We’ve been to a lot of beach clubs at the World’s Best Beach Clubs, but we don’t think we’ve ever come across a beach club that boasts an incredible 21 individual bars to choose from before.
So, we were very excited to get to try out Bla Bla Dubai and find out if they really had made a place where you could drink for 3 weeks in a different bar every day without ever repeating a stop.
Our team packed up their notebooks, review sheets, sunglasses and sunscreen, and headed out the door to The Beach JBR to find out more, and this is what they learned about Bla Bla Dubai.
Introduction – Getting To Bla Bla Dubai
Bla Blai Dubai is part of the huge Jumeirah Beach Residence complex, and if you can get to Dubai, you should have no problem finding it.
Getting to Dubai is remarkably easy from most parts of the world, as the emirate has built itself into the global network as a major transport hub.
While once, people used Dubai for connections going elsewhere, now the emirate sees millions of visitors who want to stay there instead of moving on.
Jumeriah is the most popular part of Dubai with tourists, so it’s super easy to be in the right neighbourhood for this beach club.
Then, it’s a short drive to the club itself, and as with everywhere in Dubai, valet parking is always available, as it’s too hot for people to walk from the car park.
Where Is Bla Bla Dubai? The Beach, JBR – 5101 Messer Street – Marsa Dubai – Jumeirah Beach Residence – Dubai – United Arab Emirates
Online: Bla Bla
Opening Hours: 10 a.m. – 3 a.m. daily, though hours may change during Ramadan or on public holidays, happy hours from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. daily, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday ONLY from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
What’s Available At Bla Bla Dubai?
Bla Bla boasts 21 bars, a nightclub, a beach club, a restaurant and more. It’s one of the most fully featured beach clubs in the world, and it’s unlikely that anyone would get bored on a day trip to the beach club.
However, please note, you must book the parts of the complex that you want to visit in advance, this includes booking the beach club, the restaurant, the night club and any bars you want to take advantage of separately. A reservation in one part of Bla Bla does not guarantee you any access to the other parts of the venue.
This can make a trip to Bla Bla a little more frustrating than it needs to be. If you can’t be bothered to deal with all the complexity before you go, just book the beach club and nightclub online and then talk to the staff when you arrive to try and arrange other bookings; they will try to be as accommodating as possible.
Our Detailed Review Of Bla Bla Dubai
We implement a standardised process for assessing every beach club to promote just treatment of owners, management, and staff, and to deliver reviews in a uniform format that facilitates seamless venue comparisons.
The assessment process is detailed as follows:
- A team is tasked with reviewing the venue.
- Each member must visit the beach club, with the flexibility to visit independently and on separate days.
- During their visit, every reviewer completes a scorecard, scoring the club from 1 (least exceptional) to 5 (most exceptional) in predefined categories, while also recording their experiences.
- After all team members have submitted their scorecards, they convene to discuss their observations and determine final scores for each category.
- A selected team member then composes the review, capturing the team’s discussions and final scores, before it is shared on our website.
Reservation and Booking Process
There is a booking system for this beach club, and for once, it’s actually their own booking system. So, that’s a point in their favour.
However, it’s still not very good, and we’ve found that this is a recurring issue in Dubai; booking appears to be something that they pay very little attention to, and we wish that they would.
You can, for example, book the beach club, but you are required to pick a rough seating area rather than an individual seat and with no map of the venue to work out what each description means.
In fact, they seem more interested in upselling you a t-shirt or a towel than they are in selling the reservation.
Overall, it works, but it could be much better, and we have to note that, once again, this is an experience “powered by SevenRooms” who are much better as a restaurant booking engine than as a beach club one.
Ambience and Atmosphere
There’s no doubt that there’s a buzz about the Bla Bla Dubai, but most of it is centred on places away from the beach club that forms our main interest in the complex.
The beach club is a calmer affair, and the much vaunted 21 bars include all the other bars in the complex, not just the beach club.
Having said that, it’s a nice enough vibe, and you’re not going to walk through the door and wish you’d gone somewhere else.
We also liked that there aren’t a ton of kids running around. Venues that sell as much alcohol as this definitely don’t need little ones underfoot, and kids should be spared the sight of their parents drinking like some of the folks in here do, too.
Location And Accessibility
Dubai is an easy enough place to get to, and while the traffic to get to Jumeriah can be a little brutal during the rush hour, we should note that most people are likely to stay within a stone’s throw of this place (well, technically, a Dubai taxi ride away).
