Dubai Metro Day Pass 2026: Price, Is It Worth It? (vs Silver Card)

Dubai Metro Day Pass 2026: Price, Is It Worth It? (vs Silver Card)

A Dubai Metro day pass costs AED 22 for Regular class and AED 42 for Gold class, and it is worth it on a busy sightseeing day with 3 or more long trips. Those totals include the AED 2 service fee on QR tickets, and the pass covers all zones, so one ticket takes you from the airport to Downtown, to the Marina and to Old Dubai without a second purchase. The pass runs until midnight on the day you first use it, not for 24 hours, so start early to get your money’s worth. This guide gives the full price table, the break-even maths against a Silver card, what the pass covers and what it does not, and the honest answer on the daily fare cap that other guides disagree about. Fares were checked 13 Nov 2026, so check RTA on the day you travel.

What is the Dubai Metro day pass?

A Dubai Metro day pass is a 1-Day Pass that gives you unlimited rides on the Metro, the Tram and RTA buses until midnight on the day you first use it. It comes in two forms. The first is a QR ticket in the nol Pay or S’hail app, which RTA launched on 9 Oct 2026 as a digital Red Ticket. The second is a paper Red Ticket day pass, bought at a station. Both cover all zones, so the same ticket takes you from the airport in Zone 5 to the Marina in Zone 2 and to Old Dubai in Zone 1 without a top-up or a second purchase. You can ride as many times as you like until the pass expires. The pass is built for one busy day, not for a whole stay: it ends at midnight on the day you first scan it, so it is not a 24 hour ticket, and an unused pass stays valid for 90 days from purchase. If you want the full QR ticket story, read our Dubai Metro QR Tickets guide.

How much does the day pass cost?

A Dubai Metro day pass costs AED 22 for Regular class and AED 42 for Gold class, including the AED 2 service fee. The table below shows the base fare, the fee and the total you pay, for the QR day pass and for the paper Red Ticket day pass. Fares were checked 13 Nov 2026.

Day pass	Base fare	Fee	You pay
QR 1-Day Pass, Regular	AED 20	AED 2 per transaction	AED 22
QR 1-Day Pass, Gold	AED 40	AED 2 per transaction	AED 42
Red Ticket day pass, Regular	AED 20	AED 2 for the ticket	AED 22
Red Ticket day pass, Gold	AED 40	AED 2 for the ticket	AED 42

Watch the fee, because it is charged per transaction, not per ticket. Buy one pass and you pay AED 2 once. Buy 5 day passes in one transaction and you still pay AED 2 once, so the total is AED 102 for 5 Regular passes, not AED 110. Buy the same 5 passes in 5 separate transactions and you pay the fee 5 times. On a paper Red Ticket the AED 2 is the price of the ticket itself, so a first paper day pass also costs AED 22 in total. Gold class doubles the base fare in both forms, and buys you the Gold cabin at the front of the train.

One more number to keep in mind: the day pass covers all zones by default. There is no cheaper day pass for one zone in the QR fare table, so do not expect a lower price for a short day. Some guides list zone limited day passes, but those figures match the single trip prices and this guide could not confirm a zone limited day pass on RTA’s fares page, so check at a station before you buy one. Our Metro Fares and NOL Card Hub has the full fare tables for every card and ticket.

What does the day pass cover, and what does it not cover?

A day pass covers the Metro, the Tram and RTA buses, and it does not cover taxis, ferries, abras, the Palm Monorail or Etihad Rail. The pass works on both Metro lines, on all 11 Tram stops, and on RTA buses across Dubai, so a day that mixes the Metro to the Marina, the Tram to JBR and a bus to the Gold Souk needs only the one ticket.

