A choreographed fountain on a 12-hectare lake, free, every half hour after dark, and better from the bridge than from a restaurant table.
Built on the 12-hectare artificial lake at the foot of the Burj Khalifa by WET Design, who also did the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, and opened in 2009. It is around 275 metres long, uses some 6,600 lights and 25 projectors, and shoots water up to 150 metres — the height of a 50-storey building.
The shows are choreographed to a rotating playlist: Arabic classical and pop, Andrea Bocelli, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Hindi film music, and seasonal programming. Each lasts three to five minutes.
Show times
Typically every half hour from early evening until late, plus a couple of afternoon shows. Times shift with the season and with Ramadan, when the evening schedule moves later. They are posted at the lake and on the Downtown Dubai app.
There is no charge and no ticket for watching.
Where to stand
The Waterfront Promenade, along the outside of the Dubai Mall’s Grand Atrium, is the main viewing area, free, and fills up thirty to sixty minutes before a popular show.
Souk Al Bahar bridge, crossing the lake on the far side, is the better spot: fewer people, and from there the tower rises directly behind the water rather than beside it.
Restaurant terraces around the lake charge a premium and many impose a minimum spend for a fountain-facing table on weekend evenings. The view is not meaningfully better than the free bridge.
Boardwalk tickets put you on a floating platform 272 metres out into the lake for a small charge. Being inside the fountain’s spray radius is a different experience and worth doing once.
Abra rides — traditional wooden boats, in this case running on the lake rather than the Creek — take you across during the show.
When
The fountain does not run in high wind, and shows are cancelled without much notice on gusty evenings.
Winter is far more comfortable for standing outside. In July and August the promenade at nine in the evening is still above 35°C with high humidity, and most visitors watch from inside the mall’s windows instead.
More Landmarks
Burj Khalifa
The tallest building in the world by a margin nothing has yet threatened, with three observation levels at three quite different prices.
Burj Al Arab
The sail-shaped hotel on its own artificial island, which you cannot enter without spending money, and can photograph for nothing.
Palm Jumeirah
Ninety-four million cubic metres of dredged sand in the shape of a palm tree, now a suburb with a monorail.