A Dubai layover with young children.

Start with the clock

Take your layover and subtract about an hour for landing, immigration and the walk to the car. Then subtract the time your airline wants you back at the airport before departure. Most airlines ask for around three hours before an international flight, but check your own, because that time comes off your day.

Six hours is borderline. The sum leaves about two hours, which is thin with a pushchair and a snack stop. Our Dubai stopover tour page has the same timings for travellers of any age, and it says plainly that under six hours is better spent airside.

First check you can leave the airport

Leaving the airport means passing through immigration. Whether you can do that depends on the passports in your family and your visa situation, and the rules change. Check with your airline and the UAE immigration rules before you book anything, and do it for every person in the group, including the children.

One area, not four

The mistake families make is planning the stopover like a city break. With young children, pick one area and let the rest go. The distances decide which.

• Old Dubai is about ten minutes from the airport. The old houses at Al Fahidi, an abra ride across the Creek and a walk through the souks fit a short layover.
• Downtown is 15 to 25 minutes from DXB outside the peaks, with the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall in one place and a lot of indoor space.
• Dubai Marina and the Palm are 40 minutes or more away at busy times. With small children, leave them for another trip.

On a weekday evening, from about 4:30 pm to around 8 pm, the Downtown run can take 40 minutes to an hour. After 10 pm it is around 15 to 20 minutes. Build your return around that, and ask the driver to start back early rather than late.

Where the nap happens

Nobody has a hotel room, so the vehicle is the quiet place. A van lets a sleeping child lie across a seat, and a driver who does not mind waiting ten extra minutes means you do not have to lift the child out at the car park. Tell the driver at the start of the day if a nap is likely, not when you are at the door.

Our drivers keep the vehicle cooled between stops, and the hand luggage stays on board while you walk. If your children sleep best in the evening, a later layover works the same way, and the Dubai Fountain shows run in the evening. Which suits your family is your call.

Bags, pushchair and child seats

Checked bags that go through to your final destination stay with the airline, so you only carry what came off the plane. Hand luggage can stay in the vehicle while you visit each stop. If you travel with a pushchair, say so and say whether it folds. We confirm the fit in writing, and the suitcase guide explains why a stroller counts as more than one bag.

You do not need to carry a child seat through the airport. Child seats are free on request in our cars, SUVs and vans. Give each child’s age when you book and the right seat is fitted before the driver arrives.

Which vehicle

Two adults and a baby with hand luggage fit an executive sedan, which seats four with three bags. A family of four to six with bags suits the luxury SUV, which seats six with five bags. Five to seven people travel well in the Mercedes V-Class, with seven seats, six bags and sliding doors on both sides, which helps with a pushchair and a sleeping child.

Larger groups, such as two families on the same flight, can share the 13-seater van. Tell us the headcount including every child.

Meeting you at arrivals

Send us your arrival flight number. The driver tracks it, so an early or late landing moves the pick-up. After immigration and customs you are met in the arrivals hall with a name board. Pre-booked cars generally cannot wait at the arrivals kerb, so the vehicle is a short walk away, and your confirmation says where. The DXB arrivals pick-up guide explains the walk.

At the end, the driver drops you at departures for your next flight. Tell us the onward flight too, so the whole day is built around it. If a stop is needed on the way, such as water or snacks, put it in the booking notes and we confirm what we can do in your written quote.

What to send us

• Both flight numbers, with the terminals if you know them.
• The number of adults and the age of each child.
• Bags you will bring off the plane and any pushchair.
• How many hours you have between landing and the check-in time your airline asks for.

We reply with a plan and a fixed written quote by the hour. Attraction tickets are booked by you. Use the booking page, and see hourly chauffeur hire for how hours are counted.

Related: Stopover tour · Dubai airport transfer for groups · Meeting your driver at DXB · Chauffeur by the Hour · City tour by private minibus · Get a quote

Keep reading

• Stopover tour: A private Dubai stopover or layover tour from DXB: met at arrivals, shown the city at your pace, back at the terminal in good time for your next flight.
• Three generations in Dubai: transport plan: Grandparents, parents and children on one Dubai trip: which vehicle holds eight to thirteen people with bags, how to split the days and where to build in rests.
• Dubai with a stroller: vehicle and bags: Which vehicle takes a folded stroller plus suitcases in Dubai: bag places per vehicle, a simple planning count for the stroller, sliding doors and what to tell us.
• Dubai 7s FAQ: what we do and do not do: Plain answers about the Emirates Dubai 7s and our part in it: no tickets, no parking, no lockers, how children and late returns work and where the entry cut-off falls.
• Family holiday in Dubai: A family week in Dubai: which days a van with a driver earns its place, which days taxis or the Metro are fine, and a simple way to work out the cost.
• Dubai Airport to your hotel: Metro, bus, taxi rank, app ride, hotel transfer or a driver in arrivals: how to reach your hotel from DXB, area by area.