The Dubai Metro: The Best Way to Get Around in Dubai

By Halal Xplorer City Dubai January 10, 2022

The Dubai Metro: The best way to get around in Dubai

Taxis in Dubai are cheaper than say London, but relatively expensive compared to other popular holiday destinations. The cheapest way to get around the city is actually the Metro. Quite easily the cheapest.

Let’s start with price then. You can go from one end of the city to the other for 7.50 AED (with a silver NOL card – see below). Compare that to the minimum fare for a taxi ride of 12 AED.

Secondly, the metro itself is spotless. Extremely clean as you’d expect from a new mode of transport in Dubai. This is probably aided by some strict rules which include no eating, drinking or chewing while on the metro (on the spot fines are handed!).

Another thing is the ease of use. It is extremely easy to use from before getting on to during the journey. Purchasing tickets and then topping up is simple and quick. There’s maps everywhere, so you now exactly which one to get to go where.

Worried about your ride from the airport to the hotel? Use the metro! There’s a station at the airport and it’s extremely easy to locate (just before you exit – you’ll see signs). Do check the latest operating hours though – unless you land/depart in the early hours of the morning, you’ll be fine. And it’ll set you back 7.50 AED only in comparison to a taxi ride that will almost always be more than 100.

How to use it

*check the latest price on the official website: here

Get yourself a NOL card. This will be available from the person at the till. You can get a red, silver or a gold one. Each have slightly different prices, privileges and expiry dates. We travel to Dubai frequently for business purposes so getting the silver one made sense. The red is ideal for the tourist, the silver is like a level up and the only difference between it and the gold is access to the gold cabin. The silver one is valid for 5 years and you can get a 7 day pass for 110 AED, which is super value for money especially if you take the metro to and back from the airport and use it frequently throughout your travels. You can of course just use the card as a pay as you go. So, top up the amount you need to as and when. There’s a top up machine or two in each metro station. Minimum top up is 5 (no coins), but the minimum amount needed in your account to use the metro is 7.50. The NOL card can now also be used to pay for your taxi rides and also at some stores (how cool is this!?). Reminds me of WeChat pay in China.

I strongly urge you to download and use the S’hail APP to navigate your journeys. It is a self-explanatory APP. Strangely, we found that the tram line was not on the APP, so if we wanted to go to the JBR for example the APP would suggest a route that includes the Metro and then a taxi instead of getting on the tram line which will get you right outside JBR.

The only downside is that the metro isn’t as advanced and intricate in its route as say the London Underground. In London, if you want to go to X, you know you’ll find an underground that is walking distance if not right next to your destination. However, the Dubai metro is basically a straight line. So, more often than not, you’ll still need to get a taxi once you get out of the metro to get to your specific destination. It’s rare that your chosen destination will be right outside the metro and even if it’s a 10 minute walking distance, in the Dubai heat that’ll feel like an hour. So, keep that in mind – you’ll still need to use taxis.

Also, be mindful of the rules they have in place. As mentioned above, you cannot eat or chew on the metro. There’s a female and children section too (clearly highlighted in pink), please if you are someone who is neither a female nor a child, then don’t go to that area. That area is made for them and their comfort. Not you. There are on the spot fines for anyone who breaks any of the rules.

A nice added bonus of riding on the Metro is that you get nice views of some of the different attractions including the Burj Khalifa, Burj al-Arab and the Museum of the Future.