Kayaking Day Trip to The World Islands
Ever heard of The World Islands? I hadn’t either until moving to Dubai. The World Islands is an archipelago of small artificial islands in the Arabian Gulf. Dubai is famous for its man-made islands and land reclamation. The most famous examples of this are the Burj Al Arab and Palm Jumeirah, which are land extensions of the city connected to the mainland. This is where The World Islands are different. They’re located 4km off the coast of Dubai and the only way to get to them is by boat, helicopter or jet ski if you wish.
Up close the islands are unimpressive, small mounds of sand. But from an aerial view, they actually look like a world map - crazy! I guarantee you Google them now, hehe. There are 300 islands in total and each one is either named after a country, landmark, or region. Including California, India and Mount Everest to name a few.
The project started in September 2003 and the dredging was completed by January 2008. Including the breakwater which is a wave barrier surrounding the islands. Unfortunately, shortly after the completion, the financial crisis of 2008 brought the entire project to a halt. Even now, 15 years later, Lebanon is the only island open to tourists which is home to the Royal Island Beach Club.
How to get to the World Islands
The boats depart every hour from Jumeirah Fishing Harbour 1, opposite the 3Fils restaurant. The island access and boat transportation charges are 300AED (£60pp) for adults and 150AED (£30pp) for children. We managed to get a 2-4-1 deal on Groupon which was very handy.
If you didn’t google the location yet, then here it is… crazy huh?!
Views for days
From the Jumeirah Fishing Harbour 1, it takes around 15-20 minutes by boat to Lebanon Island. We visited the islands on a super windy, January afternoon so the waves were humongous! However, once we were inside the breakwater and vicinity of the islands, the waters were calm and peaceful.
This was our view for the day! From here we were surrounded by all the empty islands which gave us an incredible view of the Dubai skyline. It’s crazy to think that by now all these islands should have been built on, so in theory, there would be no view at all…
Royal Island Beach Club at Lebanon Island
At the Royal Island Beach Club, there’s an inexpensive restaurant, swimming pool, beach volleyball court and of course beaches surrounding the island. The beach club is bigger than most others in Dubai. Plus there were only 10 other people on the island with us that day. It was incredible! Having the place pretty much to ourselves, really gave us that island feel.
