Looking to head to the northern Emirate of Umm Al Quwain? It can make a great short escape from Dubai – so here’s exactly how you get there by road.
Distance Dubai to Umm Al Quwain
From Downtown Dubai to the centre of Umm Al Quwain is approximately 57 kilometres, a 45 to 50-minute journey by car under normal traffic conditions.
The Emirate of Umm Al Quwain is sandwiched between Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah. It’s the second smallest of the emirates and has the smallest population of all the UAE Emirates. Its main attraction is the Dreamland Aqua Park.
Bus from Dubai to Umm Al Quwain
The E601 bus from Union Square Bus Station in Deira takes you to the Roundabout stop in Umm Al Quwain. You may then need a taxi to your final destination. This journey takes approximately 45 minutes to one hour by bus (it’s a further 15 minutes from the bus stop by taxi to Dreamland).
The E601 continues onward to Ras al Khaimah.
Sharjah to Umm Al Quwain
There is no direct bus service connecting Sharjah to Umm Al Quwain, you will need to get a bus from Sharjah to Deira in Dubai and change services for the E601.
Umm Al Quwain to Dubai
The E601 route picks up from Union Roundabout in Umm Al Quwain and drops back to Union Square Bus Station in Dubai. The journey takes approximately one hour by bus – it makes additional stops on the return journey at Al Mussalla Station (Ajman) and Al Jubail Station (Sharjah)
The E601 departs approximately every 45 minutes and costs 10 AED one way.
Private car from Dubai to Umm Al Quwain
Depending on where you are setting off from in Dubai, you can take the E11, the E311 or the E611.
If you do not have your own car, we recommend comparing rental car prices on rentalcars.com
Just a note to be mindful when driving in Umm Al Quwain, as soon as you are off the main freeways, the road quality is not always great. People can often pop out on to the sides of the roads, sand drifts can occur, even a random camel sighting.
If you choose to catch a taxi to Umm Al Quwain, this will cost approxiamtely 120 AED but is highly dependent on your start point within Dubai.
Abu Dhabi to Umm Al Quwain
There is no direct bus route or public transport from Abu Dhabi to Umm Al Quwain. If you wish to catch public transport, you will need to get a bus from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and transfer for a connecting service to take you to the Union Square Bus Station in Deira to connect for the E601.
By private car, we suggest you look up your route on Waze of Google Maps before you set out to find the fastest route. You can take the E11, E311 or E611 freeways which all cross through Dubai and Sharjah, however can suffer congestion at different times of day (it can be particularly bad on a Thursday afternoon. Note as you are driving through Dubai you may need to pay Salik tolls.
The costal E11 route may be the most direct but often the inland routes can be faster in various traffic conditions.
Things to do in Umm Al Quwain
We recommend you pop over to our family guide Things to do in Umm Al Quwain to plan out your activities once you are in Umm Al Quwain.
You can catch more of our guides to getting around the Emirates by bus and by car here:
- Dubai to Sharjah
- Abu Dhabi to Sharjah
- Dubai to Ajman
- Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah
- Dubai to Fujairah
- Dubai to the Musandam Peninsular
- Dubai to the historic city of Al Ain
- Dubai to Muscat road trip planner
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This post is correct at the time of publishing in mid-2019 based on local UAE experience. Please check the RTA website for the most up to date Dubai transportation information. This page may contain affiliate links which earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Our full website terms and conditions can be found here.
