Activity · Al Khatim desert
Quad biking in Abu Dhabi
Take an ATV out across the Al Khatim dunes with a guide beside you. No licence, no experience, and no pretending a four-hour tour means four hours of riding — we tell you exactly how many minutes you get on the machine.
- From AED 100
- 30 minutes on the quad
- Helmet & goggles included
- No licence needed
- Pay at the camp
Riders from 12 on a single-seater. Younger children ride as passengers on a double.
The honest bit
How much of the day is actually spent on the quad?
Nearly every quad listing in Abu Dhabi is sold as a four, five or six-hour tour. That figure counts the drive out, the drive back, dinner and the time you spend watching other people. The riding itself is usually twenty to thirty minutes. Here is where the hours really go on a standard evening safari with a quad added.
- Around 45–60 minutesPickup and the drive outCollected from your hotel or building, then out along the Al Ain road until the city stops and the dunes start. Longer if you are staying on Saadiyat or Yas.
- About 20 minutesDune bashing on the way inTyres come down at the edge of the sand and the Land Cruiser takes the ridges before you reach camp.
- 5 minutesHelmet, goggles, briefingThrottle, brake, how to sit, how to turn on soft sand, and the hand signals the guide will use. Short, but nobody skips it.
- 30 minutes — the actual rideYou, the quad, the dunesThis is the part you are paying for. Thirty minutes on the standard session, with a guide riding ahead and a second one behind the group.
- 2–3 hoursCamp timeCamel ride, sandboarding, henna, Arabic coffee, the BBQ buffet and the shows. Unlimited, and included.
- Around an hourThe drive homeDropped back where you were collected. Most guests are home between 9:00 and 9:30 PM.
Why we spell this out
Because the most common complaint about quad biking anywhere in the Gulf is not the price — it is people expecting two hours in the saddle and getting twenty minutes. If thirty minutes is not enough for you, take the open-dunes session instead. It is longer, it goes further out, and the price on this page says so.
Prices
Four options, every price printed
Two of these run in the marked area beside the camp. The other two head out into open dunes with a guide leading. All four are quoted per machine, VAT included, paid at the camp on the day.
| Option | Where you ride | Time on the quad | Riders | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-seater | Marked area by the camp | 30 minutes | 1 | AED 100 |
| Double-seater | Marked area by the camp | 30 minutes | 2 | AED 200 |
| Open dunes · single | Out past the camp, guide leading | Longer, further out | 1 | AED 300 |
| Open dunes · double | Out past the camp, guide leading | Longer, further out | 2 | AED 400 |
A shorter twenty-minute double-seater session is also available as a camp add-on at AED 200 if you only want a taste of it. Add a quad to any safari on this site and the price is the same whether you decide now or at the camp.
Add a quad to a safari
The evening safari is AED 250 with everything included, and a single quad on top is AED 100. That is dune bashing, a camel ride, sandboarding, the BBQ buffet, three shows and thirty minutes on a quad for AED 350 a head.
Quad first, camp second
If riding is the reason you are coming, take the open-dunes session. You get real distance, proper dune lines, and a guide picking the route rather than a fenced loop. Message us with your group size and we will price the transfer with it.
The machines
What you will actually be given to ride
Engine size gets thrown around on booking sites without anyone explaining what it means. On sand, a bigger engine is not automatically better — it is harder to control, it buries itself faster if you panic on the throttle, and it punishes a rider who has never done this before.
First-timers get a machine that is forgiving. If you have ridden before, say so when you book and we will put you on something with more in it.
Never ridden anything
Gentle throttle, roughly 35 to 45 km/h on sand, and very hard to get into trouble on. This is what most guests are handed and most guests are glad of it by minute three.
Comfortable on two wheels already
Noticeably quicker, 50 to 65 km/h, and it will climb a soft face that a 150 bogs down on. The sensible choice for a fit adult who wants to feel the machine work.
You have done this before
Fast, heavy, and it needs core strength to hold a line across a slope. We will put you on one if you have genuine experience. We will also say no if it does not sound like a good idea.
Two of you, one machine
An adult drives, a second person rides behind. This is the right answer for a nervous partner, a younger child, or anyone who wants the desert without being responsible for the throttle.
Age
Can my child ride? A straight answer
Search this and you will find operators quoting four, thirteen, fifteen and sixteen on the same page of results. That is not helpful when you are a parent trying to plan. Here is our rule, in a table, so there is nothing to argue about at the camp.
| Age | Single-seater, riding alone | Double-seater, as passenger |
|---|---|---|
| Under 4 | No | No — too small to hold on safely |
| 4 to 11 | No | Yes, with an adult driving |
| 12 to 15 | Yes, with a guide riding alongside | Yes |
| 16 and over | Yes | Yes |
Two things worth knowing
These are our rules for riding on desert ground with our guides. Quad bikes are not road vehicles anywhere in the UAE — no age makes it legal to take one onto a public road, a pavement, a beach or through a residential area, and Abu Dhabi Police enforce that hard.
