Dubai and UAE events calendar: dates, venues and how to get there

Which major events happen in Dubai and the UAE each year?

Most big UAE events return to the same month each year, but the venues are moving. GITEX, Automechanika and parts of WHX and Gulfood have left Dubai World Trade Centre for the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City, about 40 km further south. The table lists the next confirmed dates for the 2026 to 2027 season, each from the organiser’s own site.

Month	Event	Venue	Emirate	Next dates	Organiser site
October to May	Global Village, Season 31	Global Village	Dubai	14 Oct 2026 to May 2027	globalvillage.ae
November	ADIPEC	ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi	2 to 5 Nov 2026	adipec.com
November	Automechanika Dubai	Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City	Dubai	10 to 12 Nov 2026	messefrankfurt.com
November	DP World Tour Championship	Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates	Dubai	12 to 15 Nov 2026	europeantour.com
November	Big 5 Global	Dubai World Trade Centre	Dubai	23 to 26 Nov 2026	big5global.com
November	Emirates Dubai 7s	The Sevens Stadium, Al Ain Road	Dubai	27 to 29 Nov 2026	emiratesdubai7s.com
December	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit	Abu Dhabi	4 to 6 Dec 2026	formula1.com
December to January	Dubai Shopping Festival	Malls and sites across Dubai	Dubai	4 Dec 2026 to 17 Jan 2027	visitdubai.com
December	GITEX Global	DWTC on 7 Dec, then Dubai Exhibition Centre	Dubai	7 to 11 Dec 2026	gitex.com
December	Expand North Star	Expo City Dubai	Dubai	8 to 10 Dec 2026	expandnorthstar.com
December	New Year’s Eve	Downtown Dubai and other sites	Dubai	31 Dec 2026	mydubainewyear.emaar.com
Winter	Sheikh Zayed Festival	Al Wathba	Abu Dhabi	2026 to 2027 dates not posted	zayedfestival.ae
January	Hero Dubai Desert Classic	Majlis Course, Emirates Golf Club	Dubai	21 to 24 Jan 2027	dubaidesertclassic.com
January	WHX Dubai (formerly Arab Health)	Dubai Exhibition Centre and DWTC	Dubai	25 to 28 Jan 2027	worldhealthexpo.com
January	IDEX	ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi	25 to 29 Jan 2027	idexuae.ae
February	Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships	Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Garhoud	Dubai	14 to 27 Feb 2027	dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com
March	Gulfood	DWTC and Dubai Exhibition Centre	Dubai	15 to 19 Mar 2027	gulfood.com
March	Untold Dubai	Dubai Parks and Resorts	Dubai	19 to 21 Mar 2027	untold.ae
March	Dubai World Cup	Meydan Racecourse	Dubai	27 Mar 2027	dubairacingclub.com
May	Arabian Travel Market	Dubai World Trade Centre	Dubai	3 to 6 May 2027	wtm.com/atm
May	GISEC Global	Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City	Dubai	4 to 6 May 2027	gisec.ae
May	Middle East Energy	Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City	Dubai	11 to 13 May 2027	middleeast-energy.com
November	DP World Tour Championship	Course for 2027 not yet listed	Dubai	11 to 14 Nov 2027	europeantour.com
November	Dubai Airshow	Dubai Airshow Site, Al Maktoum International (DWC)	Dubai	15 to 19 Nov 2027	dubaiairshow.aero

Every row was checked on 17 October 2026. Dates in the table are the organisers’ published dates, so a row changes only when the organiser changes it.

Exhibitions and trade shows: which hall is where

Three exhibition centres host the trade shows in this calendar. Each sits in a different place, so the hotel that suits one show can be a long drive from the next.

• Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is on Sheikh Zayed Road, about 16 km from DXB, with its own Red Line Metro station. It keeps Big 5 Global, Arabian Travel Market, the GITEX Summit day and shares of WHX and Gulfood. Big 5 Global does not admit visitors under 21. Our DWTC parking and drop-off guide maps the car parks to the halls.
• The Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) is inside Expo City Dubai in Dubai South, about 22 km from Al Maktoum International. GITEX Global, Automechanika, GISEC and Middle East Energy are all listed there. The Expo City parking and Metro guide covers the zones and drop-off points.
• ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi hosts ADIPEC across 16 halls and IDEX in January. It is about 33 km from Zayed International Airport (AUH) and about 132 km from Downtown Dubai. The ADNEC car park and taxi guide lists car parks A, B, D and E.

GITEX week has changed the most. The Summit runs at DWTC on Monday 7 December 2026, then the Expo moves to the DEC from 8 to 11 December. Dubai Media Office says the move reunites GITEX with Expand North Star and places it in Dubai’s tourism season. Halls, badges and hotels are in our GITEX Global visitor guide.

Sports: the Grand Prix, racing, tennis, golf and the Dubai 7s

The sports season starts in mid-November and runs to the end of March.