• Covered: Dubai Metro (Red Line and Green Line), Dubai Tram, RTA buses.
• Not covered: taxi, Careem and Uber, ferry, abra, Palm Monorail, Etihad Rail, intercity buses to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Two grey areas deserve a plain word. The first is the water bus: one guide lists water buses as covered, but this site could not confirm that, so do not rely on the pass for a water bus. The second is Etihad Rail: the day pass on its own does not cover a train to Abu Dhabi. A separate Combined QR add-on covers an Etihad Rail trip with a nol One-Day Pass, but that is a different purchase, covered in our QR Tickets guide. If your day includes the Palm Monorail, plan a taxi instead, and check the Monorail on the day, because guides disagree about whether it is running.

How to buy a day pass

You buy a day pass as a QR ticket in the nol Pay or S’hail app, or as a paper Red Ticket at a station. Both routes take a few minutes, and neither needs a nol card. Pick the route that fits where you are: the app if you are planning the night before, the station if you are already there.

• In the app: download nol Pay or S’hail, choose Purchase QR ticket, then choose 1-Day Pass, pick Regular or Gold class, choose how many passes you need, up to 5 in one transaction, and pay by card.
• At a station: go to a ticket office or a vending machine, ask for a 1-Day Pass, pick Regular or Gold class, and pay by cash or card. Keep the paper ticket, because it is your pass for the day.

Two limits trip readers up. First, you can buy up to 5 day passes in one transaction, and up to 10 single trips, so a family can buy the whole day in one go and pay the AED 2 fee once. Second, an unused pass stays valid for 90 days from purchase, so buying the night before costs nothing: the clock starts on the first scan, not at the time you buy. If you already hold a Silver card, you do not need a day pass to ride. Check your balance first with our NOL Balance Check Helper.

How to use the day pass at the gate

You use a day pass by scanning the live QR code at the gate, and the pass starts on the first scan, not at the time you buy it. Open the nol Pay or S’hail app, show the live QR code, and hold your phone to the reader at the gate. Scan again when you leave the station, because the fare is worked out from where you tapped in and where you tapped out. A paper Red Ticket works the same way: tap it on the reader at the gate, in and out.

Three rules catch first time users. The QR code refreshes itself, so you need an internet connection at the gate, and a screenshot of the code does not work. The pass ends at midnight on the day you first use it, so a pass first scanned at 6pm gives you 6 hours, not a full day. And the code lives in the app, so keep your phone charged and the app open before you reach the gate. If the reader does not take the code, check your internet, turn the screen brightness up, and ask station staff for help rather than forcing the gate.

Day pass vs Silver pay-as-you-go: the break-even maths

A Regular day pass pays for itself on the third long trip of the day, and a Gold day pass pays for itself on the third long Gold trip. The tables below show the sums, so you can count your own day against them. A trip means one tap in to tap out, and a return journey counts as 2 trips. Fares were checked 13 Nov 2026.

Trip length	Silver fare per trip	Trips to beat the AED 22 pass
1 zone	AED 3	8 trips (7 trips cost AED 21, 8 cost AED 24)
2 zones	AED 5	5 trips (4 trips cost AED 20, 5 cost AED 25)
More than 2 zones	AED 7.50	3 trips (2 trips cost AED 15, 3 cost AED 22.50)

Trip length	Gold fare per trip	Trips to beat the AED 42 pass
1 zone	AED 6	8 trips (7 trips cost AED 42, a tie, 8 cost AED 48)
2 zones	AED 10	5 trips (4 trips cost AED 40, 5 cost AED 50)
More than 2 zones	AED 15	3 trips (2 trips cost AED 30, 3 cost AED 45)

Read the tables by your longest trips, not by your total trips. A day with 2 long trips and 2 short trips costs AED 21 on a Silver card, just under the pass, while a day with 3 long trips costs AED 22.50, just over it. The pass only needs to beat your day, not every day, so count the trips you will actually make. If you are unsure, price your exact stations with our Metro Fare Calculator and add the trips up. Count your day before you buy: write down every ride, long and short, and add the fares. A day with 2 long trips and 3 short trips costs AED 24 on a Silver card, so the pass wins by AED 2. A day with 2 long trips and 2 short trips costs AED 21, so the pass loses by AED 1. The line between winning and losing is thin, which is why counting matters more than guessing. Gold class follows the same shape at double the fares, so the trip counts are the same and only the totals change. Our Pass Break-Even Calculator does the same sums for 7 and 30 day passes.

