Dubai Desert Safari & Buffet Dinner with Dune Bashing

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.98 (116 reviews) 98% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/7

Duration6h

GroupUp to 999

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

What happens when you trade the city for red sand dunes and a campfire under stars?

You get picked up from your Dubai or Sharjah hotel and driven into the desert for quad biking, camel riding, and 35 minutes of dune bashing with a licensed driver. At the traditional camp, you eat a barbecue buffet dinner, try henna, and watch belly dance and fire shows by starlight before returning to your hotel. Everything — transport, entry, food, entertainment — is included; you just show up.

Step-by-step itinerary

Desert adventure and cultural experience

Drive 1 hour to desert meeting point
Enjoy quad bike and camel rides
Dune bashing in red sand dunes
Photo stop and sand boarding
Arrive at desert camp, welcome drink
Camel ride and henna design
Try local costumes and take photos
Enjoy barbecue dinner and shisha
Watch belly dance, fire, and tanura shows
Return to hotel with traditional music

The Experience

An hour's drive from your hotel takes you into the desert countryside of Arabia, where the day shifts into something else entirely. Your guide meets you at the meeting point, and before the dune bashing even starts, you're already moving — quad bike first, then a camel ride while the light is still good and your guide readies the vehicle. It's the kind of pacing that keeps you from overthinking it, which is probably the point.

The dune bashing itself is 35 minutes of the vehicle dropping and climbing the red sand, your seat belt fastened, the driver licensed and practiced at reading the slope. There's a photo stop in the middle of nowhere — just dunes, sky, and the light starting to turn gold — and then sand boarding if you want it, or just standing there taking in the scale of the place. The sunset photography happens here too, which is why the timing matters; you're not rushing through it on the way to something else.

By the time you reach the traditional desert camp, you're ready for what comes next. Arabic coffee and Legemat (the sweet pastry) arrive first, then you have time to wander — another camel ride if you missed the first one, henna designs on your hands or feet, photos in local costumes. The barbecue dinner is a full buffet with vegetarian and meat options, desserts, unlimited water and soft drinks, and shisha in the lounge area if that's your thing. After you eat, the entertainment starts: Tanura dance, fire show, two belly dance performances around the campfire. It's not subtle, but it's not trying to be.

The return drive to your hotel takes 55 minutes and includes traditional music, which gives you time to sit with what just happened. The whole experience runs about nine hours from pickup to drop-off, which is long enough to feel like you've left the city, not long enough to exhaust you.

What’s included

Hotel pickup and drop-off in Dubai or Sharjah, one-hour transfer to the desert, quad bike ride, camel rides (at least two), 35 minutes of dune bashing with a licensed professional driver, sand boarding, sunset photography, Arabic coffee and Legemat upon arrival at the camp, henna tattoo application, photos in traditional costumes, full barbecue buffet dinner with vegetarian and meat options, desserts, unlimited water, tea, coffee and soft drinks, free shisha in the lounge area, Tanura dance performance, fire dance show, and two belly dance shows around the campfire. The return journey includes traditional music.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availableNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by GOLDENSANDTOURS

Is this one for you?Book this if you want the full desert evening — driving, riding, eating, and entertainment — without arranging transport, timing the sunset stop, or figuring out where to eat in the dunes. The fixed schedule and included pickup mean you're not managing logistics; you're just showing up.