NOL Card for Tourists 2026: Which One to Buy (Silver vs Red Ticket vs QR vs nol Travel)

NOL Card for Tourists 2026: Which One to Buy (Silver vs Red Ticket vs QR vs nol Travel)

For most tourists, the Silver NOL card is the right buy. It costs AED 25, of which AED 19 is travel credit, and it pays the lowest fare on every Metro, Tram and bus trip. Card prices come from guides citing RTA; fares checked 13 Nov 2026. The rule is simple: ride once or twice and take a Red Ticket or a QR ticket on your phone; ride 4 times or more in a day and take a day pass; stay 3 days or more and take Silver. The AED 100 nol Travel card only makes sense if you will use its bundled offers, because it holds the same AED 19 of credit as Silver. This guide compares all five options, works out the maths for a 1-day, 3-day and 7-day trip, and covers where to buy, how to top up, and the rules that catch tourists out.

The short answer: which NOL card should a tourist buy?

For most tourists, the Silver NOL card is the right buy: AED 25 including AED 19 of travel credit, and it pays the lowest fare on every trip. You buy it once and top it up when the balance runs low. It works on the Metro, the Tram, RTA buses, marine transport, paid parking and partner shops, so one card covers the whole trip. A Silver card is valid for 5 years, so keep it for your next visit.

• 1 or 2 trips: take a Red Ticket at AED 2, or a QR ticket on your phone.
• A heavy day with 4 trips or more: take a day pass, AED 20 on a Red Ticket or AED 22 as a QR ticket.
• 3 days or more: take Silver. It overtakes the Red Ticket at 5 trips and keeps winning.
• Only if you will use the offers: take nol Travel at AED 100. Otherwise it is Silver with AED 75 of offers attached.

Gold suits one case only, the Gold Class cabin at double the fare, and Blue suits residents, not tourists. The rest of this guide proves the short answer, so check the section that fits your trip length.

The five options at a glance

RTA sells five NOL products a tourist can use: the Silver card, the Gold card, the Red Ticket, the QR ticket on your phone, and the AED 100 nol Travel card. Four of them are cards you hold. One of them is a code on your phone. The table below lists the price, the credit on the card, the fare per trip, how long it lasts, and the trip it suits best. Prices are dated 13 Nov 2026, and the Silver and Gold card prices come from guides citing RTA, not from a page read directly on rta.ae.

Card	Price	Credit on it	Fare per trip	Valid	Best for
Silver	AED 25	AED 19	AED 3 to 7.50	5 years	Most tourists, 3 days or more
Gold	AED 25	AED 19	AED 6 to 15	5 years	Gold Class cabin only
Red Ticket	AED 2	AED 0	AED 4 to 8.50	90 days, up to 10 trips	1 or 2 trips
QR ticket	No card; AED 2 fee per transaction	n/a	AED 6 to 10.50 single; day pass AED 22	90 days unused; day pass ends midnight	Short stay, no card
nol Travel	AED 100	AED 19	AED 3 to 7.50	5 years	Only if you use the offers

Read the table by trip length, not by price alone. The cheapest card is the Red Ticket at AED 2, but it charges AED 1 more per trip than Silver, so it only wins for 1 or 2 trips. The dearest card is nol Travel at AED 100, but it pays the same fares as Silver, so the extra AED 75 buys offers, not travel. Silver sits in the middle on price and wins on fares, which is why it suits most tourists. Gold costs the same AED 25 as Silver and suits one case only, the Gold Class cabin, which the next sections cover one card at a time. See the Fares Hub for the full fare tables.

Silver NOL card: the default for most tourists

The Silver card costs AED 25, of which AED 19 is travel credit, and it is the cheapest way to ride for any trip longer than a day. Only AED 6 of the price is the card itself; the other AED 19 is money you spend on rides. The card is anonymous, so no ID is needed, and it is valid for 5 years. You can hold up to AED 1,000 on it, though a tourist will never need that much.

Silver pays the lowest fare on every trip: AED 3 for 1 zone, AED 5 for 2 zones and AED 7.50 for more than 2 zones, as checked 13 Nov 2026. Against the Red Ticket it saves AED 1 per trip, so it draws level at 4 trips and wins from the fifth trip on. Top it up at any Metro station machine or ticket office, or from AED 5 in the nol Pay app. When the trip ends, keep the card for your next visit, because the credit on it is not refunded.

• Buy it at any Metro station ticket office or machine, or at a bus station counter.
• Top it up at machines, offices, Zoom shops, or in the nol Pay app from AED 5.
• Use it on the Metro, Tram, RTA buses, marine transport, paid parking and partner shops.
• Keep it for 5 years. The balance stays on the card between visits.

Red Ticket: the cheapest way to ride once or twice

The Red Ticket costs AED 2 and suits a tourist who will ride only once or twice. It is a paper ticket printed on demand at a ticket machine or ticket office, and it starts with no credit on it. You load the trips you need onto it, up to 10 single trips or 5 day passes, and it is valid for 90 days. It is the cheapest card RTA sells and the dearest way to ride.