When the day pass wins

A day pass wins on a busy sightseeing day, when you make many trips, change modes often, or travel across all zones. The three cases below are the days where the pass beats pay-as-you-go by a clear margin, and most tourist days fall into one of them.

First, the long day across zones. Land at the airport, ride to Downtown, then to the Marina, then to Old Dubai, and you have 3 long trips before dinner, which cost AED 22.50 on a Silver card against AED 22 for the pass, and every trip after that is free. Second, the short hop day. Stay in one area and hop between the souks, the creek and the museums, and 8 one-zone trips cost AED 24 on a Silver card against AED 22 for the pass. Third, the mode changing day. Ride the Metro to the Marina, the Tram to JBR and a bus back, and the pass covers all three modes on one ticket, with no fumbling for a card at each change.

The pass also wins on simplicity: one ticket, one price, no counting zones and no watching a balance. If your day looks like any of the three cases above, buy the pass and stop thinking about fares.

When pay-as-you-go wins

Pay-as-you-go on a Silver card wins on a light day, when you make one or two trips and stay in one or two zones. The pass is a flat rate, and a flat rate loses money when you barely use it.

Take the one trip day. Ride from your hotel to one place and back, and 2 two-zone trips cost AED 10 on a Silver card, less than half the pass. Take the two trip day with a taxi home, and a single long trip costs AED 7.50, a third of the pass. Stay several days and the Silver card wins again: the card costs AED 25 with AED 19 of credit, it keeps working for 5 years, and you top it up only when you need it, so a quiet day costs you only what you ride. Our Best Places to Visit in Dubai by Metro guide helps you group your stops, so a light day stays light.

The rule is simple. Count your trips before you buy. If the count is 1 or 2, pay as you go. If the count is 3 long trips or more, buy the pass. If you are in between, price the exact trips on the Fare Calculator and let the sums decide.

The daily fare cap question: what guides claim and what RTA publishes

Guides disagree about a daily fare cap, and RTA’s current fares page lists no cap at all, so this guide does not rely on one. This matters, because a cap would change the whole comparison: if your Silver card stopped charging after a set amount each day, the day pass would rarely beat it. So here is what each side says, plainly.

One guide, nolcardscheck.com, states a Silver cap of AED 14 a day and a Gold cap of AED 20. Another guide, nolcardbalanceonline.com, states AED 20 for Silver and AED 40 for Gold, and notes the figure dates from RTA’s 2014 tariff revision and does not appear on the current RTA fares page. uaemercury.com states AED 14 for Silver and AED 20 for Gold. All three cannot be right. That is why every sum in this guide uses the published per trip fares only.

If you hold a Silver card and a cap does apply on the day, pay-as-you-go could be cheaper, because your fares would stop at the cap and the rest of the day would be free. If no cap applies, the break-even tables above are the honest comparison. Check the RTA Nol Fares page on the day you travel.

Day pass vs 7-day pass: one busy day or a whole week

A 7-day pass beats the day pass when you have 5 or more busy days, and the day pass beats it for a single busy day. The 7-day pass loads on a Silver card, not on a Red Ticket, and it costs AED 50 for 1 zone, AED 80 for 2 zones and AED 110 for all zones, with Gold passes at double. The table below compares it with the day pass at each zone level.

