring the globe, we started to get hungry. We had some snacks to tide us over until dinner. Bertaut had 2 ears of grilled corn, which were 10 AED each (about $5 for both). We shared some local specialities from the Heritage Cooking site where local women were preparing 2 dishes that I can best describe as fried beignets drizzled with molasses and a crepe with a fried egg and a triangle of cheese melted inside. The crepe, which they call Kubz Riggag, was 10 AED and the beignets (can’t remember what those were called) were 20 AED, so this tasty little snack only set us back about $8.50. Much better than Disney prices, right!

Global Village Restaurant Options

After spending hours enjoying the sites of this fantastic gem in Dubai, we worked up our appetites. We had dinner there and were surprised by the excellent quality of the food in the food court, which offers 18 different restaurants of varying world cuisines. We had Chicken Tikka and the Haleem Special at a Pakistani restaurant called Al Haaj Bundoo Khan, which was the first restaurant we saw when walking from the ride area. Both dishes were delicious and fresh, although I preferred the former which was spicier and had big chunks of chicken as opposed to shredded chicken. We also ordered some white rice, garlic naan, a mango lassi, and a large bottle of water and our meal was just 105 AED ($28). It was way more food than we could eat, and they offered to package it to go, but since we were flying out the next morning, we sadly had to say goodbye to our yummy leftover food. As we walked further down the food court we noticed that most of the other restaurants were relatively empty, but where we ate was completely full, which speaks to their excellent cuisine.

Costumes and performances from around the globe

While eating dinner and walking around, we enjoyed seeing people dressed up in the traditional clothing of their countries. This guy was dressed in traditional Pakistani clothing- what an outfit! It’s too bad people don’t dress like that now. I could dig Bertaut walking around in that suit.This young man was serving Syrian juice made from tamarind fruit that he poured out of this giant carafe on his back. He let Bertaut taste the juice, which he described as refreshing.Bertaut had to get a photo with his African brothers of the Maasai tribe in Kenya, but unfortunately we didn’t stick around late enough to see them perform, which I’m sure would have been very energetic and entertaining.

Most of the countries begin live performances around 7pm and offer shows on the hour or more often until late into the night. We headed back into Turkey to get a few more bargain jewelry pieces on our way out and happened to catch this Turkish dance performance. 

Global Village Dubai Rides

There’s even amusement park rides for extra fees, but we opted to skip that since we just ate dinner and thought that could only lead to bad things. The Ferris wheel probably would have been a safe option, and would be a great choice for those visiting with young children. They had ride packages available for children that seemed reasonably priced- I think it was 150 AED ($41) for unlimited children’s rides, or a family package that was 99 AED ($27) for 4 entry tickets to Global Village plus 75 AED credit for rides. They also had little boats called abras that cruised around the village’s canal, reminiscent of Venice’s famed gondola rides.I didn’t check the price on those rides but can’t imagine it was too expensive, since everything was reasonable.
One final treat at Global Village was the fountain show, which was similar to the one at Dubai Mall but smaller in scale. We saw a lovely little show while meandering around and couldn’t help but dance along to the fantastic Indian song.

More information about Global Village

Global Village Dubai is a must-do for anyone who likes cultural activities or who likes to travel, since you feel like you are discovering the world in one stop. It is the world’s largest tourism, leisure, and entertainment project and is the region’s first cultural, entertainment, family and shopping destination. They have been open for over 20 years but have been growing in size, with over 5 million visitors last year on their 17,200,000 sq ft site.

Global Village feature 32 pavilions representing more than 75 countries with different cultures, merchandise, and cuisines. The Fantasy Island funfair is great for children and adults alike, with both thrilling and kid-friendly rides. We highly recommend this place for families since there are a ton of fun, educational, and cultural activities all in one spot and at an excellent value. The map below shows the layout of the site, which is magnificent.

At night the pavilions are lit up and the countries glow with vibrant colors. Photos cannot do it justice. You must go see it for yourself!