• The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix runs 4 to 6 December 2026. Round 23, the last round of the Formula 1 season, at Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island. The circuit is about 19 km from AUH and about 114 km from Downtown Dubai. Race-weekend cars are covered on our Grand Prix chauffeur page.
• Emirates Dubai 7s, 27 to 29 November 2026. The Sevens Stadium sits on the E66 Dubai to Al Ain Road, with about 15,000 parking spaces. Free shuttle buses run from 7 pm to 1:30 am every 15 minutes to DMCC Metro, Sports City, Studio City, Financial Centre Metro and the tennis stadium. Last entry is 8 pm, and there is no re-entry after 9 pm.
• Golf. The DP World Tour Championship is on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from 12 to 15 November 2026. The Hero Dubai Desert Classic follows on the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club from 21 to 24 January 2027.
• Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, 14 to 27 February 2027. The WTA week runs first, with the main draw from 14 February, and the ATP week starts on 22 February. The stadium in Garhoud is about 9 km from DXB.
• Dubai World Cup, Saturday 27 March 2027. Dubai Racing Club holds it on the last Saturday of March at Meydan Racecourse in Nad Al Sheba, about 20 km from DXB. See World Cup night with a driver.

Festivals and city celebrations

The city events last weeks, not days, and they change evening traffic more than daytime traffic.

• Dubai Shopping Festival: 4 December 2026 to 17 January 2027, across the city’s malls and event sites.
• Global Village, Season 31: open from 14 October 2026 to May 2027. Hours are 4 pm to midnight from Sunday to Wednesday, and 4 pm to 1 am from Thursday to Saturday. Tuesdays are kept for ladies and families, except on public holidays.
• New Year’s Eve in Downtown Dubai: at the last edition, Emaar opened Burj Park from 12 noon and started the celebrations at 5 pm. Road closures began as early as 4 pm. Our event road closures guide tracks the RTA plans as they are published.
• Sheikh Zayed Festival, Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi: the 2025 to 2026 edition opened with drone shows on 1 to 3 December 2025, starting at 9:30 pm. The 2026 to 2027 dates were not on the festival site when we checked.
• Untold Dubai, 19 to 21 March 2027: the festival site now lists Dubai Parks and Resorts. Older pages that place it at Expo City are out of date.

Concerts and shows at the arenas and Dubai Opera

Indoor venues book shows all year, so check the date on your ticket rather than a season.

• Coca-Cola Arena, City Walk. It holds up to 17,000 people. Cars set down in a drop-off zone in front of entrances A, B and C, and there is no valet. Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa Metro station is a few minutes’ walk away. It is about 19 km from DXB.
• Etihad Arena, Yas Island. It sits on the same island as Yas Marina Circuit, about 19 km from AUH and about 114 km from Downtown Dubai. A show night from Downtown means about 2 hours 30 minutes of driving there and back, without traffic. Parking and drop-off are in our Etihad Arena guide.
• Dubai Opera, Downtown Dubai. It stands on Opera Plaza in the Burj Khalifa district, about 18 km from DXB. That is the same district the New Year’s Eve road closures cover.

Where are the main venues, and how far are they from the airports?

Road distances and free-flow drive times come from OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap, averaged over both directions. The DXB column is measured from Terminal 1. Event days add time on every approach road.

Venue	Emirate	From DXB	From DWC	From AUH
Dubai World Trade Centre	Dubai	16 km, 26 min	55 km, 54 min	118 km, 1 h 20
Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City	Dubai	49 km, 52 min	22 km, 29 min	88 km, 1 h 1
ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi	148 km, 1 h 47	111 km, 1 h 21	33 km, 31 min
Yas Marina Circuit	Abu Dhabi	130 km, 1 h 36	93 km, 1 h 10	19 km, 23 min
Etihad Arena	Abu Dhabi	130 km, 1 h 37	93 km, 1 h 11	19 km, 24 min
Coca-Cola Arena	Dubai	19 km, 29 min	52 km, 52 min	114 km, 1 h 17
Dubai Opera	Dubai	18 km, 28 min	49 km, 51 min	115 km, 1 h 17
Meydan Racecourse	Dubai	20 km, 36 min	48 km, 56 min	119 km, 1 h 27
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium	Dubai	9 km, 20 min	56 km, 57 min	125 km, 1 h 24
The Sevens Stadium	Dubai	42 km, 48 min	43 km, 47 min	127 km, 1 h 30
Jumeirah Golf Estates	Dubai	41 km, 49 min	30 km, 42 min	102 km, 1 h 15
Emirates Golf Club	Dubai	36 km, 42 min	35 km, 39 min	98 km, 1 h 4
Global Village	Dubai	33 km, 41 min	32 km, 39 min	112 km, 1 h 20

Two patterns stand out. Expo City is closer to Abu Dhabi’s airport than DWTC is. And for Yas Island events, landing at AUH saves well over an hour against DXB.

Which weeks have the worst event traffic?

