Dubai is known for its round-the-year warm to hot temperatures. A refreshing cool down is always welcome. Instead of going to the beach, an exciting visit to the Atlantis Aquaventure water park – Dubai’s most popular water park – is a great option.
Hotel Atlantis The Palm
The Atlantis Hotel is one of Dubai’s biggest landmarks. It is also home to two top attractions: Aquaventure Waterpark and Dubai’s largest aquarium, The Lost Chambers Aquarium. As if that were not enough, the hotel also offers exclusive encounters with small and large sea creatures, such as dolphins and sea lions.
Just a few hundred meters away, the Royal Atlantis Resort will open in 2020. It promotes itself with modern and luxurious facilities, as well as an extremely impressive skypool. Of course, access to the attractions at Atlantis The Palm is equally free for hotel guests.
If you stay in one of the hotels, the entrance to the water park is included for one day. For some, this deal is definitely worth considering. A room is available, depending on the season and room category, from about $210 per night. In the high season the price exceeds also gladly $525. Those who can’t afford it or don’t want to, can be assured; because all attractions are also open for day visitors.
How to get to the water park
The Atlantis Hotel and therefore the Aquaventure Water Park are located at the far end of the Palm Jumeirah. Due to its remote location, the easiest way to get there is by cab. Depending on where you start from, you pay about $5-$20 for the ride.
Alternatively, you can arrive by a combination of metro, streetcar and monorail. It is as complicated as it sounds. But if you feel like it, here is the detailed travel plan:
- Take the metro to Dubai Marina Metro Station (the ride costs a maximum of $2 per person).
- Cross under expressway in the direction of Dubai Marina
- Take Dubai Marina Tram and get off at Palm Jumeirah station (takes 10 minutes, price about 80 cents).
- Buy tickets for the Palm Jumeirah Monorail and ride it to the Atlantis Hotel. The single trip costs 20 AED, the return ticket 30 AED, which is about $8. The monorail runs daily every 11 minutes from 9 am to 10 pm.
The advantage of riding the monorail is the view of the man-made Palm Jumeirah from above. It is so large that otherwise one does not get any kind of impression of its dimensions.
If the whole travel procedure is too complicated for you, you could simply take a cab to the Palm Gateway Monorail Station. This is a price disadvantage, but it should be forgotten with the beautiful sight.
If you want to avoid the monorail and reduce the cab costs of a longer journey, it may be worthwhile to take the metro to the Mall of the Emirates Metro Station and take a cab from there.
Atlantis Aquaventure Water Park
Arriving at the Atlantis Hotel and Water Park, adrenaline junkies, water rats and adventure seekers can finally let off steam on the park’s 30 varied attractions.
Opening hours
Aquaventure is open every day from 10 am until sunset. Since the park has a decent size and numerous highlights to offer, you should also preferably use the entire day for the visit. That would be approximately 8 hours. To save time at the entrance in the morning, it is advisable to purchase tickets in advance.
Admission price
The normal day pass (single pass) is available on the official website from about $82 per adult. For about $95 you can get the Super Pass, which includes a visit to the aquarium. You can find the different passes and prices here.
Tickets and activities at a glance
Slides at Aquaventure
The water park has many varied slides to offer. Whether speedy curves or vertical drops – fun is certainly guaranteed here. The following is a list of the slides, where I mark with an asterisk ★ my favorites that you should not miss either.
The body slides:
Leap of Faith★: In this grandiose slide, you go down 9 levels vertically at the beginning to slide through a pipe in the shark tank at the end. The coolest slide in the park in my opinion, which takes a lot of effort at the beginning, but is unfortunately over too quickly at the end. And don’t worry: the best and safest slide position will be shown to you on site by the staff, so that you arrive safely at the bottom.
Poseidon’s Revenge ★: Here you stand in a capsule at the beginning, in which the floor opens after a countdown. You then race through the tube at 60 km/h. The highlight is definitely the jerky opening bottom flap. Heart pounding is pre-programmed.
Slitherine : This is a double slide with stopwatch, so you can compete with your family or friends. Who is sliding faster?
The tire slides:
Shark Attack ★: In this rather leisurely slide, you glide through an aquarium full of sharks in a transparent tube. A somewhat surreal, but cool sight.
Stinger, Falls, The Storm and The Surge: Alone or in pairs, you drive through fast curves and tunnels, up and down again and again, until you end up in the Lazy River.
Lazy River: The name says it all. In the Lazy River you can let yourself float relaxed on a tire through the park – for a whole 45 minutes. The 1.6 kilometer long “river” is also super as a means of transportation; because along the entire route there are several entry and exit points.
Now I come to the two group slides. The large hoops must seat at least 4 and can seat up to 8 people to provide some balance. On a day with few visitors, you may have to wait 5 minutes if you are traveling in pairs.
Zoomerango ★: This slide doesn’t look like much – but it blew me away even more. After a few wild curves, the highlight of this slide is the free fall, which ends in a half-pipe as it soars upwards, providing two decent moments of shock. I couldn’t suppress a short outcry. Do not miss it!
Aquaconda: The Aquaconda is the largest tube water slide in the world and should probably be tried for that reason alone.
These were the thrilling slides of the Aquaventure water park. But the park has many more attractions to offer…
Surf’s Up Wave Rider: This is a wave machine for surfers or those who want to become one. The attraction is included in the normal day pass. A private surf lesson, on the other hand, costs about $68.