Zones	Day pass	7-day pass	Day passes equal to one 7-day pass
All zones	AED 22	AED 110	5 busy days
2 zones	AED 22	AED 80	4 busy days
1 zone	AED 22	AED 50	3 busy days

The rule follows from the table. On an all zones trip, 5 day passes cost AED 110, exactly the price of a 7-day pass, so 5 busy days is the tie: fewer busy days favour day passes, and 6 or 7 busy days favour the 7-day pass. On a 2 zone trip the tie sits at 4 busy days, and on a 1 zone trip at 3, because the 7-day pass is cheaper per zone. A typical stay of 3 or 4 days with 2 busy days is better served by day passes, while a full week of sightseeing suits the 7-day pass. Run your own trip pattern through our Pass Break-Even Calculator before you decide.

Day pass vs single QR tickets

Single QR tickets beat a day pass when you make one or two trips, because each single costs less than the pass on its own. A Regular single costs AED 6 for 1 zone, AED 8 for 2 zones and AED 10.50 for more than 2 zones, including the AED 2 fee for a single ticket transaction, so the comparison is simple at the short end of the day.

Long trips in a day	Singles bought together	Day pass	Cheaper
1 trip	AED 10.50	AED 22	Single ticket
2 trips	AED 19	AED 22	Single tickets
3 trips	AED 27.50	AED 22	Day pass

One detail changes the sums: the AED 2 fee is charged once per transaction, not per ticket. The published single prices of AED 6, 8 and 10.50 already include the fee for a transaction with one ticket, so 2 long singles bought together cost AED 19, not AED 21, and 3 cost AED 27.50, not AED 31.50. The crossover stays the same either way: 1 or 2 trips favour singles, and the pass takes over on the third long trip. The same shape holds at the short end: 5 one-zone singles bought together cost AED 22, exactly the pass price, and the 6th single tips the day to the pass.

A sample busy day: what 6 trips cost with and without the pass

A busy sightseeing day with 6 trips costs AED 26.50 pay-as-you-go on a Silver card, and AED 22 with a day pass, so the pass saves AED 4.50. The table below walks one real day, from the airport to Downtown, to the Marina and to Old Dubai, with every fare shown. Zones were checked against the RTA rail network map of Sep 2026, and fares were checked 13 Nov 2026.

Trip	Zones	Silver fare
Airport Terminal 3 to Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall	2 zones	AED 5
Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall to Mall of the Emirates	3 zones	AED 7.50
Mall of the Emirates to DMCC	1 zone	AED 3
DMCC Tram stop to Dubai Marina Tram stop	1 zone	AED 3
Sobha Realty to Al Ras	2 zones	AED 5
Al Ras to Gold Souq	1 zone	AED 3
Total pay-as-you-go		AED 26.50
Day pass		AED 22
Pass saving		AED 4.50

Two notes on the sums. First, the Tram leg from DMCC to Dubai Marina is a Zone 2 ride at AED 3, and several guides report that a Metro to Tram change within 30 minutes of tapping out counts as one journey priced on total zones crossed, which would lower the pay-as-you-go total; that rule is reported, not found on an rta.ae page, so this table counts the Tram leg as its own trip. Second, the saving grows with every trip after the sixth: a 7th trip adds AED 3 to AED 7.50 to the pay-as-you-go total and nothing to the pass. A day that starts at the airport and ends at the Gold Souk is the shape of day the pass was built for: long legs, many stops, and no single ticket that covers them all. Plan the same shape of day with our Route Planner, and check first and last trains on our Metro Timings page.

Tips for getting the most from a day pass

You get the most from a day pass by starting early, planning your route the night before, and keeping your phone charged. The five tips below follow from the facts in this guide, and each one saves either money or time.

1. Start early. The pass ends at midnight, so a 9am start buys you 15 hours and a 6pm start buys you 6.
2. Plan the route the night before. Group your stops by line, so you ride out and back once instead of crossing the city twice.
3. Keep your phone charged. A QR pass needs internet and a live code at every gate, so carry a power bank.
4. Check the last train before your last ride. The Metro runs to midnight on most days and to 1am on Friday, with an 8am start on Sunday.
5. Buy the night before. The clock starts on the first scan, so buying early costs nothing, and buying up to 5 passes in one transaction shares one AED 2 fee.

Frequently asked questions