Top 10 Desert Safari Experiences in the UAE in 2026

The Hajar Mountains in Hatta enclave, 110 kilometres from Dubai, offer a dramatically different landscape of jagged peaks, ancient wadis, and the freshwater Hatta Dam turquoise reservoir — accessible by 4x4 or mountain bike on trails graded for all abilities.

Al Maha, A Luxury Collection Desert Resort, sits inside the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and offers guided dune walks with a resident naturalist who can identify oryx tracks, sand gazelle movements, and the ecological significance of desert plants most visitors walk past.

The Liwa Oasis in Abu Dhabi's Empty Quarter sits beside Moreeb Dune — at 300 metres the highest sand dune in the UAE — and the 4x4 ascent and sandboarding descent offers the most extreme dune experience available without a guided expedition licence.

The UAE takes falconry seriously enough to give falcons their own passports, and a session with an expert falconer in the desert allows you to fly a peregrine or saker falcon, understand the 4,000-year-old practice, and photograph the bird at full stoop.

Al Wathba desert south of Abu Dhabi, away from the coast's light pollution, hosts dedicated astronomy camps with professional telescopes, guided constellation walks, and astrophotography sessions that exploit some of the clearest skies in the northern hemisphere.

A two-hour camel trek through the Margham conservation area north-east of Dubai at first light, when the temperature is bearable and the dunes cast long shadows, gives a meditative pace to desert travel that dune bashing completely misses.

The 100-metre-high red sand dune known as Big Red on the road to Hatta is the UAE's most accessible sandboarding spot — no guiding required, boards rented at the base, and the steep face provides enough speed to generate genuine screaming.

Arabian Adventures runs a Heritage Drive that visits a working falconry centre, a camel farm, and a traditional Arabic coffee tent where a retired pearl diver explains the pre-oil economy through artefacts rather than exhibition panels.

Ras Al Khaimah's Hajar Mountain wadis offer permit-required wild camping in narrow gorges beside seasonal pools, with a level of solitude and geological drama that the better-known Hatta trails are increasingly unable to provide.

The Hajar Mountains in Hatta enclave, 110 kilometres from Dubai, offer a dramatically different landscape of jagged peaks, ancient wadis, and the freshwater Hatta Dam turquoise reservoir — accessible by 4x4 or mountain bike on trails graded for all abilities.

Al Maha, A Luxury Collection Desert Resort, sits inside the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and offers guided dune walks with a resident naturalist who can identify oryx tracks, sand gazelle movements, and the ecological significance of desert plants most visitors walk past.

The Liwa Oasis in Abu Dhabi's Empty Quarter sits beside Moreeb Dune — at 300 metres the highest sand dune in the UAE — and the 4x4 ascent and sandboarding descent offers the most extreme dune experience available without a guided expedition licence.

The UAE takes falconry seriously enough to give falcons their own passports, and a session with an expert falconer in the desert allows you to fly a peregrine or saker falcon, understand the 4,000-year-old practice, and photograph the bird at full stoop.

Al Wathba desert south of Abu Dhabi, away from the coast's light pollution, hosts dedicated astronomy camps with professional telescopes, guided constellation walks, and astrophotography sessions that exploit some of the clearest skies in the northern hemisphere.

A two-hour camel trek through the Margham conservation area north-east of Dubai at first light, when the temperature is bearable and the dunes cast long shadows, gives a meditative pace to desert travel that dune bashing completely misses.

The 100-metre-high red sand dune known as Big Red on the road to Hatta is the UAE's most accessible sandboarding spot — no guiding required, boards rented at the base, and the steep face provides enough speed to generate genuine screaming.

Arabian Adventures runs a Heritage Drive that visits a working falconry centre, a camel farm, and a traditional Arabic coffee tent where a retired pearl diver explains the pre-oil economy through artefacts rather than exhibition panels.

Ras Al Khaimah's Hajar Mountain wadis offer permit-required wild camping in narrow gorges beside seasonal pools, with a level of solitude and geological drama that the better-known Hatta trails are increasingly unable to provide.