Ski Dubai and Mall of Emirates

Mall of Emirates, strategically located on Cheikh Zayed Road near the Jumeira district, is a classic of its kind with more than 600 shops, a hundred restaurants and cafes, a Vox cinema and a large Carrefour supermarket. In our opinion, aside from Fashion Avenue, which offers a pleasant stroll under its large glass roof, the other parts of the mall essentially fulfill a shopping function, and unlike Dubai Mall, Dubai's flagship mall, it will only please the shopping addicts. Its great originality lies in its flagship attraction: Ski Dubai.

Ski Dubai offers an introduction to winter sports for children and adults. In an air-conditioned dome with an interior temperature stabilized at -2°C, the inclined structure has 5 different ski slopes, from the green runway to the black runway. The longest track is 400 meters long, which you can go in skiing or snowboarding, and once downhill you take the chairlift or ski lift, like in a real ski resort in the Alps.

The largest indoor winter amusement park in the world offers a variety of activities including ski or surf lessons, tobogganing, ziplining, transparent giant snowball, and meeting with captive penguins.

To access all the unrestricted activities on a day, take the Dubai Experience pass of 510AED, and for the same price you can have a 30-minute lesson.

If you are not interested in ski runs, a pass of 260AED gives you access to all activities except downhill skiing.

If you put aside your sensitivity to animals in captivity, and want to participate in activities with penguins, several formulas exist at various prices.

For more information on activities and fares, visit Dubai's official ski site. Rates include the provision of equipment and warm clothing.

In this area the hotels have no particular charm, but have cheaper prices than in Jumeïrah and Dubai Downtown. Directly adjacent to the mall and close to the Mall of Emirates metro station, the Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates is definitely the best in the area. With 5 stars also, the Sheraton Dubai Mall Of The Emirates Hotel should not disappoint you.

In the 4 star category, the hotel Flora Al Barsha is very well positioned next to the mall (on the other hand its swimming pool is not at the level of other hotels in the city). Among the hotels of the big chains some good addresses without charm but effective: the Hilton Garden Inn, the DoubleTree by Hilton, the Novotel Suites, the Centro Barsha by Rotana and the Cosmopolitan. Also worth noting is the Donatello Hotel which has a less contemporary decor. Although it is a little out of the way, we recommend the hotel Al Khoory Altrium because it is very modern, cheap and has an excellent value for money.

In Al Barsha you will find a wide range of mid-range apartment hotels, but with very good prices.

The opening hours of Mall of Emirates and Ski Dubai are from 10am to 10pm, until midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Carrefour supermarket opens earlier at 9am, and the cinemas are open until 1am according to sessions.

Mall of Emirates is easily accessible from the E11 main highway (Sheikh Zayed Road) and the Dubai ski slope contained in a giant metal structure is a distant sight. The shopping center offers large and free car parks. It also has a dedicated subway station bearing its name.

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