Your Ultimate Guide to Visiting the Burj Khalifa

The sprawling desert city of Dubai hosts some of the best architectural wonders made by man and awe-inspiring experiences. From skydiving over the Palm Islands to ziplining over a sea of skyscrapers, Dubai is never short of innovative diversions to enthrall even the most stultified millionaire. Of all that Dubai has to offer, Burj Khalifa surely takes the spotlight and this guide will help you choose the best Burj Khalifa tickets.

Soaring at a height of over 828 meters, nothing defines Dubai as much as its emblematic Burj Khalifa. Crowned the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa hosts over 160 floors and offers visitors the once in a lifetime opportunity to get an eagle’s view of the Persian Gulf from the highest outdoor observation deck (555 meters). The superstructure is a pandora’s box of cutting edge technology and features quite a few engineering marvels.

With offices, residential units, ultra-luxurious restaurants, and stunning observation decks, Burj Khalifa is constantly buzzing with locals and tourists alike. This is our comprehensive guide to visiting the top of the world and exploring the Burj Khalifa.

Fancy yourself a guided tour to the Burj Khalifa? Check out our helpful guide and avoid the hassle of planning your trip all by your lonesome!

Dubai Burj Khalifa Essential Information

Burj Khalifa Architect

The polymath who designed Dubai Burj Khalifa is Adrian Smith, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Great Mosque of Samarra played an important role in the inspiration for the design. The design of the Y shaped tripartite floor is sketched to inflate the space for residence and hotels. Dubai Burj Khalifa's central core houses all vertical transportation with the exception of egress stairs within each of the wings while also holding the zenith height of the building.

Burj Khalifa Fireworks

Every New Year’s Eve, the people in and around Downtown Dubai get to watch the spectacular Burj Khalifa fireworks and Laser Show. You would need to pre-register via the U By Emaar app, free of charge and show the QR code from the app to access the viewing areas in Downtown Dubai. You can also tune in to www.mydubainewyear.com to watch the Burj Khalifa Fireworks live from the comfort of your home. Next New Year, make sure you start the year by viewing the amazing pyrotechnics with your loved ones, at Dubai Burj Khalifa or from anywhere in the world with your loved ones.
Check out the best spots to view the Burj Khalifa Fireworks.

Burj Khalifa Tickets

At the Top, At the Top SKY Tickets and more

There are a number of ways to experience the magnificence of the Burj Khalifa. From exploring the Dubai skyline from the world’s highest observation deck to dining among the clouds at the tower’s fine dining restaurants, Burj Khalifa tickets come in all variations and timings.

Burj Khalifa Ticket Variations

To experience what the Burj Khalifa has to offer, you need to head to one of the superstructure’s observation decks. Burj Khalifa offers two observation decks - one on the 124th & 125th floor and another on the 148th floor. Depending on your Burj Khalifa ticket, you will get access to the 124th and 125th floors or the 148th floor (includes access to 124th and 125th floors). Know more about these Burj Khalifa At The Top Ticket Options.

Burj Khalifa Special Ticket Options - Dining @ Burj Khalifa & Exclusive Combos

Take your Burj Khalifa experience to another level, quite literally, and enjoy a special meal at one of its many exlusive restaurants. And if you're still craving for a little more of Dubai, combine your visit with an adventurous desert safari or a relaxing dhow cruise down the fabled Dubai Creek.

Burj Khalifa Tickets

Selecting a Time Slot for Your Visit

Once you’ve chosen which experience you would like to go for, there are a couple other factors that will determine the final price of your Burj Khalifa ticket. These include: whether you want general admission or priority access entry; and whether you would like to visit during prime or non-prime hours.

General Admission vs Skip the Line

It’s a fact that the Burj Khalifa is the most visited attraction in Dubai, drawing in over 180,000 visitors each month. As a result, the queues to enter can be very long and tiresome.
During high season (October - March), wait times can easily exceed 1 hour. Even during low season, busy days can have lines that take around 30-45 minutes just to enter. If you have the time, regular tickets should be fine. But if you are in a hurry, don’t mind spending the extra bucks, or would simply like to avoid the long line, skip-the-line tickets are a perfect option.

