I Tried Skiing in Dubai: My Experience and Review of Ski Dubai
Even though I hadn’t skied in 15 years, I ended up doing it in two places in 2021, right in the middle of a global pandemic! During two dreamy weeks in Montenegro, and then for a solid hour in a shopping mall… right in the middle of the desert!
Nothing should surprise us anymore when it comes to Dubai’s extravagance, but still… a ski slope! It opened in 2005 in the heart of Mall of The Emirates, one of the gigantic shopping malls Dubai is so good at. It cost $250 million. The dome housing the resort is 80 meters high, 80 meters wide, and 400 meters long. The indoor temperature never exceeds -2°C. Fun fact: it took a full month at launch to bring the temperature down from 40°C to -2°C. An ecological nightmare, you say? You’re absolutely right!
Looking at the slopes from the mall, in shorts and sandals, it was still incredibly tempting, and I went for it!
The resort is open every day of the week, all year round (no need to wait for snow to fall!). Opening hours are from 10 AM to 10 PM. Except on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (which correspond to the weekend), when it closes at midnight.
Skiing in Dubai: How Much Does It Cost?
Surprisingly, it’s relatively cheap. While most activities are usually very pricey, I found it quite affordable.
The fun part is that most visitors don’t come to ski. Locals generally don’t know how to ski, and many have never even seen snow. It never rains in Dubai, so much so that they’re working on artificial rain projects, so snowfall? Not a chance. So many visitors come to discover what snow is, take the chairlifts, without skiing…
Consequently, the packages offered by the ski resort don’t include skiing by default, so be careful what you buy.
Three packages stand out:
- Snow Park, which costs 175 AED
- Snow Daycation Pass: 275 AED
- Snow Premium: 490 AED
The packages let you choose from a variety of options (you can even meet penguins!).
But if you’re only interested in skiing, like me, the best option is the “2-hour Slope Pass,” which costs 220 AED (about €55). For that price, you get to ski for 2 hours, and it includes a locker for your stuff, access to the dome, chairlifts, and equipment rental (skis, boots, socks, and a suit, but NOT gloves).
For 320 AED, you can ski all day (“Full Day Slope”), and gloves are included, but honestly, as impressive as it is, this isn’t Courchevel, 2 hours seems more than enough.
How Does It Work?
Going on a weekday (Wednesday) around 7 PM, I thought it would be quiet—it had been when we’d stopped by a few days earlier. Big surprise: it was packed, and we had to queue a bit. Probably because of the public holiday the next day (UAE National Day).
The process isn’t super smooth; we had a hard time making them understand I wanted to ski (it’s a ski resort, right?), but that made me realize what I explained above: in Dubai, most people don’t come to a ski resort to ski 😀
Wanting to ski added a bit of admin: I had to scan a QR code to fill out a waiver and take a photo of an ID. Important detail, then: you must bring an ID (I had my French ID card on me, which worked). You also need internet access (check out my article on SIM cards in Dubai), since WiFi is particularly tricky in this mall, unlike just about anywhere else in Dubai.
Once you have your ticket, you head into the resort proper and pick up your gear.
There are different areas depending on your package, so make sure you go to the “Slope” area if you’re just skiing.
Things move pretty fast: an employee hands you disposable socks, pants, a jacket, and shoes in your size, adjusts them to skis (you can choose between regular skis, short skis, and snowboards), and off you go.
Without being an expert, the shoes and skis seemed to me to be in good condition, nothing to complain about.
As for the rest of the gear, it’s better than nothing and gets you on a chairlift 15 minutes after walking into a mall in flip-flops and a tank top, but it’s still a bit lackluster.
The socks are very thin and short (bring your own socks, even if they’re not ski socks, it’ll be better). I wore the pants over my own, which worked. But the jacket is clearly insufficient: it has no zipper, just Velcro straps. I had a simple long-sleeve t-shirt on (I’d anticipated at least that), and I froze. Since gloves aren’t provided, I had some mittens from my suitcase, but they weren’t enough either. Even though you’re in the middle of the desert, you’re stepping into a real ski resort 😀
You can leave your stuff in a locker. Once you’re ready, you take an escalator, pick poles your size, and enter the dome. Malls in Dubai have the downside of being air-conditioned, so you can get cold there, but here you’re suddenly at -2°C, which is a shock.
What does it look like?
I’m going to sound trivial, but it looks like… a real ski resort. A small ski resort, of course, especially if you’re used to French ski areas, but a real one nonetheless.
The first thing that surprised me was the quality of the snow. I wondered what artificial snow would be like, and well, it’s just like real snow; I didn’t notice any difference.
The resort is well-equipped: there’s a T-bar, a chairlift (which lets you get off mid-slope or at the very top), a snow groomer, a bobsled track, a zipline, freestyle skiing rails, and even an on-slope restaurant (“avalanche cafe”).
The lift is pretty slow because people aren’t used to it: it’s set to a slower speed than we’re used to and it regularly stops for a few seconds to help people get on or off. It takes a good 5 minutes to reach the top, and coming down at a really leisurely pace, you’re at the bottom in 2 minutes.
The resort has two slopes, with no color-coded difficulty levels, but clearly, they feel like green runs. Except for the “expert only” section, which must be the equivalent of a French blue run.
My opinion
It took me a few minutes to feel comfortable; going from a mall to the top of a ski slope so quickly made my mind glitch a bit. I had some apprehensions because I’m far from an expert skier, and I couldn’t imagine calling my insurance to explain that I’d broken my leg skiing in Dubai… So I did my first descents at a snail’s pace before feeling more at ease and picking up some speed.
In any case, be careful. While in France the number of slopes means people of different levels aren’t completely mixed together, here everyone is on the same slope: there were accomplished skiers tearing down at full speed doing 360s and others using skis for the first time with unpredictable behavior.
If after a few runs you feel like you’ve seen it all, the sensation of gliding is definitely there, as crazy as it sounds, you’re really skiing in the middle of the desert. Even though I was entitled to 2 hours of skiing (but I struggled to see how they monitor it, no ticket scanning for the lifts and you return your gear on shelves), 1 hour 15 minutes was enough for me. I have to say I was really cold, so bring more suitable gear if you can.
Video: from the resort to the mall
Video: chairlift ride
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