Oct
23
to 11 Nov
CultureAbu Dhabi
Traditional Handicrafts Festival
Master artisans, live craft demonstrations and a cultural market showcasing Emirati traditions.
23 Oct to 11 Nov 2026
The 2026-27 season guide
The UAE, season by season.
Festival dates we have checked, places we would send a friend and honest notes on timing and cost. Written by the team that runs a private desert camp in Abu Dhabi.
Photo: JSPhotography2016, CC BY-SA 4.0
Happening now and next
What is on in the coming weeks
Running now or starting within about two months, with the one-off events first and the long festivals after.
Oct
24
SportAbu Dhabi
UFC Abu Dhabi Showdown Week: main card
A week of UFC events in Abu Dhabi with open workouts, weigh-ins and fan zones, culminating in the main card with title and trilogy fights at Etihad Arena.
24 Oct 2026
Oct
31
to 29 Nov
SportDubai
Dubai Fitness Challenge (10th edition)
Thirty minutes of activity a day for thirty days. Flagship events: Dubai Ride (1 Nov), Stand-Up Paddle at Hatta Dam (7 and 8 Nov), Dubai Run (22 Nov) and Dubai Yoga (29 Nov). Free; registration required.
31 Oct to 29 Nov 2026
Nov
3
to 8
Art & DesignDubai
Dubai Design Week (12th edition)
The region's leading design festival, with the Downtown Design fair running 4 to 8 November.
3 to 8 Nov 2026
October 2026 to April 2027
The whole season on one strip
Each bar is an event, drawn from its published start and end. Click one for the details, or scroll sideways on a phone.
Calendar last checked 19 October 2026. Dates are the organisers’; where the moon decides, we say “expected”.
Browse by mood
What kind of day are you after?
Editor's picks
Six places worth the drive
By emirate
Seven emirates, and Al Ain
Each has its own pace, its own season and its own way of getting there.
Guides
Plans, routes and the rules
Make it private
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The Season Planner
New dates, the day they are confirmed
Festival programmes, new openings and anything about to sell out, in an occasional email. No promotions from advertisers.
Questions people ask
When is the best time to visit the UAE?+
November to March, when afternoon highs are in the mid-20s to low 30s and desert nights are cool. April and October are warm but workable. June to September is very hot and humid.
What are the biggest events in the UAE in the 2026-27 season?+
Sheikh Zayed Festival in Abu Dhabi (30 October to 14 March), Global Village in Dubai (opened 14 October, until May 2027), Frieze Abu Dhabi (19 to 22 November), UAE National Day (2 and 3 December), the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (3 to 6 December), the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opening (11 December), the Liwa International Festival (11 December to 2 January) and Dubai Shopping Festival (4 December to 17 January).
How do I get between Abu Dhabi and Dubai?+
By road in about 90 minutes, or by the Etihad Rail passenger service that launched on 30 September 2026, reported at about an hour. Stations are outside the city centres, so allow for a taxi at each end.
Where do your dates and prices come from?+
From the organiser's own announcement or an official tourism release, and we show the source and the date we last checked on every page. Where a date is only reported by one outlet or depends on the moon, we say so. Prices appear only where an outlet reported them; otherwise we link to the organiser.
Who runs this guide?+
Sparkling Sandset, a private desert camp and events company at Al Khatim, Abu Dhabi, operating since 2012. The guide is editorially independent of the organisers we list, and where a page suggests a private version with us, it is labelled as ours.