Shopping Festival 2026/27, 45 days to plan.

What is confirmed so far

The 32nd Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) runs from Friday 4 December 2026 to Sunday 17 January 2027. That is 45 days counting both ends. The organiser is Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, known as DFRE, part of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. Its public page is on visitdubai.com, and the old mydsf.ae address now points there.

Last year’s edition, the 31st, ran for 38 days from early December 2025 to 11 January 2026. We say 45 days for this one and nothing grander. Some articles call it the longest ever, but sources disagree on that, so we leave it out.

The press release behind most of the coverage was published on 14 October 2026. It says the full programme will follow within about a month, so retail offers, line-ups and many dates will land in mid November. Until then, treat every article that names a headliner or a nightly show as unconfirmed.

The named items, and how firm each one is

Several programme items have been named in the press. None of them has a full timetable yet. This table is how we read them on 29 October 2026.

Daily fireworks and drone shows are not confirmed for 2026/27. In 2025 the programme did include a drone and pyro show of more than 1,000 drones with two nightly displays, and DSF Nights at Festival Bay opened with fireworks on the first Saturday. That was last year. Check the organiser’s notices before you build a night around it.

Where the festival sits in your trip

DSF starts two days after the 2 and 3 December National Day holiday, so the first weekend overlaps the end of that break. GITEX Global runs from 7 to 11 December, which means the first full week has business visitors in the same hotels. Our GITEX transport guide shows how those days are split between two venues.

New Year’s Eve falls on Thursday 31 December, and 1 January 2027 is a Friday public holiday. A group that arrives for the shopping weeks should read our New Year’s Eve group guide before it picks dates, because that evening changes how any vehicle moves around Downtown.

December is also peak season. Rooms and larger vehicles are booked earlier than in other months, and a 30-seater or 50-seater is the first thing to run short.

The public options come first

A festival that spreads across malls, a desert village and a beach is not one place, so a single answer would be wrong. Look at what is already running before you add anything private.

• The Metro Red and Green lines serve the areas around Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. Check the RTA site for holiday and festival hours, because they can differ from a normal week.
• RTA buses reach many malls, and four seasonal routes run to Global Village. Journey times are on the RTA planner and in the S’hail app.
• Taxis and ride-hailing work for two to four people with light bags.
• The organiser’s page on visitdubai.com is the place to confirm any event date, ticket rule or entry condition. We sell no tickets, passes or entry of any kind, and no official DSF shuttle has been announced.

Those cover most solo visitors and couples. They get harder when ten, twenty or forty people need to arrive together, carry shopping bags back to a hotel and make a dinner booking.

How a group can plan the days

Pick the anchors first. Most groups have one or two fixed things: a mall day, an evening at Festival Bay, a day in Hatta, a night at Global Village. Place those on the calendar, then fill the rest with free time. Do not try to book three venues into one day.

We are Dubai Bus Services, a private company. We are not appointed by DFRE, Dubai Festival City, Global Village or any mall, and our vehicles are separate from anything the organiser runs. What we offer is a pre-booked vehicle with a driver, for groups from about 8 to 50 people.

• For 5 to 7 people, a Mercedes V-Class keeps a family or a small team together.
• For 8 to 13, the 13-seater van. The Mercedes Sprinter is the other option for mid-size groups.
• For 14 to 30 people, the 30-seater mini coach.
• For 31 to 50, the 50-seater coach.

If the plan is one long day at one stop, the hourly chauffeur arrangement lets the vehicle wait. If it is three days at three places, a daily booking with a fixed start time is simpler. Say which one you want when you write to us.

Hatta needs its own day

The Hatta programme is the one most likely to catch a group off guard. Hatta Wadi Hub is far from the city. A modelled route puts the drive from Dubai Mall at roughly 85 to 110 minutes each way, and from the airport area at about the same. That is a model with no traffic in it, so allow more.

We cannot yet say what the 2026/27 hub offers or when it opens. Visitors are told to carry their passports when they go, and the road runs close to a border, so take them. We do not give entry or border advice. If DFRE posts hours, we build the day around them. If it has not by the time you book, we hold the vehicle on a flexible start time.

There is no public transport route for Hatta in anything we have found. Ask the organiser or Visit Dubai how visitors are expected to arrive before you commit a group.

Before you fly

Entry rules depend on your passport. Check the official UAE government visa page before you book.

Dress for the places you go. Dubai Mall states a courtesy dress code, and Global Village asks visitors to dress modestly. Beachwear belongs at the beach or pool.

If your group lands in Dubai first, the big group arrival at DXB page explains how a pick-up works with many cases and one coach.

Asking for a quote

Send us your dates, group size, hotel, the places you plan to visit and any early or late start. We reply with a fixed written quote before you accept, listing the stops and the hours. Use the booking page. If DFRE changes a date, we move your plan with it.

Related: GITEX Global 2026 transport guide · New Year’s Eve with a group · Peak season booking guide · Big group arrival at DXB · Event & conference transport · Coach rental Dubai · Dubai airport transfer for groups · Get a quote

Keep reading

• Festival City and DSF Nights for a group: DSF Nights at Festival Bay, Dubai Festival City: what is confirmed, what happened in 2025, approximate drive times and how a group can plan a late evening.
• DSF Hatta Wadi Hub day trip: The Dubai Shopping Festival adds a Hatta Wadi Hub programme. What is confirmed, what is not, how far it is, and how a group gets there and back in one day.
• Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates group day: A shopping day across Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates with a group: the public options, the one hours table we can source, drive times and how a driver fits.
• UAE National Day 2026 plan for visitors: The National Day dates, what is still unannounced, what ran in 2025 and how a visiting group can plan a Dubai break around 2 and 3 December.
• GITEX Global 2026 transport guide: Which GITEX Global 2026 venue on which day, how the Metro and the organiser’s shuttles work, and where a private pre-booked vehicle fits.
• Big 5 Global 2026 transport: Big 5 Global runs 23 to 26 November 2026 at Dubai World Trade Centre. Hours, the Metro, taxi and bus, parking, hotel-area drive times, and where a private vehicle fits.