Updated
Last New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025) the fireworks at Bluewaters and The Beach, JBR were listed for 11:59pm and were free to watch, Gulf News reported. Under RTA’s plan JBR was closed to private cars and open only to pedestrians from 4pm.
This season’s programme for Bluewaters and The Beach, JBR is not announced yet. We update this page when it is.
Gulf News’s schedule of Dubai Shopping Festival fireworks, published on 4 December 2025, put Bluewaters and The Beach JBR at 11:59pm on 31 December. Khaleej Times spoke of JBR’s midnight fireworks. The festival ran from 5 December 2025 to 11 January 2026. This season it is due to run from 4 December 2026 to 17 January 2027, TradeArabia reported on 14 October 2026, with the full programme to be announced in the coming month.
The festival also flew a drone show between Bluewaters and The Beach, JBR at 8pm and 10pm every night, free to watch. No source gives its times on 31 December itself.
Gulf News said the displays could be seen from the promenade, the beach and nearby restaurants, with Ain Dubai as part of the view. RTA called JBR the second most popular New Year’s Eve destination in Dubai.
| When | Rule or report |
|---|---|
| From 4pm | JBR closed to private cars, pedestrians only. RTA’s plan as reported by Khaleej Times and Gulf News. |
| All evening | Only taxis on King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street, the main JBR road. |
| About 10:38pm | RTA suspended traffic at JBR, Gulf News’s live blog reported. |
| About 10:54pm | The same street towards JBR was reported closed. |
| 11pm to 1am | No ride-hailing cars or limousines on that street. |
Sources: Khaleej Times, 30 December 2025, and the Gulf News live blog of 31 December 2025. Live blog times are when the paper posted, not measured closing times.
The 4pm rule is the plan, not a record of what happened. On the day an RTA official told Khaleej Times that access would tighten in stages, with full closures expected around 11pm.
No stopping or parking was allowed on the roads inside JBR. RTA put 700 to 1,000 taxis there for the journey home.
Bluewaters: the plan was to restrict access to the island once it was full. No report says whether that happened.
The Dubai Tram, which serves JBR, was timetabled to run from 6am on 31 December 2025 to 1am on 2 January 2026, and the metro from 5am on 31 December to 11:59pm on 1 January. Gulf News said people heading to the JBR fireworks were encouraged to use the tram.
RTA also sold fireworks trips on the Dubai Ferry from the Marina Mall, Al Ghubaiba and Bluewaters stations. They left between 10pm and 10:30pm and ended at 1:30am, at AED 350 in Silver Class and AED 525 in Gold Class.
Ain Dubai sold New Year’s Eve tickets for 31 December 2025. Its own offer page showed a shared View cabin from AED 395 per adult and AED 315 per child aged 3 and over, and a Premium cabin at AED 695, and was marked sold out. Khaleej Times printed AED 315 as the starting price; that was the child price.
The official plan reserved Dubai’s public beaches for families on New Year’s Eve. Whether the JBR beach itself was covered is not settled: the list of four named beaches does not include it.
Midnight has averaged about 22°C at the airport on the last ten New Year’s Eves, and the sea off this coast was about 23°C on 31 December 2025. Last season’s forecast warned of north-westerly winds gusting to 50 km/h, so bring a layer for the waterfront.
A table changes the night: ask each venue what you see from your own seat, and how it wants you to arrive once cars are barred.
Our JBR page, Bluewaters page and Marina page list the venues we know of there.
Send your group size, your budget and the show you want to watch. We check which tables are on offer and reply in the same chat. It costs you nothing.
Or skip the crowd. These venues take New Year's Eve enquiries now for dinner and a party. None has a fireworks view.
OCCO's own building on Hessa Street in Al Barsha 3: dinner, a terrace and shisha, away from the Downtown crowds. Mocktails and juices, children welcome.
From AED 350 per person guide price
Call +971 50 905 2216
Restaurant and lounge in Al Safa 2, near Jumeirah: live fire kitchen, live sets and shisha until late.
From AED 250 per person guide price
Call +971 4 343 3375
Dinner, a late lounge with a bar and a shisha terrace at Hyde Dubai, on the canal in Business Bay.
From AED 990 per person guide price
Call +971 56 430 5280