Tourists who travel to Dubai find it hard to believe that one can go ice-skating in the desert city. When temperatures soar to nearly 50 C in summer, what could be cooler than skating on ice in a chilling indoor rink? Ice-skating is fast becoming popular among Dubai sports. The queen of winter sports, figure skating on ice rinks, finds a romantic interlude in the humdrum of hectic city life. A visit to Dubai can be satisfying in many ways besides shopping. That is if a tourist is up to facing the challenges of balancing on ice!
Dubai is home to two large ice rinks: one in a hotel and one in a leisure park. A third grand Olympic-size one is coming up soon in a shopping mall. Now a fourth one is being planned as part of a huge snow dome along with other winter sports. Along with tourists, ice-skating is a favorite with the local residents who enjoy a day out with family in the cool environs of the ice rink. The rinks have chalked out several programmes to teach ice-skating, to locals as well as people who visit Dubai. There are professionals to coach beginners. It is fun and frolic, tumble and roll all the way in this thrilling Dubai sport.
Hyatt Regency Galleria: Hyatt Regency is the only hotel in Dubai that boasts of an Ice Rink for children as well as adults. The cool ice rink is on the ground floor of the Galleria shopping mall attached to the hotel. Tourists traveling to Dubai can enjoy ice-skating at the Galleria rink, which is open to public as well as hotel guests, for a fee. It is open round the year for amateurs as well as professional ice skaters. People who visit Dubai on a holiday need not worry about equipment; they can hire skates as well as warm clothing. However, the rink is closed to public during certain instruction times.
The timings of the rink are Saturday to Thursday: 10 am to 1.30 pm, 2 pm to 5.30 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm.
Contact: Galleria Shopping Mall, Hyatt Regency, Corniche, Deira Dubai, Near the Dubai creek, Tel: 04 2096551.
Al Nasr LeisureLand: Al Nasr LeisureLand has a large well-maintained ice rink open for local residents as well as tourists on a visit to Dubai. Regular skating lessons are available at the leisure land for children as well as adults. Woolens and skates are on hire. Private, semi-private and group ice-skating lessons are offered at the leisure park for children as well as adults. The ice rink regularly hosts Ice Shows that are a major attraction for tourists who travel to Dubai. Ice hockey is another popular draw at the ice rink. Several ice hockey teams from all over the world participate in ice hockey league annually.
Contact: P.O.Box 2652, Dubai. Tel: 04 3371234, Fax - 04 3374952, Email – alnasrll@eim.ae.
Dubai Ice Rink: The huge Olympic size Dubai Ice Rink at the Dubai Mall will be a major attraction in Dubai sports when it opens to public in the near future. With a capacity to have over a 1,000 skaters floating on the rink and with a spectator capacity of 350, the Dubai Ice Rink will probably be the biggest rink in the city. The new rink boasts of latest technology in evenly maintaining a 1.5-inch thick frozen ice bed on a concrete surface.
Figure skating: The Dubai Ice Rink will cater not only to tourist on a visit to Dubai but also local residents. The organizers of the rink have already scheduled two-hour public skating lessons in addition to special Learn to Skate programs everyday right through the year. Besides these coaching classes, the Dubai Ice Rink is lining up figure skating shows and international hockey matches for the benefit of residents.
Snow dome: One more huge ice-skating facility is in the offing at the proposed fantasyland called Dubai land, a multibillion dollar project aimed at providing winter sports facilities in the famed desert city. This along with the sports city is to cater to the needs of the increasing tourists who visit Dubai. When complete, Dubai land is supposed to be open to public, with an incredible ice-skating facility along with ski slopes and snow mounds to cater to children as well as adults.