The complete guide to driving to Dubai, UAE

Hello all,

I'm fairly new here in Doha, and one of the things I missed, in order to get settled in, was Ikea. I've searched this forum and although there are a few threads, they were pretty outdated and some of the advise is outright wrong (or again - outdated). I decided to jump in with both feet and do the drive to Duabi with the family. In order to help others, I'll give you all the facts you need to consider.

First of all, Visa:

One of the older threads had a list of travel agents that can help you with visa for Saudi Arabia (KSA). I rang them all and only found one where they spoke good english. I was very impressed with their service. I handed over the passports for my family and me on Sunday evening and picked them up again Wednesday evening. 3 days for getting the KSA transit visa - and that was during Ramadan. The total cost was 395 QR for all three visa's. If you want to use them, the name is: Al Medadi Company. The important thing to note though, is that the shop front actually says "Al Kanz Rent A Car". The phone number is: 568 7179. They are located in the Al Gharraffa Area. Make sure to check the visa rules for your nationality. I hold an EU passport and we didn't need a visa for UAE, as we would get that upon arrival. Other nationalities might need to get this in advance. The travel agent will be able to tell you. The visa we got, was valid for 60 days. This means that you can use your visa for ONE return trip in 60 days. When you enter KSA, you can stay for 3 days, before you have to leave. When you return through KSA, you can stay for 3 additional days, should you so wish.

The next thing to consider was the problem with availability of fuel and the conditions of the road. I drive a 4x4, but there's absolutely no problem in driving a normal sedan. The road through KSA is, contrary to what I've read, a 4-lane highway all the way. The drive through KSA was exactly 1 hour. If you're not a complete moron, you will not run out of fuel. I was VERY conservative on the drive to UAE. I'd say, to stay on the safe side, you should consider taking the next gas station you see, when you are at about half a tank left. Price in KSA seemed a bit cheaper, but who cares. Gas in the UAE is exactly double of Qatar. At the end of the trip, we'd spent about 3-400QR in gas.

If you don't wanna get all the different currencies, just bring some Qatari Rial along. They were accepted in both KSA and UAE at an exchange rate of 1:1.

Other costs for the trip was: 70 QR for the insurance in KSA. It's valid for 10 days, so if you only spend a few days in UAE, you can use the same insurance for the return. At the KSA/UAE border, you need to pay 100 Dihram for the UAE insurance. When leaving UAE, you have to pay 25 Dihram per person for leaving the country. Make sure you bring cash for all of this and for the fuel, as they don't accept credit cards.

The distance is just shy of 700 KM to Dubai and it took us 6 hours 40 minutes actual driving time (I was driving between 130-160 KM/h). The border took maybe 30 minutes total. For those of you who bring your wife, we found that a cheap but respectful abaya and headscarf was welcomed. All in all, people were VERY friendly. I guess a white haired 1 year old on the backseat helped as well. ;-) All in all, it was a very pleasant experience, and I believe we will do it again.

Total cost for the trip: 3-400 for fuel
Visa for 3 people for KSA: 395
Visa for UAE: 0
Insurance for KSA: 70
Insurance for UAE: 100
Charge for leaving UAE: 75 (25 per person)
Driving time: 6 hours 40 minutes
Road conditions. Perfect

Recommendations: Bring lots of water, just in case your car breaks down. Although there is a huge amount of trucks travelling on that road, you just never know. Paint your car with paint protection. We didn't travel through any heavy sand storm. Just mild ones, but I was still pretty glad we did painted it. Leave it on while in UAE as it seems they have never heard of it in UAE, thus the stuff is pretty hard to come by.

That's all the info I can think of right now. Feel free to comment on this or ask questions, if there's anything I've forgotten. Have a safe and pleasant trip...