We spent a week in Dubai and did a lot of fun things, but the desert safari was by far our favorite experience.

It was surprisingly difficult, even with all our research beforehand, to figure out what was included. Does this operator go sandboarding? Where do they go dune bashing? Can you ride a camel and hold a hawk for free, or are those extra charges? What do they give you for dinner and is it a buffet or limited? So many questions. This post has the answers.

Quick note: Nothing on this page is sponsored. We just wanted to share our experience because it was difficult to find the information we were looking for. We use some affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, potentially earn us a small commission. As always, thank you so much for your support.

So here’s what we were looking for in a desert safari:

1. All-inclusive. Our biggest requirement was that everything was included. We were traveling Dubai on a budget so we didn’t want any surprise fees, but we also wanted to do everything possible – especially sandboarding.
2. Sandboarding. I love snowboarding, and sandboarding has always been on my bucket list. I didn’t want to go all the way to Dubai, into the desert, to find out it wasn’t part of the deal.
3. Dinner and a show. Some tour operators just do the dune bashing but not the dinner and show. Others have a show but dinner is not free (or seriously limited).
4. Fun extras. When we looked at all the tours, some included the ability to dress in traditional Emirati attire, hold a hawk, smoke a hookah (we don’t smoke, but it’s nice to have the option), and ride camels. The more of this that was included, the better.

We weren’t too concerned about what dunes we’d be driving on during the dune bashing part. Some tours promise the BIGGEST dunes, but Isa is prone to motion sickness sometimes so we were already concerned with the regular-sized dunes. Note: Follow their instructions to not eat a big meal beforehand. Isa loved the dune bashing part of this excursion and never got even a little woozy. Turns out everyone goes dune bashing in the same place, so don’t worry about it.

Ultimately, after all our research, we ended up going with OceanAir Travels because it had everything we wanted. After experiencing it ourselves, we highly recommend it.

What to expect

If you’d rather watch our experience, click play. But if you want the step-by-step of what you’re getting into, read on.

Getting out to the Red Dunes

You’ll get picked up at your hotel. Unless you booked a private tour or have six people in your party, expect to stop at one or two other hotels to pick up more passengers. From Dubai, you’ll drive an hour into the desert toward Oman and park at a rest stop (here).

The rest stop is a waiting area not only for you if you need to use the bathroom or grab some snacks, but for the drivers to wait for all the other groups to arrive, since you all go dune bashing together. They also let air out of the tires so you don’t get stuck in the sand.

While you’re waiting, you can rent a quad/4-wheeler. It was 240 AED, which is about $65 USD, but you can haggle. We didn’t do it because that cost more than the entire Desert Safari experience to begin with and you just cruise around in circles in a big mostly-flat sandpit. Not worth it in my book.

Everything at the rest stop costs money. You can ride a camel, hold a hawk, and do a lot of the other things that will be free later on at the camp. You’ll hang out here 15-40 minutes, depending on when you arrived, and then you’ll head out dune bashing.

Dune Bashing

Like I said earlier, everyone goes dune bashing in the same place. You all leave the rest area together and drive in a line for about 5 minutes and then turn into the desert and you’re almost immediately dune bashing. You can actually still see the highway in the background of this picture:

You’ve got handles to hold onto in the truck and you’re buckled in, so you (mostly) stay in place. You bounce around in your seat about as much as you would on a scrambler ride at a carnival. I highly recommend watching the video above from about the 2-minute mark if you want to see what dune bashing is like. Much easier to watch than explain. Look for the big smiles and laughter throughout. It’s SO FUN!

If you’re big or tall and curious if you’ll fit in the Land Cruiser, the answer is most likely. I’m 6 feet tall (1.83m) and my knees touched the seat in front of me.

That actually worked because it helped me be a little more stable so I could film. The seats also seemed reinforced, so it didn’t feel like I was pushing into the people in front of me.

If you’re all the way in the back like we were, you can’t really see out the front window, but we never felt like we couldn’t see what was happening because we had large side windows and the back window.

I mean, there’s not much to see anyway. It’s all just desert.

It’s really all about the g-forces pulling you in all directions and that weightless feeling you get when you go over the top of a dune. So it doesn’t matter where you’re sitting. But if you’re super tall, you may want to request the front seat.

Sandboarding

After about 20 minutes of dune bashing, you’ll stop for some fun in the sand. Run up a dune to get some selfies with nothing but desert and sun behind you.

