5 Beach Clubs to Visit in Dubai
Dubai, my favorite winter destination, is home to many beach clubs. Every time I visit Dubai, it seems that there are countless new beach clubs that have been opened. My last visit to Dubai at the end of November was a relaxing vacation, so my friends and I mostly visited beach clubs, a different one each day. Another day, another beach club was our motto. In this blog post, I’m sharing the beach clubs I visited during my one-week vacation in Dubai and whether I think they’re worth visiting. Since visiting beach clubs in Dubai can be a little bit pricey and there are so many to choose from, I’m hoping this post will make it a bit easier for you to choose a club that’s worth visiting. No one likes to waste time and money on a beach club they wish they didn’t visit, right?!
Don’t forget to check out this blog post, in which I share my 10-day itinerary from my previous visit to Dubai in 2021.
1. Drift Beach
Drift Beach was my favorite beach club this time in Dubai. The reason why is because the entire area is absolutely stunning. From the front entrance to the pool and all the areas surrounding it, everywhere you look it’s absolutely beautiful. The service is good and we never had to wait too long to find a waiter to order drinks and/or food. I also loved the facilities. The toilets were clean the entire day and there were plenty of toilets and showers so you never had to wait. There were lots of lockers too, but we didn’t use them. The changing area was nice with a huge mirror, hair dryers and plenty of outlets so you could get ready comfortably if you were headed straight to dinner after spending a day in the pool.
I’d highly recommend staying until sunset as it’s absolutely worth it. From Drift Beach, you can actually see the sun set into the ocean. The golden light on the skyscrapers in Dubai Marina is a view I could never get enough of. If you’re looking for some photos for your Instagram feed, Drift Beach is a must-visit as there are countless photo spots. Make sure you have enough space left on your phone when visiting Drift Beach as you’re going to take a lot of photos here!
A sun lounger at Drift Beach is 150 AED (around €37) per person on weekdays and 200 AED (around €50) per person on Saturday and Sunday and includes a bottle of water. I’d recommend making a reservation at least two weeks in advance if you want to visit on the weekend and at least one week in advance if you want to visit on a weekday. Drift offers different kinds of promotions, such as Chic Wednesdays, which grants you a sun lounger for free when having breakfast at the restaurant on Wednesdays from 09:00 until 11:00. Every Tuesday on Ladies Day, a sun lounger is 75 AED for ladies and includes a glass of Drift’s signature cocktail. Check their website for more information on their events and to make a reservation.
2. Summersalt
A very close runner-up, maybe even a shared first place, is Summersalt, a beach club located on the grounds of the Jumeirah Al Naseem Hotel. The beach club is beautiful and since it’s located right in front of the Burj Al Arab, the views are amazing too. The sun loungers at Summersalt are the most comfortable I’ve ever been on. They’re just as comfortable as a bed and each of them comes with a full size bed pillow. Most of the sun loungers are located on the beach, but there are also a few sun loungers surrounding the pool. The service and food was really good and we loved that every hour they came by with a free snack such as sweet nuts, popsicles or a smoothie shot. A tiny downside is that there are only two toilets and two showers available for the entire beach club. Luckily, they didn’t run at full capacity so it wasn’t a problem, but I can imagine wait times adding up when all the sun loungers are occupied.
Staying at Summersalt until sunset is very much worth it, as you have a direct view of the sun setting into the ocean. Furthermore, the golden tones against the skyscrapers in the background and the Burj Al Arab right in front of the beach is just magical.
The access to Summersalt is through the grounds of Jumeirah Al Naseem Hotel. As the grounds are huge, prepare to walk for about 10 minutes from the hotel reception until you reach the beach club. There are also golf carts available if you don’t want to walk.
A Summersalt day pass includes a sun lounger per person and grants access to the pool and beach areas. Even though it’s not explicitly stated on their website, we enjoyed free bottles of still water throughout the day. Summersalt offers two kinds of day passes: a day pass for 500 AED (around €125) per person non-redeemable and a day pass for 800 AED (around €200) per person with 400 AED redeemable for food and beverages. Every Wednesday, you can get a wellness day pass for 500 AED per person, including day pass access, yoga class and a healthy snack after the class from the wellness menu. I’d recommend making a reservation a week in advance to avoid disappointments. Check their website for more information and to make a reservation.
3. White Beach
White Beach is a beach club located on the grounds of the Atlantis resort. White Beach features two large pools with sun loungers surrounding the pool. The beach club is beautifully decorated in boho chic style. Besides being a beautifully decorated beach club, my favorite thing about White Beach was the view of Atlantis the Palm, which looks just like a pink castle and pink castles are exactly my taste.
Even though White Beach is very beautiful, I found the music too loud. It was so loud that my ears hurt when we left. I get that they try to turn it into a pool party, but all the guests were just relaxing. I’m not sure whether it’s always like that as I visited on Ladies Day, so it could be a Ladies Day thing. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the service was very good too. I would still recommend White Beach, but I think next time I won’t come back on Ladies Day as I prefer a more relaxing environment.
