Anastasia Smith
Ranked among the Middle East's top family-friendly destinations, Dubai offers holidaymakers with children an array of exciting attractions and activities. Here's a look at some of the best activities to enjoy during a family vacation in the desert city.
Considered one of Dubai's most accessible and largest splash centres, the Wild Wadi Waterpark is a one-of-a-kind activity base for kids and adults of all ages. With rides, wave pools and lazy rivers dotting the enclave, families can spend their time enjoying the water features and various water adventure enclaves at this massive parkland that's also suitable for toddlers. Lined with gift shops, restaurants and hot dog stands, it's the perfect place to spend quality time with loved ones while beating the heat in this desert metropolis.
This unique theme park in Dubai is the only location in the city where the temperatures are nearly freezing all year round. This indoor amusement park with its 85-metre-high snow mountain with not just one but five ski slopes,\ is a great place to hide out during the warm summer days in Dubai and work on one's skiing technique. Offering families the chance to go bobsledding and snowboarding together, the locale's ice cave, snow bumper cars and snowy playground also offer kids and adults the chance to spend time in a winter wonderland in the heart of a desert.
Families who love Lego will find LEGOLAND Dubai to be an amazing destination. The theme park features Lego-themed rides, including rollercoasters, as well as a LEGO building academy and a go-kart rink for families to enjoy racing. The park is divided into 6 zones: Adventure, Lego City, Miniland, Factory, Kingdoms, and Imagination. Additionally, LEGOLAND has its own waterpark where visitors can build their own rafts using Legos.
Although Dubai is home to some of the Middle East's best family-friendly beaches, there's no seaside quite like Kite Beach for the sheer variety of water-based activities on offer. Considered one of the top Dubai beaches for kite surfing and learning how to kite surf, families with kids can relax by the waterfront, construct sandcastles or sign up for kite surfing lessons at this popular beach.
Whether the family is based at Avani Ibn Battuta Hotel or any other Dubai city hotel, a getaway in Dubai would not be complete without spending a day at Motiongate Dubai. This vast theme park dedicated to popular kid's movies including Madagascar, The Smurfs and Shrek is a massive playground for the young and old. Although rides based on children's movie franchises make up the main attractions at the park, there are also dedicated zones for more adult pop culture phenomena such as John Wick, Now You See Me and The Hunger Games.
While the city may be home to dozens of malls and department stores, The Dubai Mall is the ideal location for a family day out thanks to its VR Park and aquarium. The indoor ice skating rink and the DubaiDino skeleton also sets this shopping complex apart from others in the city in addition to the number of shops, restaurants and live entertainment hotspots occupying the mall.