Global Village Dubai Events

Apparently we missed the daily fireworks display by a few minutes, which occurs at 9pm for 5 minutes. We also weren’t around the main stage at the right time to watch the Global Village Festival show, which incorporates the sights of 5 of the best festivals in the world. We also missed the Dreams show, which is a family production inspired by the stories of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). These shows are offered several times daily, so check the schedule online to help plan your visit at the Global Village website. We will definitely plan to catch those shows the next time and stay until closing.

We spent about 4 hours there and barely scratched the surface of all they offer. We could have easily spent an entire evening from open to close if we had entered into every country and looked at the merchandise from all over the world and watched more of the cultural music and dance performances. We spent about an hour at one shop alone in Turkey perusing their impressive collection and buying our beautiful Turkish jewelry at a fraction of what it would cost elsewhere. We barely looked at the items being offered in the other countries due to the sheer quantity of merchandise and knowing that we already purchased our souvenirs at the Old Souk on our first night. We did not have enough time to look at everything since we wanted to get back to our hotel early to prepare for our flight home the following morning. Next time we’re in Dubai, we will plan to spend an entire evening here and will bring a lot of cash to bargain to our hearts’ content for unique global souvenirs all in one fantastic spot.While looking at their website after our visit, I realized that we missed so much that Global Village has to offer, all included with the admission price. One area we would have enjoyed is Heritage Village. This area shows representations of what Bedouin life was and still can be like, showing how people camped, ate, and lived. They also have some of the different animals they kept, which would be fun and educational for families. We visited Heritage Village in Abu Dhabi, but we heard that Dubai’s is much bigger and better.

Additional shows and concerts across the village

In addition to the cultural shows offered in the pavilions and on the main stage, they also offer stunt shows with thrilling daredevil acts, circus shows, street performers such as acrobats and stilt walkers roaming the village, cartoon characters for kids to meet (the Smurfs, Sandy the camel), and concerts. All of this is free with admission, can you believe it?

Global Village Review

In conclusion, we’ve never seen anything quite like Global Village in Dubai. I was in shopper’s paradise and am absolutely thrilled about my unique jewelry purchases. I also am a huge fan of Disney’s Epcot Center and felt like I was in Dubai’s version of it. No, there is not a Disney in the Middle East, but this is the closest you will find to one in Dubai, with the representations of countries around the world. However, instead of paying $100 each to get into Disney, we spent just $4 each, which is truly unbelievable.

The place is extremely clean, well staffed, organized, and designed to ensure the comfort of its guests. Honestly, I’m not sure how they can afford to operate the place with all they offer for such a low admission price. The bathrooms are very clean and large so I didn’t even have to wait, which is unheard of at other amusement parks I’ve visited. They offer Mothers Rooms inside the bathroom area, which is a nice touch especially for breastfeeding mothers or for those needing to change diapers. They also provide male and female prayer rooms, a health clinic and ambulance, a room for lost children, a police station, money exchange center, customer service center, and of course ATMs.

At the front gate, they also have strollers and shopping carts available to rent, which would come in handy for families or for those who go crazy with the shopping. I plan to go hog wild next time and will bring an extra suitcase just for my Global Village purchases. I would have bought so much more but knew we didn’t have any more room in our luggage. Even if you aren’t into culture or travel, but love trying food from around the world, then Global Village is a must-see for you as well. Just about any kind of cuisine you might have a taste for is available to purchase. They offer 18 restaurants in the food court where you can sit and enjoy your meal and over 100 food kiosks to grab food and eat while you wander the village. Arrive hungry and plan to eat a lot of delicious food, because you will be pleasantly surprised at how good it is! We hope you enjoy Global Village as much as we did on your next visit to Dubai. We cannot believe that more people are not talking about it, since it was our favorite thing we did in Dubai hands down. Have you ever seen anything like Global Village anywhere else in the world? If you liked this post and want to get our tips to travel like a millionaire, please sign up for our email newsletter and RSS feed.