Second: an adult has to sign for anyone under sixteen and stay at the riding area while they are out. We will not send a child off with a group and leave a parent at the camp.
Quad or buggy
Which one should you actually book?
This is the question people ask most often, and the honest answer depends less on which is more fun and more on who is sitting next to you.
Take the quad if…
- You want to be the one steering, not a passenger
- You are riding solo or everyone in your group wants their own machine
- You are reasonably fit — a quad is worked with your body, not just your hands
- You want the cheapest way to ride, at AED 100
- You like the idea of leaning into a turn rather than being strapped in
Take the buggy if…
- You are riding with a partner or child and want them beside you, not behind you
- You want a roll cage and a harness — a quad has neither
- You have back or neck trouble and want to be seated properly
- You want more power without more balance
- Budget is not the deciding factor — the buggy is AED 800 for around 30 minutes
Neither is a substitute for dune bashing, which is a different thing entirely — a driver, a Land Cruiser and no steering wheel in your hands. Read about that on the dune bashing page.
Safety
What we do, and what you should check yourself
- Helmet and gogglesBoth included, both compulsory. Goggles matter more than people expect — sand thrown by the machine in front of you moves fast.
- Briefing before you startThrottle, brake, body position, how to turn without digging in, and the hand signals the guide uses. Nobody rides until it is done.
- Guides front and backOne leads the line, one sweeps behind it. If you stop, someone reaches you.
- Nobody is pushedIf you decide after five minutes that you would rather not, ride back with the sweep guide. You are not charged differently and nobody makes a thing of it.
- Who should sit this outPregnant guests, and anyone with heart, back or neck trouble. The camel ride, the camp and the buffet are all still yours.
Check your travel insurance before you book
Most travel policies list quad biking and ATV riding as a hazardous activity, and a fair number exclude it unless you have paid for an adventure-sports extension. Almost no operator website in this market will tell you that, because it is an awkward thing to say two lines above a booking button.
Read your policy wording. If quad biking is excluded, either add the extension or take the buggy or the camel ride instead — both are usually covered and both are on this site.
A note on the accident figures you will find
If you search quad bike safety in the UAE you will find serious accident and fatality numbers. They are real. They are also, overwhelmingly, unsupervised riding on roads, in residential areas and by young men on their own machines — not guided desert sessions with a briefing, a helmet and a guide in front of you. Worth knowing the difference before it puts you off.
Where
Where you can ride, and where you definitely cannot
Most quad pages say “the golden dunes” and name nothing. Ours run in the Al Khatim desert, out along the Abu Dhabi–Al Ain road, roughly 45 minutes to an hour from the city depending on where you are staying. Soft, rolling sand, no rocks, and enough space that you are not queueing behind another operator.
Al Khatim
Where our camp sits. Rolling dunes in the twenty to forty metre range, firm enough in the morning and soft by late afternoon. Good for a first ride and still interesting if you have done it before.
Sweihan and Liwa
Sweihan is bigger and steeper, about an hour and a quarter out. Liwa is two to three hours each way with dunes over 200 metres. Both are real riding, and both are a full day or an overnight — not something to squeeze into an evening tour.
Al Wathba Fossil Dunes
Protected since 2022, fenced, with marked walking paths. Some operator blogs still list it as a quad spot. It is not one. Go and walk it in the late afternoon instead — it is worth an hour of anyone’s time.
Anywhere with a kerb
Public roads, pavements, beaches, parking lots and residential streets. Abu Dhabi Police have publicised fines running to tens of thousands of dirhams and confiscation of the machine. This is not a grey area.
When
The best months, and what a July ride is really like
Abu Dhabi runs from about 23°C in January to just over 40°C in July, and the sand surface gets hotter than the air. That does not close the desert in summer, but it does change what time you go out.
Firmer sand, better grip
Overnight cool leaves the surface packed. The quad tracks better, the light is soft, and you are off the machine before the heat arrives. If you are nervous about riding, take the morning.
Softer sand, better photographs
Warmer air and looser sand, which is more work but more fun once you have found the throttle. And it puts you at the camp for the BBQ as the light goes. Most guests pick this one.
Rain is almost never the problem here — wind is. If blowing sand makes riding unsafe on your date we will tell you the day before and move it or refund it. We would rather do that than send you out into it.
What to wear
Dress for sand, not for photographs
None of this is fussy, and all of it comes from watching guests wish they had done it.
- Long sleeves and trousersSand thrown off the machine ahead stings bare arms, and an exhaust pipe you brush against is genuinely hot. Light cotton is enough.