While you’re taking selfies, the tour operators are getting the sandboards out and waxing them. You’ll congregate on top of a relatively tall dune and everyone takes turns. It’s all in good fun – some people sat on the boards like a sled, others only made it a few feet before falling over. Everyone is supportive and having a good time. There’s no pressure to do it well, or even to do it at all. But everyone who wanted to try was able to do it at least 3 or 4 times. Tip: if you want to go fast, make sure to wax your board first!

And apparently, that’s how I stand when filming.

The sand is super soft and not too hot, so it’s really nice to run around in bare feet. And crashing/falling off the sandboard doesn’t hurt.

We had SO much fun sandboarding. It was sweaty and dirty and tiring but we could have done that for an hour for sure. Dune bashing and sandboarding alone would have been worth the price of the excursion for us, but there’s still so much more! After about 20 minutes of sandboarding, we piled back into our cars and watched the sunset over the dunes as we drove to the Bedouin Camp for dinner and the night show.

Bedouin Camp (Dinner and Night Show)

It’s about 30 minutes from the dunes to the Bedouin camp. This is the biggest differentiator between the tours. As you’ve seen so far, everything up to this point in the excursion is pretty much the same across every tour operator. But there are vastly more tour operators than there are Bedouin camps, so most tours bring their guests to a camp that’s operated by another company. That was the case for us – we booked with OceanAir, but the camp was owned and operated by Oscar Knight Tours. Every camp will do a show and give you dinner, coffee, and a few treats. But some camps charge for camel rides, henna painting, holding the hawk, and other additional experiences. If you book directly through this link, you can be assured that everything is included.

As soon as we arrived, we went straight for the camels.

Most people went inside to grab a snack and a seat, so there was no line to ride the camels. Riding a camel is different than I expected. They’re wonky and really tall. Getting up and down is jerky and kind of a fun ride in itself. They take a few pictures for you and then lead you around for about five minutes and then you hop off.

If you want a front row seat for the show, make sure you go in there before riding the camels. It’s first come first served unless you’ve paid a premium for some reserved seats. We didn’t mind sitting in the back because then we could stand and not block anyone’s view.

Dinner was good. I really appreciated that it was an all-you-can-eat buffet, because I ate a ton. This was my first plate.

I didn’t know what everything was that I was eating, but it was all good. Barbecue chicken, shawarmas, a bunch of rice, lots of veggie options, salads, and tons of local Emirati treats. You’ve also got all the coffee, tea, and water you can drink. They rotate the food throughout the night, so you can just keep going back to the buffet area and find new things to try, like I did on this round for baklava and watermelon. We ate so much food.

In between eating, smoking your hookah, and talking with your table mates, you can wander around the camp and try everything out, like holding a hawk…

…and dressing in traditional Emirati clothing.

A little note here, since we’ve gotten some comments about disrespecting other religions for a photo op. The clothing you see above is not religious at all. It’s what normal Emirati people where to the mall, and comes from their long history of living in the dessert. For example, the black cord around my head can be taken off to attach to your camel, and the agal (head covering) is long in the back to block the sun from your neck and also to wrap around your face when sand blows in your face. It’s like going to Texas and wearing boots, jeans, and a cowboy hat. Not disrespectful at all. You just clearly look like a tourist.

The show starts with some twirling. If you’ve ever been to Istanbul and seen the Whirling Dervishes, it’s like that, but with props and lights.

After the twirling comes the belly dancing. During the month of Ramadan and other religious holidays, they’re not allowed to have belly dancing, so you may get a fire dancing instead if you go mid-April to mid-May.

The show is also much better in video than it is in pictures, so again I’d recommend watching the video above from about the 6-minute mark. Our show was a little unique because a little girl from the audience actually ran onto the stage mid-performance and the belly dancer played along.

The whole Bedouin camp experience was amazing. The dancing was so entertaining, the food was great, and the staff was so friendly as we walked around to try out the different activities.

After the show, they drove us the hour or so back to our hotel and we watched the fountains dance by Burj Khalifa. Overall, it was an amazing day and we highly, HIGHLY, recommend doing a desert safari when you take your next trip to Dubai. Hopefully this post helped to answer any questions you may have had, but if you have any more, feel free to leave them in the comments below or in the comments on our YouTube video. We respond to everything.