Each trip costs AED 1 more than on Silver: AED 4 for 1 zone, AED 6 for 2 zones and AED 8.50 for more than 2 zones, as checked 13 Nov 2026. A day pass loaded on a Red Ticket costs AED 20 for Regular class and AED 40 for Gold, and it runs until midnight on the day you first use it. The Red Ticket cannot be reloaded with e-purse credit like a Silver card, and it cannot hold a 7-day or 30-day pass. For a single airport run and one ride back, it is the smallest outlay in Dubai.

Buy a Red Ticket when the trip count is low and the days are few. At 4 trips the two are level on fares alone, and from the fifth trip Silver wins, so count your rides before you choose. See the QR tickets guide for the digital version of the same ticket.

QR ticket on your phone: the no-card option

A QR ticket in the nol Pay or S’hail app is the simplest option for a short stay, because there is no card to buy or keep. You buy a single trip or a day pass on your phone, then hold the code face down over the blue reader at the gate. The ticket is a digital Red Ticket, so it charges Red Ticket fares: AED 6, 8 or 10.50 for a single trip in Regular class, and AED 22 for a day pass, as checked 13 Nov 2026. The AED 2 service fee applies per transaction, not per ticket, so buying several singles together shares the fee.

Two limits matter. First, a QR ticket works on the Metro, the Tram and RTA buses only, so it will not open a water bus, a parking meter or a shop till. Second, you need mobile data to show the code, because it refreshes, and a screenshot will not work. You can buy up to 10 singles or 5 day passes in one transaction, and an unused ticket stays valid for 90 days. Read the full detail in the Dubai Metro QR tickets guide.

nol Travel card: the AED 100 visitor card

The nol Travel card costs AED 100, holds the same AED 19 of credit as a Silver card, and only makes sense if you will use its bundled offers. It is a Silver card inside a visitor package: the same AED 3 to AED 7.50 fares, the same 5 year validity, and the same AED 1,000 balance ceiling. The extra AED 75 over Silver buys offers, not travel. RTA describes at least 100 promotions across 50 brands and 65 outlets, with discounts of 10 to 50 percent, and tells buyers to check the list on noltravel.ae.

Work out whether the offers beat AED 75 before you buy. If your trip already includes a meal, a show or an attraction on the offers list, the card can pay for itself. If you only want transport, Silver costs AED 75 less for the same rides. Buy nol Travel at a Metro station ticket office, in the nol Pay app, or at Al Ansari Exchange, Europcar at DXB and Rayna Tours offices. One older guide lists AED 200 for this card; the current RTA listing is AED 100, so check noltravel.ae on the day.

Gold card: only if you want the Gold Class cabin

The Gold card costs the same AED 25 as Silver, but every fare doubles, so buy it only for the Gold Class cabin. The cabin sits at the front of the train, with wider seats and a view forward, and it is quieter than the standard cabins. The fares are AED 6 for 1 zone, AED 10 for 2 zones and AED 15 for more than 2 zones, as checked 13 Nov 2026. The card holds the same AED 19 of credit and the same 5 year validity as Silver.

Gold makes sense for one ride with luggage, when a seat and space matter more than the fare. It does not make the train faster, and it does not skip stops. For a tourist riding 4 times a day, Gold doubles the whole travel bill, so do the maths in the next section before you choose it. Gold Class exists on the Tram too, at the same doubled fares.

Blue card: why tourists should skip it

Tourists should skip the Blue card, because it needs an Emirates ID and takes days to arrive. Blue is the registered Personal card: it carries your name, protects your balance if the card is lost, and gives the 50 percent concession fares to students, seniors and People of Determination. It costs AED 70 including AED 20 of credit, and it pays the same AED 3 to AED 7.50 fares as Silver.

Apply for Blue on nol.rta.ae, in the nol Pay app or in the S’hail app, with an Emirates ID or UAE Pass login and a photo. Verification takes up to 2 working days and delivery is free within 4 working days, so a tourist on a short trip cannot get one in time. Skip Blue, take Silver, and spend the AED 45 difference on rides. The one exception is a Person of Determination visiting Dubai, who can travel free with a Sanad tourist card; ask at an RTA customer happiness centre.

The maths: 1 day, 3 days and a week

The cheapest card depends on how many trips you make, so here is the maths for a 1-day trip, a 3-day trip and a week, worked out at 4 trips a day. The example assumes mostly 2-zone trips at AED 5 on Silver and AED 6 on a Red Ticket, and top-ups in AED 5 steps through the nol Pay app. Change the trip count or the zones and the winner changes, so use the Pass Break-Even Calculator for your own numbers. Fares checked 13 Nov 2026.