Splashers children’s play area: This dedicated family area features 14 kid-friendly water slides, giant water buckets, an obstacle course, and a shipwreck to run around on. Soft surfaces and lifeguards provide extra safety.
Diving at Atlantis Aquaventure Water Park
For the very adventurous, the park offers various dives in its huge aquariums:
In Ambassador Lagoon, both beginners and professionals can go diving with countless sharks, stingrays and fish. The fun is available from about $340 per person.
More favorable is the underwater walk-through via Aquatrek. Here, with the help of a high-tech underwater helmet, you can breathe normally underwater and thus walk among the 65,000 sea creatures. This “Shark Safari” is already available from about $105.
For experienced divers a dive including hand feeding of rays is offered. This exclusive experience costs a whopping $680 per person. The most convenient is snorkeling in the lagoon. This is about $80 per person. You can see all the diving offers here.
Aquaventure Beach
After all the adrenaline rushes, you also have to take a break and relax. The best place to do that is on the beach at Aquaventure Water Park, overlooking Dubai Marina and the Burj al Arab. The 500 meters long white sandy beach offers enough space and peace for a relaxing break.
But if you have the itch, you can also enjoy water sports there. A kayak, inflatable boat or stand up paddle board can be rented on the beach.
Atlantean Flyer
The Atlantean Flyer is a zipline at a height of 20 meters. From there you can enjoy the bird’s eye view of the water park, the Atlantis Hotel, and further away, the Dubai skyline. If you buy a ticket for the zipline, you can use it as many times as you want throughout the day. The price is about $30.
Dolphin Bay
Have you always dreamed of swimming with dolphins, or at least getting up close and personal with them? At Aquaventure there are numerous offers and possibilities for this. What’s super convenient about this is that when you book any dolphin encounter, admission to the water park on the same day is included.
The Dolphin Encounter (from $160) is the “Basic” dolphin experience. Here you can cuddle with the dolphins in the shallow water and take photos. Swimming is not necessary. Unlike the Dolphin Adventure (from $185), where you get to swim through the water together with the dolphins.
At the Royal Swim (from $260) you can even be pulled through the lagoon by two dolphins. Sounds like a lot of fun. But for this experience you should be a good swimmer.
A simple photo session with the dolphins and some petting is available from about $120. All offers and prices can be found here. If you are in possession of the Dubai Entertainer, you can consider yourself particularly lucky. Because there are great 2-for-1 offers for Dolphin Bay, with which you can save a lot of money. Here you can take a closer look at the deals.
Sea Lion Point
Sea lions are also not usually easy to get close to, so you could take your chances at Aquaventure Water Park’s Sea Lion Point. Again, if you book any sea lion experience, admission to the water park is free.
While the Sea Lion Photo Fun (from approx. $120) keeps you dry on the shore and allows you to pet the marine mammals and take photos with them, the Sea Lion Discovery (from approx. $160) focuses on playing and swimming with the animals. An experience that you definitely won’t forget so quickly.
Eating at Aquaventure
With a day full of action and excitement, the stomach grumbles especially quickly. But fortunately, there are plenty of options there in the park to satisfy his appetite. The offer ranges from gourmet restaurants to quick snacks that you can just take away. The Barracudas dining room, which houses several restaurants, offers the widest selection. Here you can find burgers, sandwiches and pasta dishes, as well as a refreshing ice cream for dessert.
A family-friendly menu can be found at Splashers, milkshakes and soft serve ice cream at Lagoons, and coffee and cake at Snappers. For a reasonably filling meal, you should budget about $15 per person.
Good to know: Bringing food is allowed in small quantities, such as a bottle of water and small snacks.
Are lockers available?
Yes, but they are expensive. A small locker costs 45 AED (about $12), a large one 75 AED, so about $19. Expensive extra costs that you may be able to avoid. It is better to take only a few things with you to the park and, above all, to do without valuable items as far as possible. It would be practical to store your valuables in such a waterproof bag and carry it around with you. So you always have your camera and snacks with you.
Exkurs: The Lost Chambers Aquarium
The Lost Chambers Aquarium is located directly in the Atlantis Hotel. If you only want to visit the aquarium, the entrance fee is about $28 per person. From my point of view, it’s not worth it. Only if you want to visit the Aquaventure water park anyway, the combination ticket for both attractions is a good choice.
The aquarium consists largely of the already mentioned Ambassador Lagoon, where you can also go diving. The basin houses 65,000 marine animals – including sharks, colorful fish and rays. In total, you will find 21 individual aquariums and 20 marine life exhibits. With the help of augmented reality technology, you can even pet virtual polar bears and penguins.
You can learn even more about the exciting underwater world on a behind-the-scenes exploration tour of the aquarium. However, the tour costs $12 extra.
Conclusion about Atlantis Aquaventure Water Park
If you’re already in Dubai, you should definitely visit Aquaventure – as long as you can handle a good adrenaline rush and lots of action. The varied slides and attractions bring huge fun, the beach is wonderful for relaxing, and the entire facility is well-maintained and clean.
The price of the park for a full-day excursion is also absolutely within reason – especially if you then visit the aquarium.
If it can be arranged, you should choose a weekday for the excursion to avoid a larger crowd. We barely had to wait in line on a Wednesday during peak season and were able to spend our time sliding.
I wish you a happy splashing then!
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