Al Wasl Dome
Up to 252 laser projectors.
Mike Krüger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dennis Sylvester Hurd from Vancouver, Canada — CC BY 2.0 · Fotograf: Andreas Keller, Altdorf — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dennis Sylvester Hurd from Vancouver, Canada — CC BY 2.0 · Ahmad Dalain — CC BY-SA 4.0
Expo City Dubai is the former Expo 2020 Dubai site, reopened in October 2022 as a car-free district. At its heart, Al Wasl Plaza is a garden beneath a steel trellis dome 67.5 m high and 130 m across that doubles as a 360-degree screen; in 2023 Guinness World Records named it the largest interactive immersive dome. Expo 2020, the first World Expo in the Middle East, was delayed almost a year by COVID-19 and ran from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, drawing more than 24 million visits. Al Wasl, an old name for Dubai, means connection; the firm of Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill modelled the trellis on an ancient gold ring from Saruq Al Hadid that inspired the Expo logo. The COP28 climate conference met here in late 2023. The plaza, free and always open, hosts festivals, some ticketed, such as Winter City and Hai Ramadan. At Surreal, a free fountain by the Dubai Fountain's designers, water seems to climb its walls amid bursts of flame and music. Terra, Grimshaw's sustainability pavilion, leads visitors among forest roots and under the ocean, while Vision Dubai traces the city's rise through Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's memoir, My Story. Expo City lies in Dubai South, about 14 km south of Dubai Marina and 29 km from Burj Khalifa in a straight line. A Red Line metro branch ends at Expo 2020 station inside the city, and parking is free. Terra and Vision Dubai close at 18:00 and Surreal at 22:00, so arrive mid-afternoon and stay until dark.
Up to 252 laser projectors.
Water, fire and music, free.
Forest roots and ocean depths.
Expo Road (E77), Dubai South, Dubai
Take the Red Line to Expo 2020, at the end of one of its two branches; the station opens into the city near Al Wasl Plaza. Red Line trains alternate between this branch and the one to Life Pharmacy, so check the destination on the platform screens before boarding.
A few, as ticketed attractions: the official list names Terra, the Expo's sustainability pavilion, and Vision Dubai, in the Vision Pavilion. The Expo 2020 Dubai Museum is not on that list, though it reopened free for International Museum Day on 16-18 May 2026, so check the official site before you go.