City of Arabia

City of Arabia sits at the gateway to Dubailand, on the inland side of Dubai. The main roads to it are Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (E311) and Al Khail Road (E44). IMG Worlds of Adventure, the large indoor theme park, is inside the community, and Global Village and Dubai Miracle Garden are a short drive away.

• Downtown Dubai: around 20 to 25 minutes by car.
• Dubai Marina: approximately 30 minutes.
• Dubai International Airport: about 35 minutes by car.
• Jumeirah Beach: 20 to 25 minutes away.

There is no metro station in City of Arabia. It is a driving location, with RTA buses along the main roads.

City of Arabia was announced in the mid 2000s as one of the flagship parts of Dubailand, a multi billion dollar plan for a self-contained district. It was designed around four main parts:

• Mall of Arabia: planned as one of the largest shopping centres in the world. It has been on hold for many years.
• IMG Worlds of Adventure: open since 2016, and the part of the plan most people know.
• Wadi Walk: a waterfront residential area with apartments, cafes and shops.
• Elite Towers: a cluster of commercial and residential buildings.

The plan was for about 8,200 homes. Building has gone ahead in parts rather than all at once, and newer developers such as Azizi, MAG, One Development and Majid Al Futtaim are now selling projects in and around it.

The original plan was large. It was billed as a US$20 billion retail, residential, commercial and entertainment destination, with Elite Towers alone planned as a group of 34 buildings and around 32,800 residents expected once everything was finished. That scale is the reason so much of it is still incomplete twenty years on.

City of Arabia is a mixed-use development within Dubai's Dubailand. It combines residential, commercial and leisure space, with the aim of offering an integrated, mid market place to live with road access to key parts of the city.

City of Arabia is partly built and partly being redeveloped. The theme park is open, the mall is still on hold, and since 2025 most new building has come from large off-plan launches by other developers on land in and next to the original plan.

Azizi Milan

In April 2025 Azizi Developments launched Azizi Milan on land in the area formerly known as City of Arabia, near Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road. At full build-out it is planned to hold about 80,000 apartments and around 140,000 people, across 40 million sq ft of floor space, with a mall, offices, schools and green areas. Azizi has said the existing City of Arabia communities will keep their own facility and property management, and that it will build around them. Azizi Milan in the table below is part of this master plan.

Ghaf Woods

Majid Al Futtaim, the group behind Tilal Al Ghaf, launched Ghaf Woods in June 2024: a woodland community of more than 7,000 homes on 738,000 square metres off Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, near Global Village. Two of its phases, Ghaf Woods Distrikt 1 and Distrikt 2, appear in the City of Arabia table below.

When will City of Arabia be completed?

There is no single completion date. The original master plan never had one that held, and each new project now has its own handover date. Of the projects below, Laguna Residence is scheduled for 2027 and the two Ghaf Woods phases for 2029. Ask the developer for the date written into your sale contract, and check the project's progress on the Dubai Land Department records before you pay later instalments.

City of Arabia offers residential property for different budgets:

• Apartments: studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units in modern buildings, for individuals, couples and small families. This is most of what is selling today.
• Townhouses: 2 and 3 bedroom townhouses.
• Villas: 3 and 4 bedroom villas with private gardens for larger families.

All the off-plan projects in the table below are apartment projects. If you want a villa or townhouse in this part of Dubai, look at off-plan villas across Dubai Land as well, or compare off-plan apartments across Dubai Land.

These are off-plan projects selling in City of Arabia in October 2026, cheapest first. Prices are the developer's entry price and move as units sell.

Unit sizes run from about 522 sq ft at MAG 330 up to 2,955 sq ft at Ghaf Woods Distrikt 2. The full list, with each project's page, is on off-plan projects in City of Arabia. We do not have resale or rental homes listed in City of Arabia at the moment. Tell us your budget and the home you want, and we will search for you.

• Retail and dining: day to day shopping is in the community and nearby. The Mall of Arabia was planned as one of the largest malls in the world, but it has been on hold for many years, so do not count on it.
• Leisure: IMG Worlds of Adventure is inside the community, with Global Village and Dubai Miracle Garden nearby.
• Parks and green spaces: landscaped areas and walking routes are part of the newer projects.
• Education: schools are in neighbouring Dubailand communities, a short drive away.
• Healthcare: medical centres and pharmacies are available nearby.
• Fitness and recreation: gyms, pools and outdoor sports facilities, mostly within the residential buildings.

• Entry price: City of Arabia is one of the cheaper places to buy a new apartment in Dubai, with entry prices under AED 600,000.
• Capital growth: values depend on the rest of the area being built out. Infrastructure and nearby attractions help; the long wait for the mall shows that plans here can stall.
• Off-plan payment plans: projects like MAG 330 offer staged payment plans, which suits buyers who want to spread the cost. Our guide to how off-plan payment plans work explains the usual stages.

• What is built today. Price the property on what is standing now. Treat anything only promised, the mall above all, as upside rather than the reason to buy.
• What else completes alongside yours. Several apartment projects are selling at once. Your rent and resale price will be set by the units handed over in the same year. With Azizi Milan alone planned at tens of thousands of apartments, this matters more here than in most areas.
• The developer's record. Check what each developer has already delivered elsewhere in Dubai, and how close to schedule. Our guide on how to check a developer before buying off-plan sets out the steps.
• The service charge. Ask for the expected figure per square foot in writing.

Pros:

• Affordable: lower prices than more central areas of Dubai.
• Road access: close to E311 and Al Khail Road.
• Leisure on the doorstep: IMG Worlds, Global Village and Dubai Miracle Garden.
• Growing community: new projects will add residents and services.

Cons:

• Developing infrastructure: parts of the area are still under construction, and some of the original plan has stalled.
• No metro: you will need a car.
• Distance from beaches: City of Arabia is inland, not close to the coast.

City of Arabia is an emerging community that offers new apartments at some of the lowest entry prices in Dubai, next to one of its biggest indoor attractions. It suits buyers who want value and are comfortable buying in an area that is still filling in. For the wider district, see our guide to Dubai Land.