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Nomination results · Dubai Rating 2024–2025

Best city event: results

Looking back at the most significant, interesting and fun things that happened in Dubai over the past year, we put together a list of around 50 events of every kind — from concerts and festivals to business forums and brand events. Naturally, the biggest and most important events are international, but one Russian-speaking project made it among the winners too.

All nominees

Winner

The best city event nomination has an overall winner — the one with the most votes — and winners in each category. DZCH sincerely thanks everyone who supported the nominees with their votes throughout the rating. This nomination closes the 2024–2025 season.

Coldplay
Nomination winner

Coldplay

18 votes

British band Coldplay played no fewer than four concerts in Abu Dhabi from 9 to 14 January as part of their Music of the Spheres tour. They took place at the largest sports stadium in the Emirates — Zayed Sports City Stadium.

The stadium usually holds 42,000 people, but for each of the four concerts it was packed to 50,000. In total 200,000 fans came — the biggest show in the history of the Emirates.

The concerts broke the previous record set by Ed Sheeran, who drew 69,000 people over two concerts at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai a year earlier.

Website

Category leaders

  • Coldplay

    Concerts

    Coldplay

    18 votes

    Four sold-out concerts in a row in January as part of the Music of the Spheres tour set a new record for the UAE: the British band drew more than 200,000 people in total, overtaking Ed Sheeran's double concert. All the shows took place in Abu Dhabi at Zayed Sports City Stadium, and even though the band played four concerts instead of the originally planned one, tickets for all dates sold out within hours.

  • Dubai Design Week

    Festivals

    Dubai Design Week

    6 votes

    A week of creative projects, talks and street installations in one of the city's most creative clusters — Dubai Design District — that brings artists from all over the world to Dubai. Many exhibits make you think about global issues, from life in poor regions to the need for 'green' reforms. Alongside the art there is a practical side: together with the exhibitions runs the Downtown Design fair, where makers of furniture, décor and building materials show their latest work.

  • The Nutcracker

    Education & culture

    The Nutcracker

    8 votes

    On New Year's Eve the iconic ballet to Tchaikovsky's music could be seen not only at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre but also live in cinemas around the world, including in Dubai at Reel Cinemas.

  • Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

    Sport & wellness

    Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

    8 votes

    The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament held every February on the hard courts of the Aviation Club Tennis Centre. The tournament is supported by Dubai Duty Free and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It consists of a women's WTA 1000 event followed by a men's ATP 500 event. In 2025 the ATP tournament was held for the 33rd time and the WTA one for the 25th.

  • GITEX

    Business

    GITEX

    8 votes

    An international exhibition dedicated to information technology — the largest in the Middle East. If the US has the Consumer Electronics Show and Europe has the Mobile World Congress, the main event of this kind in MENA is GITEX, held every autumn. The 2024 edition is considered the largest in the world: 6,500 exhibitors, 1,800 startups, 1,200 investors and 200,000 visitors.

  • Emirates Festival of Literature

    Brands

    Emirates Festival of Literature

    6 votes

    In January the literature festival returned to its 'home' at InterContinental Dubai Festival City. Besides being a popular event for book lovers, Emirates airline uses it to show international guests the importance and distinctiveness of local culture: local poets and prose writers, academics, artists, designers and publishers take part.

  • Sleepover at The Green Planet

    Kids & family

    Sleepover at The Green Planet

    9 votes

    Many people have visited The Green Planet during the day — but how about spending the night with the animals? From August to October 2024 the centre offered sleepovers where you could go on a ghost hunt at sunset, watch nocturnal animals, sleep in a tent and have breakfast in the morning.

  • ShortlistAll nominees →

All results

The rating bot’s official table at the close of voting.

Overall standings: 190 votes
PlaceNomineeVotes
1Coldplay18
2Sleepover at The Green Planet9
3Thirty Seconds to Mars9
4Valery Meladze9
5Hans Zimmer9
6GITEX8
7The Nutcracker8
8Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships8
9Opening of Ribambelle7
10Ed Sheeran7
11Dubai Airshow6
12Emirates Festival of Literature6
13Russian New Year6
14Dubai Design Week6
15Dubai Shopping Festival6
16Valentino at Matcha Club5
17LAB with Anton Belyaev5
18Dubai 30 x 305
19Taste of Dubai5
20Quoz Art Fest5
21Gulfood4
22Lacoste pop-up at Alserkal4
23Dubai Run4
24Sole DXB4
25Sephoria3
26Antokha MC3
27Big Bad Wolf book sale3
28Sikka3
29Game Expo2
30Digital Organ Experience2
31Dubai Future Forum2
32Dubai Racing Carnival2
33Etisalat MOTB1
34Opening of Boo Boo Land1
35Poetry of Air1
361 Billion Followers Summit1
37Emirates Dubai 7s1
38Kayan1
39Woofstock1

Nomination partner

Gold Apple

Beauty retailer Gold Apple

With the Gold Apple website and app you can quickly get ready not only for any event but for an ordinary day too. The range includes more than 15,000 products — perfume, make-up, skincare and products for men and children — with delivery across Dubai within 4 hours.

A gift card makes a universal present: the recipient chooses exactly what they need. You can pay for an order or a card any way you like: by card online, with Apple Pay or on delivery.

Partner website

Dubai Rating

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