Prime Hours vs Non-Prime Hours

When selecting your time slot, you will either choose a prime time visit or a non-prime time visit. Entry during prime hours costs slightly more due to the fact that these tickets correspond with Dubai’s sunset. The views you get from the observation decks are absolutely spectacular, as you get to see the city bathed in a beautiful amber hue. Just imagine watching the sun setting over the Persian Gulf from the highest man-made point in the world!

If you’re on a budget or can’t make it for sunset hours, don’t let this deter you from visiting. The views during non-prime hours are still absolutely stunning. On a clear, sunny day, you can see as far as the Palm Islands. At night, see Dubai in an entirely different setting, with its glittering bright city lights. There’s no such thing as a bad time when it comes to visiting Burj Khalifa.

Your Burj Khalifa Experience

Visiting the Upper & Lower Observation Decks

Visiting the Burj Khalifa is a bucket-list item in every Dubai traveler’s itinerary. It’s not every day that you get to see the marvelous Dubai skyline from atop the world’s tallest building. Your Burj Khalifa endeavor begins the moment you step through the Dubai Mall Entrance, right across the food court. Beholding the Burj Khalifa is a humbling experience - it almost seems like the building is piercing the clouds and is distinctly taller than the rest of the Dubai skyline.

At the Top vs At the Top SKY

Your Burj Khalifa tickets let you choose between 2 observation decks - At the Top, which grants you access to the lower observation deck on the 124th and 125th floors, and the premium At the Top SKY tickets, which will take you to the highest observation deck in the world on the 148th floor.

However, there is a major price difference between the two experiences: Burj Khalifa At the Top tickets cost as little as 149 AED, whereas At the Top SKY tickets are priced at 378 AED. The prices vary depending on your visiting hours. There is a special counter for visitors with an At the Top SKY reservation across the main ticket counter.

At The Top, Burj Khalifa Levels 124 & 125

‘A Falcon’s Eye View’

The observation decks on the 124th and 125th floors of the Burj Khalifa comprise the “At The Top” experience. You’ll gasp in awe as you peek at the world below through high-powered telescopes or step on to the open terrace to admire the endless Dubai skyline.

Dubai – A Falcon’s Eye View

Level 125 also houses “Dubai – A Falcon’s Eye View”, a special point-and-shoot telescope that allows you to view the city from a unique perspective. The telescope can be used to identify different Dubai landmarks and learn about their history. You’ll also get access to the green screen photography zone which allows you to capture your Burj Khalifa experience, amalgamating reality and special effects.

At The Top SKY, Burj Khalifa Level 148

Tallest Observation Deck in the World

At The Top Sky experience will take you to the highest observation deck in the world - a marvelous open-air terrace on the 148th floor, situated at a height of 555 meters.

Premium Burj Khalifa Experience

As the most premium experience on offer, At The Top Sky is a timed experience (30 minutes) and gives you access to the 148th-floor luxury lounge where you can catch a break and treat yourself to signature refreshments. Once you exit the lift, you will be greeted by Burj employees waiting with trays of drinks and small pastries.

The Burj Khalifa Lift

After choosing a time slot and getting your ticket, you will be escorted to your respective waiting rooms depending on your ticket. While At the Top ticket owners have a common waiting room, the more premium At the Top SKY ticket owners will get access to the fascinating SKY lounge Burj’s top waiting room.

The lounge experience at the SKY lounge is nothing short of fabulous as you will get a taste of authentic Arabic snacks and coffee. As you wait for the lift, you will be served coffee from a traditional Arabic Dallah, along with some fresh dates.

Waiting Times at the Burj Khalifa

Depending on your ticket, your waiting time at the Burj Khalifa lounge will greatly vary. With At the Top tickets, you can expect at least 30 minutes of waiting time as most visitors choose to view only the lower deck.

The premium At the Top SKY tickets usually has a waiting time of hardly 15 minutes as you get priority access to the elevator. Once the lift arrives, you can skip the line and board one of the fastest lifts in the world.