There’s no direct view of the sunset at White Beach, but seeing the sky turn into a pastel palette is of course always very beautiful. Therefore, it wouldn’t hurt to stay until sunset.
A sun lounger at White Beach is 200 AED (around €50) per person on weekdays and 250 AED (around €62) per person on Saturday and Sunday, both prices are non-redeemable for food and drinks. Every Tuesday is Ladies Day at White Beach. For 200 AED ladies can enjoy unlimited selected drinks and a special discounted menu from 12:00 until 16:00. The Ladies Day drink menu includes cocktails and mocktails, no sodas or water. I’d highly recommend making a reservation about a week in advance, or two weeks in advance if you want to go on Ladies Day. You can check their website for more information and to make a reservation.
4. Kyma Beach
Kyma Beach is located on West Palm Beach, which is actually such a nice area for strolls on the beach boulevard. Kyma Beach isn’t very large, but it features a big enough pool and access to the sea. I loved the white and beige color scheme and they serve Greek food, which is one of my favorite cuisines. There’s a relaxing atmosphere with fitting house music.
Sun loungers at Kyma Beach are 200 AED per person on weekdays and 250 AED per person on Saturday and Sunday. The prices are non-redeemable for foods and drinks. I couldn’t find any information on their website about specific events such as Ladies Days, so I guess they don’t offer that. We didn’t make a reservation for Kyma Beach in advance as we actually planned on going somewhere else which ended up being full. Even though there aren’t that many sun loungers, there were plenty available when we showed up around 11:30. I guess it’s not necessary to make a reservation, but I’d still recommend doing so to avoid disappointments. You can check their website for more information and to make a reservation.
5. Barasti Beach
Barasti Beach was my least favorite beach club that we visited in Dubai. Barasti offers a large pool with beach access and there are a lot of sun loungers, and seating areas. Even though there wasn’t really a party when I was there, it felt like they tried too hard to turn it into a party (with no success). It might also have been because of the day we visited, but there was hardly any service. We had to ask multiple times for towels and eventually just grabbed them from other beds that weren’t used yet. Food and drinks were self-service too, but I guess that was because of the event we visited.
We visited the Bubbles & Bikinis event which is every Saturday and Sunday from 13:00 until 16:00 and includes unlimited drinks and one food item for 229 AED for ladies and 269 AED for men. There’s an event almost every day at Barasti Beach, so make sure to check their Instagram page and plan accordingly to save some money. On Mondays and Tuesdays it’s Ladies Day, which is the best offer for girls: 5 drinks and 50% off food for 99 AED. You can make reservations through WhatsApp and you can find their WhatsApp number on their Instagram page.
The best time to visit Dubai
I’ve been to Dubai twice, both times at the end of November and I think it’s a great time to visit Dubai. With temperatures between 27 and 30 °C during the day, I never felt too hot. At night, the temperatures drop to around 22 °C, which is a nice temperature to wear a bare legged dress with covered arms without breaking a sweat or being too cold. Temperatures drop a little bit more in December, January and February and can get down to 22 °C, which would be too cold for my taste. Temperatures in March are comparable to November. I would avoid summers in Dubai at all costs as temperatures are 40 °C on average, which is way too hot if you ask me.
Where to stay in Dubai
Except for Summersalt, all of these beach clubs are located on or very close to the Palm. If you’re planning on visiting these beach clubs, staying on the Palm is actually not a bad idea. I especially love the Palm West Beach area as there’s a European-like promenade allowing you to walk along the beach. Palm West Beach is lined with lots of restaurants, beach clubs and hotels, so you won’t easily get bored. It’s also near the View at the Palm, a place that’s still on my bucket list, and the Nakheel Mall, which is perfect for shopping. There’s no need to get bored at night either, as Soho Garden Palm Jumeirah is located in the Nakheel Mall, which is a great place for drinks at night as well as a night club on Fridays and Saturdays.
Peggy Gou in Soho Garden Palm Jumeirah
Click here for accommodations on the Palm in Dubai.
However, we didn’t stay on the Palm, but in an apartment in Sonder Downtown Towers. We actually loved the location as it was very close to the Dubai Mall and we could see the Burj Khalifa from our apartment which was amazing. After spending the day at a beach club, we loved going to Dubai Mall to have dinner there and watched the fountain show (which we did multiple times). The apartment in Sonder Towers was perfect for us four girls, as it was a huge apartment and there were three bathrooms and somehow we always all end up having to wash our hair on the same day. I can highly recommend staying in Sonder Towers as the apartment was perfect. The only downside is that there was a huge traffic jam every night on the streets near the apartment, which mostly was a hassle on our way from the beach clubs to the apartment. Unfortunately, Dubai is very car-minded with daily traffic jams from 17:00 until 20:00. Part of the problem is that public transportation can’t get you everywhere, which is also the reason we had to travel by Uber all the time. By choosing a specific area in Dubai you want to explore and choosing your accommodation there, you can avoid being stuck in a car all the time.
Click here to book a room in Sonder Downtown Towers.
I hope this blog post made it easier for you to choose which beach club to visit in Dubai. Have you been to Dubai or is it still on your travel bucket list? Let us know in the comments below!
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