Around DWTC, the RTA has warned of congestion from 8 am to 12 pm and from 4 pm to 8 pm during major events. Big 5 Global, Gulfood and Automechanika open at 10 am and close at 5 or 6 pm, so arrivals and exits both fall inside those windows. These are the weeks where two or more big events overlap in the 2026 to 2027 season:

1. 23 to 29 November 2026. Big 5 Global at DWTC from Monday to Thursday, then the Dubai 7s on Al Ain Road from Friday to Sunday.
2. 4 to 11 December 2026. The Grand Prix weekend on Yas Island and the opening of the Dubai Shopping Festival. Then the GITEX Summit at DWTC on Monday and four GITEX Expo days at Expo City.
3. 21 to 29 January 2027. The Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club, then WHX at the DEC and DWTC and IDEX at ADNEC in the same week. Three exhibition venues in two emirates are busy at once.
4. 15 to 27 March 2027. Gulfood at both Dubai venues, Untold Dubai the same weekend, and the Dubai World Cup at Meydan a week later.
5. 3 to 13 May 2027. Arabian Travel Market at DWTC and GISEC at the DEC in the same week, then Middle East Energy at the DEC.
6. 31 December. Downtown closures that started as early as 4 pm at the last edition.

During listed grand events, Parkin also charges AED 25 an hour from 8 am to 10 pm on about 200 public bays around DWTC.

Metro, taxi, shuttle or car with a driver: what works at each venue?

Venue	Metro	Taxi and ride-hailing	Parking
DWTC	World Trade Centre station, Red Line, own station	Drop-off opposite the Ibis Hotel and at the Za’abeel Hall entrance	7,530 spaces in six paid and two free car parks
Dubai Exhibition Centre	Expo 2020 station, 5 to 10 minutes’ walk	Drop-off on Boulevard 2020 Street; at GITEX, taxis use the Transportation Hub	DEC’s FAQ says parking is free for DEC events
ADNEC Centre	No Metro line listed by ADNEC; bus 040	Taxi rank at the Aloft hotel entrance	Car parks A, B, D and E, up to 6,000 vehicles
Coca-Cola Arena	Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa station, a few minutes’ walk	Drop-off zone in front of entrances A, B and C	Paid on site, subject to capacity, no valet
The Sevens Stadium	None at the stadium; free shuttles to DMCC and Financial Centre Metro	Dedicated taxi drop-off and a taxi rank by the main exit	About 15,000 spaces

The Metro is the strongest option at DWTC, where the station sits beside the halls. It weakens as the venue moves away from the Red Line or the event ends late.

A car with a driver wins on three kinds of day:

• Two venues in one day, such as the GITEX Summit at DWTC followed by meetings at Expo City, about 40 km apart.
• Late finishes, such as the Dubai 7s, where the last shuttles leave at 1:30 am.
• Abu Dhabi events from a Dubai hotel, where Yas Island and ADNEC are 94 to 132 km away from Dubai Marina or Downtown.

How to book a chauffeur for an event with Assure

1. Send the event, the venue, your dates and the pickup address on WhatsApp to +971 56 684 8148. Add the number of passengers and bags.
2. Say whether you need a transfer each way or a car on standby through the day.
3. You get a quote for the plan and confirm it on WhatsApp. Messages are answered 24/7, by phone too.
4. On the day, your chauffeur sets you down at the drop-off point the organiser names, then meets you at the pickup point you agreed.

Assure is RTA licensed and has been in business for more than 10 years. Our event chauffeur service has a page for each major event, with its own drop-off notes.

Car	Passengers	Where it comes from
Mercedes-Benz S-Class or BMW 7 Series	3	Assure fleet
Lexus ES 300h	3	Assure fleet
GMC Yukon or Cadillac Escalade	6	Assure fleet
Mercedes-Benz V-Class	6	Assure fleet
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter	13 or 19	Assure fleet
Coach	35 or 50	Available through our partner network, subject to availability

When do chauffeur cars and coaches book up, and how far ahead should you book?

Book as soon as your dates and hotel are fixed. The overlap weeks listed above are when the same cars are asked for by several shows at once.

• Coaches come through our partner network, subject to availability, so group bookings need the most notice. Our own 13 and 19 seat Sprinters go first in the overlap weeks. Stand teams on a monthly account can use corporate transport.
• Organiser hotel shuttles can cover a stand team’s daily run. GITEX lists more than 80 partner hotels with daily shuttles to the venue.
• VIP arrivals during a show week are easier to secure with the flight number and hotel sent early. The chauffeur then plans the airport pickup and the first venue drop as one trip.

How we check these dates

Every date here comes from the organiser’s official site, and each one is listed under Sources with the date we checked it: 17 October 2026. We re-check the whole calendar once a year and each event again about 60 days before it opens.

Dates do move. Arabian Travel Market 2026 was meant to run from 4 to 7 May at DWTC. On 18 March 2026, the organiser RX moved it to 17 to 20 August. When a date has not been announced, the table says so instead of guessing from last year.