Option	1 day (4 trips)	3 days (12 trips)	7 days (28 trips)
Silver, pay as you go	AED 30	AED 70	AED 150
Silver + 7-day all-zones pass	n/a	n/a	AED 135
Red Ticket, pay as you go	AED 26	AED 74	AED 170
Red Ticket day pass	AED 22	AED 62	AED 142
QR singles, one transaction a day	AED 26	AED 78	AED 182
QR day pass	AED 22	AED 66	AED 154
nol Travel, pay as you go	AED 105	AED 145	AED 225

For 1 day, a day pass wins at AED 22, either a Red Ticket day pass or a QR day pass. Silver costs AED 30 out of pocket for the same day, though AED 4 of credit stays on the card. For 3 days, Red Ticket day passes cost AED 62 and Silver pay as you go costs AED 70, so the day pass wins on long trips, but Silver wins if your trips are short 1-zone hops. For a week, load a 7-day all-zones pass on a Silver card for AED 110 plus the AED 25 card, AED 135 in all, which beats every day pass and pay as you go option in the table.

Two rules sit behind the table. Silver overtakes the Red Ticket at 5 trips, because it saves AED 1 per trip against a net card cost of AED 6. And nol Travel adds AED 75 to every Silver total in the table, so it only wins if its offers save you more than AED 75 on the trip.

Where to buy your card at the airport and in town

Buy your card at the ticket office or ticket machine in the Airport Terminal 3 or Terminal 1 Metro station, or at any Metro station in town. Every Metro station has a ticket office and a bank of ticket machines, and both sell the Red Ticket, Silver and Gold over the same screen. Machines take cash and cards. Bus station counters and machines sell the same cards, and Zoom shops handle cards and cash top ups away from the network.

Terminal 2 has no Metro station of its own, so if you land there, take the bus to a Green Line station first and buy your card there. Stations open at 5am Monday to Saturday and at 8am on Sundays, and the Friday close is 1am, so a very early Sunday arrival waits for the station to open. nol Travel is also sold in the nol Pay app and at Al Ansari Exchange, Europcar at DXB and Rayna Tours offices. See the Dubai Airport by Metro guide for the walk from each terminal to its station.

Buy before the first ride, not after it. Buses take no cash, and the Metro gates take no bank card, so a tourist with no NOL card and no QR ticket cannot board. Keep the receipt from the ticket office until the card works at a gate.

Top up, balance and refunds: the rules that catch tourists out

Three rules catch tourists out: the AED 7.50 minimum balance, the top-up minimums, and the fact that unused credit on an anonymous card is not refunded. A gate will not open if your card holds less than AED 7.50, even if the trip costs less, so top up before you travel, not at the gate.

• Ticket machine: top up from AED 20, and the credit lands on the card at once.
• Ticket office: top up from AED 50, the highest minimum of the three.
• nol Pay app: top up from AED 5, with an online cap of AED 150 per transaction, but online credit can sit pending for up to 4 hours.

Check the balance before your last day, and spend it down. Use the NOL Balance Check Helper to read the 10-digit Tag ID on the back of the card and open the official RTA balance check. Only a Personal Blue card gets a refund of unused credit, and a tourist cannot get one, so treat every dirham loaded onto a Silver card as spent.

What each card works on, and what QR does not cover

A Silver card works on the Metro, the Tram, RTA buses, marine transport, paid parking and partner shops, while a QR ticket works on the Metro, the Tram and RTA buses only. The difference matters on a day that mixes a Metro ride with a water bus or a parking meter. The table below shows every mode against every card.

Mode	Silver / Gold	Red Ticket	QR ticket	nol Travel
Metro	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tram	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RTA bus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Water bus	Yes	No	No	Yes
Paid parking	Yes	No	No	Yes
Partner shops	Yes	No	No	Yes
Palm Monorail	No	No	No	No
Etihad Rail	No	No	No	No

Gold covers the same modes as Silver, and nol Travel covers the same modes as Silver, because it is a Silver card inside a visitor package. Two exceptions sit outside the table. The Palm Monorail is privately run and sells its own tickets, so no NOL card or QR ticket opens its gates; take the Tram to Palm Jumeirah station and buy a Monorail ticket there, or take a taxi. And the traditional abra across the Creek takes AED 1 in cash, not NOL. Etihad Rail uses its own tickets too, though a combined QR ticket can join a rail trip to a Metro ride. See the Local Transport guide for every mode in one place.

Mistakes tourists make with NOL cards

The common mistakes are buying the wrong card for the trip length, topping up more than you can spend, and tapping in with too little balance. Each one costs money or time, and each one is easy to avoid once you know the rule.

• Buying Silver for a single airport run. Two trips cost AED 14 on a Red Ticket and AED 25 out of pocket on Silver.
• Buying a Red Ticket for a week. Twelve trips cost AED 74 on Red Tickets and AED 70 on Silver, and the gap grows every day.
• Topping up AED 50 at the office on the last day. The leftover credit on an anonymous card is not refunded.
• Topping up online at the gate. The credit can sit pending for up to 4 hours, so the gate stays shut.
• Forgetting to tap out. The fare is charged on the zones crossed, so tap out at the far end or pay for the longest trip.

Check the time as well as the card. The last Metro runs at midnight most nights and at 1am on Fridays, and Sunday starts at 8am, so a late night out or an early Sunday flight needs a taxi, not a card. See the Timings page for the last train from your station.

Frequently asked questions