- Closed shoesTrainers are fine. Sandals and flip-flops are not, and we will not put you on a quad in them.
- Leave the good sunglassesYou are wearing goggles over them, and fine sand scratches lenses. Bring a cheap pair for the camp instead.
- Contact lensesThey are workable with goggles but bring your glasses as a backup. If sand gets behind a lens the ride is over.
- Tie long hair backUnder the helmet, not out the back of it. And leave loose scarves in the car — anything that can catch on a moving part should not be on you.
- Sunscreen, even in winterAbu Dhabi has almost no cloud cover in any month. An hour in the open desert in January will still burn you.
Abu Dhabi vs Dubai
Is it worth quad biking here rather than in Dubai?
Most operators avoid this comparison. It is a fair question, so here is a fair answer — including the part that does not favour us.
Abu Dhabi
- Far fewer machines out at once, so you ride your own line instead of following a queue
- Al Khatim is open desert, not a fenced commercial lot beside a road
- A quad added to a safari starts at AED 100
- Around 45 minutes to an hour from the city
- Quieter, and you will notice it in the photographs
Dubai
- Ride-only rentals are cheaper per half hour — it is a volume business there
- More operators, so easier to book same-day in peak season
- Big Red and the nearby lots are busy, dusty and queued at weekends
- Closer if you are actually staying in Dubai
- Sand is heavily churned by the end of a day
If you are staying in Dubai and only want thirty minutes on a machine, ride there. If you want empty desert and a camp that is not shared with four other companies, the drive down is worth it. We do collect from Dubai — message us and we will price it honestly, including the extra travel time.
FAQs
Quad biking in Abu Dhabi — your questions
Do I need a driving licence to ride a quad in Abu Dhabi?
No. Riding with us on desert ground with a guide, no licence of any kind is required and most of our guests have never been on one before. A licence only comes into it if you own a quad and register it yourself, which is a different situation entirely.
How long do I actually spend on the quad?
Thirty minutes on the standard session. The open-dunes session is longer and covers more ground. If a listing anywhere quotes you four or six hours, that is the whole tour including transfers, dinner and camp time.
What is the minimum age?
Twelve to ride a single-seater alone, with a guide alongside. Four to eleven can ride as a passenger on a double-seater with an adult driving. An adult signs for anyone under sixteen and stays at the riding area.
Is quad biking safe?
It is an outdoor activity on a machine with no roll cage, so it carries real risk, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise. What we control: a proper briefing, a helmet and goggles, guides front and back, and no pressure to go faster than you want. If it stops being fun, ride back with the sweep guide.
Will my travel insurance cover it?
Check before you book. A lot of policies class quad biking as a hazardous activity and exclude it unless you have bought an adventure extension. This catches people out and almost nobody warns you about it.
What should I wear?
Long sleeves, long trousers and closed shoes. Leave sandals, loose scarves and expensive sunglasses behind. Sunscreen in every month of the year.
Is there a weight limit?
The machines are comfortable up to around 110 kg for a single rider. On a double-seater we look at the combined weight — tell us on WhatsApp and we will put you on the right machine rather than guess at the camp.
Can I ride if I have never driven anything?
Yes, and most people have not. The controls are a thumb throttle and a brake lever. Five minutes in and you will have stopped thinking about them.
Morning or sunset — which is better?
Morning if you are nervous: the sand is firmer and the machine tracks better. Sunset if you want photographs and the BBQ afterwards. Most guests take sunset.
Can I quad bike in summer?
Yes, but only at sunrise or after sunset in June, July and August. The air hits 40°C and the sand surface is hotter still. We shorten sessions in those months and give you more water.
Can two people share one quad?
Yes — that is what the double-seater is for. AED 200 for the marked area, AED 400 for the open-dunes session. An adult drives.
Do you go to Liwa or Sweihan?
Not on an evening safari. Sweihan is over an hour out and Liwa is two to three hours each way. Both are excellent and both need a full day. Ask us and we will quote it separately.
Can I ride at Al Wathba Fossil Dunes?
No. It has been a protected area since 2022 and it is fenced with marked walking trails. It is a lovely place to walk at sunset and a place nobody is allowed to ride.
Do I pay in advance?
No. Nothing is charged on this website. You pay cash or card at the camp on the day, VAT included, with no card surcharge.
Can I cancel?
Free up to 24 hours before your pickup. A WhatsApp message is enough — there is no form.
What if the weather is bad?
Rain is almost never the issue. Strong wind and blowing sand is, and if riding would be unsafe we tell you the day before and move it or refund it.
Ready to get on one?
Send us your date and how many of you are riding. We will confirm the machines, the pickup time and the total — nothing to pay until you are at the camp.
More to read: Evening Safari · Morning Safari · Dune Bashing · All prices