They have solid parking options as you’d expect in a place where the temperature in the day can easily hit 45 degrees at 90+ humidity.
Unusually, it’s also a fully wheelchair accessible venue, and even the rooftop deck is able to accommodate those with mobility issues. We like that and think Bla Bla is to be commended for that.
Aesthetic And Design
The aesthetic of Bla Bla changes a lot as you move from area to area and that’s both a good thing and a bad thing as it delivers variety but prevents you from having an “overall” impression of things.
But we found that the areas we visited were all attractive and visually interesting and we’d be happy to go back and explore a little more in the future too.
It doesn’t quite have an identity in the way that our favourite beach clubs do, but then, it’s not really trying for one either.
Staff Friendliness and Professionalism (Service Standard)
This is Dubai and they don’t have service staff that aren’t friendly and professional. It’s simply the nature of the trade here.
They bring in the best talent from around the world and it always shows. The staff at Bla Bla are very professional indeed and they know their menu and the club extremely well.
Service Speed and Efficiency
Overall we found the service to be speed and pretty efficient too, however, we would note that there are moments of communication breakdown between the moving parts occasionally.
It’s not enough to be seriously frustrating but it’s noticeable all the same. It wouldn’t stop us from coming back to Bla Bla Dubai mind you.
Food Quality and Variety
The food at Bla Bla is very good, it’s not fine dining or the best food we’ve ever had in a beach club but it’s much better than pub grub.
Overall, we found that the menus here are varied (and there is more than one menu that you can enjoy during a day here) and that the ingredients are premium quality.
We’d happily come back to Bla Bla and eat there again. The restaurant is a lovely place to spend some time too before the nightclub opens.
Beverage Selection and Creativity
They have a wide range of drinks available at Bla Bla and you’re certainly not going to run out of options on a single visit or even on multiple occasions.
The cocktails are strong and beautifully presented, the beers are always ice cold and tasty and the range of wines and spirits is excellent.
The only real problem is the prices, but this is Dubai and those are reasonable alcohol prices for beach clubs here.
Cleanliness and Hygiene
As with every venue in Dubai, they take cleanliness seriously at Bla Bla Dubai and everwhere that we went was pristine.
The pool water was also clear and pleasant which is very important if you want to feel confident in a club’s hygiene practices.
Comfort of Seating and Lounging Areas
The seats are very comfortable in the main beach club, though the comfort of seating in other venues can vary quite considerably.
Music and Entertainment
The music here is very good and because there are multiple bars, clubs, etc. under one roof, you can always find something that’s to your tastes.
Just remember you have to rebook a seat if you want to move from one area to another though, or you might end up having to stand for the rest of the night.
Talk to the staff before you move and you should be fine.
Seasonality
This is Dubai and the weather here really only has one setting, hot and sunny. It’s the ideal place to be a lizard, in fact, as there’s no Winter to speak of (though it does get a bit cooler for a couple of months).
Rain is rare and rarely lasts for more than an hour or two. Then it’s replaced by Dubai’s incredible humidity.
So, there’s no seasonality but you should be very careful in the sun, it’s way hotter than you’re used to and it’s important to stay in the shade as much as possible, use sunscreen when you can’t and to keep rehydrating.
Pricing and Value for Money
This is Dubai, what can we say? For Dubai, Bla Bla doesn’t particularly stand out as ultra-expensive or as a rip-off.
However, when compared to beach clubs around the world, it is expensive and that means we can’t award high marks in the value for money category.
A bottle of ordinary spirits that might cost $15-$20 back home will set you back $300-$400 USD here. It is what it is, and the emirate has high alcohol taxes but it’s still pretty shocking.
Beach Access and Quality
There is no beach access at Bla Bla Dubai, though we do know that they have beach access planned for the future.
But without any ability to wander from the pool to the sands, we have to rate the beach access at Bla Bla on the lowest score.
To be fair, the beaches in Dubai are all much of a muchness; it’s probably more than enough to have a fabulous pool area to chill out in, instead.
Sustainability Practices
We were quite surprised to find that this beach club has made no formal commitment to sustainability, nor does it offer any open reporting on this front.
Dubai itself has city-wide sustainability initiatives, but we’d like to see individual businesses making an effort to exceed these basic targets.
So, sadly, we have to give Bla Bla the lowest possible score in this categor,y and we’d really like to see them do better in the future.
