Visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens : is it even worth it tho?

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For some odd reason, one that I have yet to figure out, I keep ending up in gardens when I travel. Literally, every single freaking time, no matter how out of place. Alaska? Garden. Palm Springs? Garden. The Bahamas? Garden. I could climb Mt Everest and SOMEHOW, my weird self would find some typa garden to pop into. And the crazy thing is, I don’t even really like gardens. Bees are obsessed with me, my eyes are sensitive to sunlight, and tbh – flowers are kind of unexciting. They can’t even do backflips. But, time and time again, there I am, waist-deep in flowers. So it should come as no surprise that while visiting the United Arab Emirates, in the middle of a literal DESERT, I found myself visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens.

Like freakin’ clockwork. 

I went ahead and put all of the details about visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens in this post – including if it’s even worth the visit. 

But First –

A garden in the desert? WHERE THEY DO THAT AT??

When I visit heard about the Dubai Miracle Gardens, I was pretty shocked. And it isn’t like the cactus gardens over in Palm Springs either. There were supposed to be like – REAL FLOWERS. The kind with like, petals and stuff. 

HOW SWAY??? 

I mean, doesn’t Dubai get to “boiling eggs on the pavement” temperatures in the summer? Wouldn’t all the plants just die? 

Well, my initial assumption was correct. They indeed would just die. BUT – only in the summer. So between the months of May-ish through November the Dubai Miracle Gardens are closed. Which makes a lot of sense, biologically speaking. The park closes for roughly 6 months in the summer in order to protect the plants. However, the Dubai Miracle gardens open up again during the cooler months, mid-November through May-ish..  Since my trip to the UAE fell in the month of November, I was in the clear to visit! You should double-check on the website for the most up-to-date operating hours because they change! 

How to get there

By Car

In the most tragic mistake I made during a week-long trip to the UAE was that I did not rent a car for the entire time. If I could go back in time, I would have booked a rental car the second I bought my plane ticket. I will eventually write a guide on why you should rent a car in Dubai, but for now just know that Dubai is very big and very spread out, kind of similar to Los Angeles. It’s just easier, cheaper, and more convenient to drive. ESPECIALLY if you’re trying to make it out to the Dubai Miracle Gardens – which, by the way, is about 25 minutes from the Dubai Mall area. The parking is open and free, and they recently renovated the parking facilities to accommodate 2,000 cars. 

By Taxi

The second most convenient way would be to just catch a taxi or rideshare. It takes about the same amount of time as driving yourself, plus waiting time. The cost will be about AED 40 – 45 ($11-$15 USD). I was able to use UBER just fine in the UAE. 

By Public Transport

It’s…messy. I know, because I tried to get there. To be fair, I was attempting to get there from Old Dubai. An EASIER method I learned after the fact : there is a direct bus line (route 105) from Mall of the Emirates to the Dubai Miracle Garden. It takes about 25 minutes and I believe it runs 2pm-8pm on workdays and 12pm-10pm on Friday and Saturday. The cost is about AED 5 ($1.5 USD)

So. Pick your poison. Or…should I say…pesticide….

Is it too early in the day for garden puns?

Prices

This part is pretty straight forward. From their website, here is the cost of single entry. If you would like to schedule a group trip, you can contact their contact our group sales team. They even can arrange something special for birthdays, anniversaries, or even proposals! All that contact info is found on their website. For everyone else, here are the prices!

Regular Admission:

• Adult (12 years old above): 50AED
• Children (12 years old and below) 40AED
• Disabled and 2years old and below: Free of Charge

On that note, the gardens were overall pretty accessible mobility wise. All of the sections that I saw had ramp access, though I didn’t get a look at the restrooms.

General Garden Overview

I MEANNNN. It’s a garden. So expect lots of flowers. But, since this is Dubai, multiply the grandeur by at least 100. Like, it literally earned its THIRD Guinness Record of “World’s Largest Topiary Garden,” Along with the world’s largest topiary installation (a to-scale PLANE), and the tallest topiary installation. The Garden was started about five years ago in 2013, and it’s been flourishing ever since. Growing as in, 150 MILLION flowers – and growing. Talk about a growth sprout! 

Okay sorry, I couldn’t help the puns. Moving on. 

To paint a basic picture for you, let me describe the garden. Instead of -yanno- POSTING a picture that would show the exact thing, like any sensible travel blogger.

It’s basically a GIANT lot with no shade and tons of flowers. Well, okay, there’s a tiny bit of shade along the perimeter near the cafes and food stands. Visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens is like going through a corn maze…er, but with flowers. Every year there are new themes incorporated into the garden so that the park is never the same experience.

The Dubai Miracle Gardens also scored a licensing deal with Disney, so there will be some familiar faces. Fun fact, the giant Mickey Mouse is the piece that earned the coveted world’s tallest topiary installation. Well, I don’t know if anyone else was necessarily aiming for it, BUT DUBAI GOT IT. 

Photo Dump

Okay, I’ll shut up now and share the pictures. 

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I would say you should probably expect to spend an hour or so just walking around the gardens, closer to two if you also visit the neighboring Butterfly Garden.

Aside from burning in the sun from lack of shade, it was pretty. There are also weekly live-performance events that pop up, a photo booth, a little trampoline area for the kids, and they’ll even be starting a flower parade soon and a family-friendly Zumba class! 

But that said……

In my completely honest opinion, eh, I don’t think visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens is a Dubai-MUST. I mean, it’s huge – literally the biggest in the world, but they’re just flowers. Maybe if you’re in the city for more than four days and you’ve run out of things to do and you really like flowers…sure, go for it!

I was personally in Dubai for a week and while I don’t REGRET visiting, per se, I do wish I had spent those two hours exploring more of Old Dubai instead (which I had to rush through). So if you’re pressed on time, don’t feel guilty about skipping it.

Tips for Visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens

BUT HEY, if you’re going to visit anyway, lemme shoot you some tips!

• apply sunscreen! If you are looking for a sunscreen that does not leave a white residue or grey shine on your skin, check out my sunscreen post.
• where comfortable walking shoes. Sure, I get you want to look cute for pictures, but your feet will prob get sweaty and you’ll be slipping around in your heel sweat. BUT IF YOU MUST, you’ll survive. it’s pretty flat.
• things to bring: reusable water bottle, sun hat/visor/parasol, and cash. I don’t remember exactly…but I think the little fruit and water stands were cash only.
• your backpack will probably leave sweat stains on your shirt. Just a heads up

Have a friend going to the UAE? Share it!

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What do you think about visiting the Dubai Miracle Gardens?

If you’ve been, what were your thoughts? If you haven’t….which way are you leaning?

To garden or not to garden? Mmm…

Speaking of gardens, if you happen to be near Victoria, BC in Canada, it might also be worth your fancy to check out the world-famous (but not Guinness winning) Butchart Gardens!

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