Burj Khalifa Lifts

With At the Top SKY tickets, you will first experience the 148th floor. Once you are whisked up to Level 124, you will be escorted to another bank of elevators which will take you to Level 148.

With At the Top tickets, you will get access to the 124th and 125 floors. However, the lift will take you to the 124th floor observation deck. You can climb to the 125th floor outdoor observation deck after admiring the the magnificent Dubai cityscape through floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

As you ascend to the world’s highest observation deck, you will be treated to a magnificent light show inside the lift, covering the history and legacy of Burj Khalifa.

Things to do at Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa Restaurants

Dining at the Highest Restaurant in the World

Dining at the Burj Khalifa is an experience that you should never miss. Gazing at the view of the Dubai Fountains and the Burj Park while dining at some of Dubai’s best restaurants during twilight is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As you feast on delicacies made by top chefs, you can watch the sunset and the Dubai Downtown shimmer in a sea of lights.

The restaurants situated in the Burj Khalifa offer their guests the best service, vibrant ambiance and best-in-class delicacies. The chefs of each restaurant specialize in a variety of cuisines, however, each restaurant has its own niche set of delectable cuisines, ranging from Mediterranian and Italian to Indian and Arabic.

While there are quite a few restaurants to choose from, here are our top picks.

Dubai Burj Khalifa Facts that will surprise you

• Burj Khalifa Bin Zayed or Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world and was opened in 2010 after almost 6 years of construction at the cost of $1.5 billion.
• Sheikh Khalifa, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, granted monetary aid for the building to being built, hence resulting in the naming the building "Burj Khalifa."
• The building has 2,909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor.
• Designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merril, the architecture features a triple-lobed footprint, which is an abstraction of the desert flower Hymenocallis.
• Burj Khalifa boasts a dizzyingly height of 828 meters and has a total of 206 floors, with observation decks on the 124th, 25th, and 148th floors.
• The world’s tallest building is a multi-use development tower with a total floor area of 460,000 square meters, including residential, hotel, commercial, office, entertainment, shopping, leisure, and parking facilities.
• Apart from holding the world record for the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa holds six other world records - the tallest freestanding structure in the world, the highest number of stories in the world, the highest occupied floor in the world, the highest outdoor observation deck in the world, the elevator with longest travel distance in the world, and the tallest service elevator in the world.

Burj Khalifa Practical Information

Getting there - Burj Khalifa Entrance

The Burj Khalifa is open to the public from 8:30 AM - 11:00 PM every day, with time slots every half hour.

Burj Khalifa Entrance

The Burj Khalifa is located in Downtown Dubai, right next to Dubai Mall. All visitors will need to walk through the mall to access the Burj Khalifa entrance. No taxi will take you right up to the Burj unless you’re a resident, a guest at the Armani Hotel, or have a reservation at At.Mosphere restaurant. Once you get to Dubai Mall, you need to walk through the mall to the Lower Ground Floor (LG).

Burj Khalifa Ticket Lines

Once at the Burj Khalifa, you’ll have to get tickets for your At the Top or At the Top SKY experience. To make things easier, there is a main counter which will give you all types of tickets, and a private counter right across it, which you can use only if you have an At the Top SKY ticket.

If you already have the ticket, make sure you check the waiting line you are choosing to stand in. Many a time, visitors tend to mistake the ticket queue for the entry waiting for line and end up wasting a lot of their time.

Traveling to Burj Khalifa

By Dubai Metro

Take the Red Line to Burj Khalifa Metro Station. From here, you can either walk or take the F13 bus and get off at the next stop, which is the Dubai Mall Bus Stop.

From Abu Dhabi

Take the exit to Financial Centre Road (Doha) from 1st interchange. The approach road to The Dubai Mall will be on the right-hand side.

By Bus

There are two buses that service The Dubai Mall every 16 minutes: Route 27 which picks up passengers from the Deira Gold Souk Bus Station and Route 29 from the Ghubaiba Station.