Exclusive Perks for Guests
The beach club will supply you with a place to sit, and you can rent or buy one of their towels for use during the course of the day.
The towels are nice, and we can imagine many people want to take one home as a souvenir of their day here, so it’s a good touch to sell them.
However, we would like to see a more premium/VIP tier of inclusions for an additional fee. We feel like so many beach clubs are failing to offer better value for money which could promote customer loyalty and boost their average revenue per user.
Safety and Security
This is Dubai, and it’s one of the safest places on Earth to spend time. They take security very seriously throughout the emirate without being intrusive about things.
Cars and bags are subject to search on request, and the teams will be gracious and decent as they conduct their work.
As you’d expect in a place with this many bars, there are also a lot of security personnel on the ground, and if trouble breaks out, it’s soon dealt with and is not allowed to impact the enjoyment of other guests.
Dubai is not a good place to start alcohol fuelled problems, by the way, as the local authorities take an extremely dim view of drunkenness.
Event Hosting Capabilities
Bla Bla Dubai is like almost everywhere in Dubai, geared up for hosting events from small intimate affairs to huge corporate ones.
Their onsite team is dedicated to ensuring that your day goes without a hitch, and given the amount of experience that the MICE industry has to offer here, we doubt they’ll do a bad job of things.
Consistency of Experience
The huge nature of this place, combined with the odd reservation system, means that the experience isn’t always as consistent as you would like it to be.
Our review team found their time at this place to be very pleasant, but when we talked with some regular customers, they felt that they could hit both highs and lows here.
Overall, you’re not going to have a bad time here, but sometimes the experience just won’t be as smooth as you’d like it to be.
Additional Amenities and Facilities
This beach club has practically everything you need for a hard day’s drinking and chilling out, followed by eating and dancing.
Should you need anything else, you’re within a short drive of it; this is Dubai, and everything you could possibly want is in the emirate somewhere.
Summary
We liked Bla Bla Dubai and we had a good time there, but we did feel that the whole thing is a much more fractured experience than it needs to be.
It would be much better if the venues were joined seamlessly together with the facility to flow between places without faffing about with the check-in at each place. This is 2025 – it’s not hard to make this happen.
However, there’s no doubt that the nightclub is banging, the rooftop offers some lovely views, and the beach club has all you need for a fun day by the pool.
We also like that it’s adults-only; we think party-based venues are better without kids and that kids are better without exposure to venues full of partying adults, too.
FAQs
Can You Go Swimming At Bla Bla Dubai?
Yes, you can swim at Bla Bla Dubai as long as you have access to the beach club. The entry process at Bla Bla is quite complicated because the venue is subdivided many times, and entry to one area does not guarantee access to other areas.
You will need to reserve a seat in the spaces that you want to visit at various times during the day. Even those who dine in the restaurant are not guaranteed a spot at the bar afterwards.
What Is There To Do At Bla Bla Dubai?
Bla Bla Dubai is a multi-functional venue that consists of a beach club, a restaurant, a rooftop terrace and a fully featured nightclub.
That means you can spend your day lounging by the pool, eating and drinking and then hit the floor of a 15,000 square foot dance space with 9 unique bars inside!
Is Bla Bla Dubai A Child-Friendly Venue?
No, not really. Children are banned from the whole venue with the single exception of the restaurant, and there they must be accompanied by an adult, and they must vacate the area by 5 p.m.
To be fair, given that the nature of this beach club is really “drinking and more drinking”, it’s not ever going to be a place where you’d want to take your kids.
There are many family-friendly beach clubs in Dubai where your children can enjoy more age-appropriate entertainment for the day.
Who Is The Owner Of Bla Bla Dubai?
Steve Taylor is the founder and owner of Bla Bla Dubai. He is a British businessman from Henley on Thames and has previously worked as president of Global Energy at Ecolab.
Final Thoughts On The Review Of Bla Bla Dubai
Bla Bla Dubai is an impressive place that is marred somewhat by the need to maximise revenues. So, instead of being a huge complex that you can wander freely, like most beach clubs where your bill follows you around, it’s more like a shopping mall of restaurant and bar facilities.
You need separate reservations for each place you want to be, and you must pay the check in one place before moving on to the next; there’s no continuity at all.
This is a bit of a shame because while this is an undoubtedly impressive spot, it’s a bit of a drag to work your way around it. We’re on holiday, we don’t want to spend our lives reserving things and dealing with paying over and over again in the same business.
