Winter and Dubai just doesn’t seem to belong in one sentence. However, anyone who’s visited during the months of December and January will know that it does actually get a little cold. Of course the coldness is relative. It’s not your British cold winter, but nonetheless it is quite the contrast from the scorching heat of the Dubai summer. A much more comfortable time to visit the Emirate if you want to do sightseeing (as opposed to lounging at the beach). One of those things you can do is visit the Habtoor Palace Winter Garden.
A small winter festival takes place outside the Habtoor Palace hotel every year from November to the end of March. This is a place you can enjoy the cool winter weather of Dubai in the evenings, catch up with loved ones and try out some cool things at the pop up stalls that appear. From pizza to karak chai, from bubble tea to burgers – you’ll find something you like here. It’s mainly food stalls/trucks not to say ONLY (from what we saw). As mentioned, it runs in the evenings and locals (particularly Arabs) flock here to eat, chill and take a lot of pictures and videos (as you do).
So, of course we had to pay a visit on our most recent trip. There’s no metro station right near the place, so you get off at Business Bay metro station and then take a taxi (if you’re using the metro of course, otherwise just take a taxi directly). At the gate you pay an entrance fee of 25 AED and this gets you tickets, which you use to buy anything once you’re inside. When we went, they actually just let us in – there was a large queue forming, so instead of charging people they just let everyone in to hasten the process 👏🏼. We tried a few things and in reality were quite disappointed because the area is actually quite small and everything was most definitely overpriced. So, if you’re not careful, you can end up spending a lot of money here.
From the things we tried were this viral hot chocolate which literally every Dubai blogger has posted about. The stars of the show here are the caramel pecan nuts that are served with it! Wow – so good! We also got the Cheetos pasta, which was served in a cool crisp bag. Looks good for the gram I guess? And the last thing we tried were some spicy fruits, which made for a nice on the go snack. Overall, we weren’t actually there for long because there aren’t THAT many stalls – bloggers certainly make it seem bigger and better than it actually is.
If you’re in Dubai during these months and in the area, it’s definitely worth checking out. However, I wouldn’t go out of my way or change plans to come here. We mainly saw overpriced items on show that we could easily get cheaper at other places. And for winter family festival chill out vibes, the global village is WAYYY better. There’s more things to do than just eat.
Getting there:
Google Maps Location link: click here.