By Taxi

You can also take a taxi to the Burj Khalifa; while it may be the fastest option, it is the least economical one. Meter fare starts from AED 1.6/kilometer. Waiting fare is AED 0.5/kilometer. Starting fee for regular taxis is AED 3 (6:00 AM to 10:00 PM) and AED 3.50 (10:00 PM to 6:00 AM). Starting fee for pre-booked taxis is AED 6 (day) and AED 7 (night).

Burj Khalifa - Prime vs Non-Prime Hours

While buying tickets to the Burj Khalifa, it is important to consider the time slot of your visit to the observation decks. The attraction opens at 8:30AM, with admission every half hour. The last entry is at 10:15PM, 45 minutes prior to closing.

Selecting a time slot

When selecting your time slot, you will have two options - prime time visit or a non-prime time visit. Entry during prime hours is slightly more expensive as these tickets correspond with Dubai’s sunset timings. The vistas you get from the observation decks during this time are absolutely spectacular as you get to see the city bathed in a beautiful amber hue.

For budget travellers

If you’re on a budget or can’t make it for sunset hours, choosing a non-prime hour is your best option. The views during non-prime hours are still absolutely stunning. On a clear, sunny day, you can see as far as the Palm Islands. At night, you’ll be able to see Dubai in a completely different setting, with its glittering bright city lights and bright cityscape.

At the Top:
Prime Hours - 4 PM - 6 PM
Non-Prime Hours- 8:30AM - 3:30PM, 6:30PM - Closing

At the Top SKY:
Prime Hours: 9:30 AM - 6 PM
Non-Prime Hours: 7 PM - Closing

Ticket Rates
Prime Hour Ticket Rate: From AED 178
Non-Prime Hour Ticket Rate: From AED 149

Dubai Attractions

Apart from the Burj Khalifa, there are quite a few attractions on offer in Downtown Dubai, the city’s tourism hotspot. From the sprawling Dubai Fountains to the Dubai Opera, the complex plays host to a myriad of megastructures, restaurants and entertainment options.

Burj Khalifa - Tips, Rules and Regulations

• The ‘At the Top’ ticketing counter is located on the lower ground floor of the Dubai Mall. If you have purchased your tickets online, simply display them on your smartphone at the will-call counter for a fast and easy pickup.
• You may cancel your tickets up to 48 hours prior to your date of booking for a full refund when you purchase your Burj Khalifa tickets online.
• Children under the age of 4 do not require a ticket. Children between the ages of 4-12 have a special child price. Anyone above the age of 12 will be charged the full amount.
• Large pieces of luggage are not allowed inside. However, you can check them in at the Secured Baggage Area located near the entrance.
• If you’re keen on watching the sunset, get a weekday ticket because weekends always attract a lot of people.
• If possible, visit Burj Khalifa on a foggy morning. When a thick layer of fog settles over the city of Dubai, it appears as though you are standing above the clouds.
• You can download the official app of the Burj Khalifa “At the Top” experience where you will find all the information you need.
• If you are travelling to Dubai during the busy months (October - March), be sure to make your reservation for the Burj Khalifa tickets at least 3-4 weeks in advance, online. Tickets sell out very quickly! Even if you are travelling during the off-season, it is recommended that you purchase your tickets online at least 2-3 days in advance. Aside from reserving your spot, purchasing Burj Khalifa tickets online will also save you the hassle of waiting in a potentially long line at the ticketing counter.
• Before you select your Burj Khalifa ticket date and time, be sure to check the weather forecast for the day you plan to visit. Bad weather like rain, haze and fog can drastically spoil the view from the top.
• Make sure you catch the fountain show that happens right under the Burj Khalifa. Fountain shows begins at 6PM and go on until 11PM, with shows starting every 30 minutes. You can catch the show from the observation decks - an absolutely magical vantage point. The view of the Dubai Fountain show from At The Top, Burj Khalifa’s is an event you shouldn’t miss. Feast your eyes on the intricately combined light and water effects, made even better with a projection of colors and music playing in the background.
• Make sure you arrive 15 minutes prior to your given admission time. This will give you time for a peaceful security check and other last minute hassles.Food & Drinks are not allowed atop, so make sure you don't have any on you.

FAQs About Dubai Burj Khalifa