10 great writing spots in Dubai
Freelance or remote workers, co-working creatives and digital nomads, here's your guide - just please let us novelists write in peace too, ok? :)
I enjoy writing from different cafés, hotels, libraries, and workspaces around the world - and rating them for their “writer-friendliness”. Here are a handful from my ever-growing list in the cosmopolitan city of Dubai. Tried one, or got another recommendation for me? Hit the comments!
A café/coworking spot/event space with a bike shop downstairs, there’s also a cool interiors shop next door. Most of the seating is upstairs - it’s a two-story venue - and one side is more coworking-focused. The chairs are comfy and a good height, and there are a decent amount of plug outlets. A community-focused space, it hosts events like yoga classes, workshops, and more. It also has a photography and podcasting studio, plus an in-house photographer that you can book.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am to 6pm Mon-Fri, and 9am-5pm on Sat & Sun
🍴☕ They serve light bites, speciality coffees, and smoothies and juices
💰 Coffees start from AED19, pastries from AED18, food from AED40
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a password
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 4 out of 5 stars
This chilled two-story motorcycle-themed café serves up speciality coffee and custom hogs. They’re all about helping people to feel comfortable the way they are, so if that means you like your coffee absolutely piping hot or with a special type of milk, they’ll do their best to make it exactly how you like it. They also sell coffee beans from their own roastery - and behind a glass-partitioned section, their “bike builders” work on custom motorcycle projects. Despite the fact that there may be angle grinders on the go downstairs, it doesn’t sound like you’re in an auto workshop - it’s usually quite relaxing. Downstairs, you’ll find comfy leather couches great for catch-ups, while on the second floor, you’ll find tables ideal for remote work and writing, with quirky chairs and even a small library/reading area at the back. Parking can be a pain to find - if there are no spots in front (there’s very limited space there) I suggest parking on the RTA spots in the slip around the corner, as you drive up from Umm Suqueim St.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am to 6pm daily
🍴☕ They serve all-day breakfast, snacks, salads, burgers, mains, and sweet treats - and for the health-conscious, each item has a calorie count listed on the menu. There’s also a kids menu available, alongside an extensive drinks list including all sorts of coffee and brew bar items, smoothies and shakes, speciality teas, coffee mocktails, health-hit lattes (e.g. turmeric and matcha), Mirzam hot chocolate, kombucha, soft drinks, and more
💰 Coffees start from AED21, snacks from AED12, dishes from AED35
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a password
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 4 out of 5 stars
This bougie coworking space has small offices and desks for members, as well as breakout rooms, a café, phone booths, and open seating. You don’t have to be a member to enter - they do offer day passes for the open areas (note: if you’re looking for a place to work during public holidays, they’re usually closed then). While I’m not a fan of the high chairs, the rest of the available seats are pretty comfy with good desk heights. There are plugs everywhere, including at the in-house café - run by Jones the Grocer - which is also a nice place to work while grabbing a bite. It gets quite busy on weekdays, and unfortunately (in my experience) too many guests don’t pay heed to the signs that ask everyone to take their phone calls elsewhere. I’ve been here several times sat next to extremely noisy people taking calls at the desks (despite the signs asking them to respect the quiet right in front of them…) with little means to stop it.
It is more chilled on Saturdays, but if there’s something going on in the event space, it can get a little loud again. It’s still a great place to work sometimes - I love writing from their “phone booths” on a Saturday (which normally have a 1 hour max use time limit on weekdays) - just bring a pair of headphones. The Bureau opened as a female-focused venue, but it’s not female-only - men are welcome, and the balance is pretty 50-50. There are some female-friendly amenities, though: for mums, the bathrooms (which are lovely!) have a nursing station - and there’s a fitness studio on one end, hosting barre and yoga. GDP’s GreenParking is free on weekends, with some RTA spots nearby. It’s opposite Equiti Metro Station.
📍Gold and Diamond Park, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am to 7pm Mon-Fri, and 8:30am-7pm on Sat. Closed on Sundays.
🍴☕ They serve light bites, speciality coffees, teas, juices, desserts, and snacks
🛜 Wi-Fi is included with a password, for paid members and day pass guests only
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 4 out of 5 stars
This beautiful and unique spot by a homegrown UAE-based bean-to-bar chocolate company is part café, part chocolate shop, and part boutique chocolate factory. It’s peaceful and stylish inside, with surprisingly comfortable seats - but only a few of the tables are near plugs, so go with your laptop charged. There’s plenty of street parking outside (and it’s not too far from Onpassive metro station), and it’s opposite a mosque. Their menu is limited, with only a couple of (all vegetarian) savory items available, but the items I’ve tried are delicious, including the Pesto & Cheese Toastie and Cheesy Naan. Their Viennoiserie is also to-die-for.
If you’re going to write from there for a while, take a jacket - it can get really cold in there, which makes sense, given how cold it would need to remain in the factory part for the sake of the chocolate! It’s a good excuse to order some of their hot chocolate - it’s hands-down the best in town. The cinnamon spiced option is my favorite. If you want to take home something extra-special from the shop, try the chocolate-covered Emirati honeycomb. It’s created with Emirati honey, with the crunchy, layered flavors lent from local sidr trees and mountain wildflowers - a fancy Crunchie bar if you will, topped with a silky layer of 62% dark chocolate.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am until 11pm daily.
🍴☕ They serve light bites, coffee, hot chocolate, teas, sodas, pastries, and desserts, and sell a range of chocolate items in the in-house boutique
💰 A chocolate factory tour (with a tasting) starts from Dhs85 per head (for min two people); coffees start from AED18, drinking chocolate from Dhs16, other drinks from Dhs15, light bites from Dhs26, savory treats from Dhs35, and desserts from AED16
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a password
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 3 out of 5 stars
This small homegrown café tucked away in a lush gardening store - with artisan coffee, beautiful cakes, an all-day breakfast menu, and wholesome meals - feels like a hidden oasis. The Roseleaf brand was launched in 2012, and this indie café has two locations as of 2024: one in The Garden Concept on Sheikh Zayed Road (which is the one I’m talking about here), and another at Emirates Golf Club. While the seating is quite limited, it is comfortable and quite a few seats have plugs. It can get a little noisy on weekends but it does calm down outside of popular mealtimes. The adjacent garden shop makes it feel fresh and peaceful, and the food here is truly tasty (my go-to order is the Complete Harvest - creamy spinach, sautéed mushrooms, and fried eggs accompanied by a golden brick of thin, crispy-outside, tender-inside, layered potato). There’s plenty of street parking available outside, and the staff are kind and friendly.
📍Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am to 8pm daily
💰 Coffees start from AED20, small bites from AED22, breakfast items from AED32-60, lunch items from AED40-75, and desserts from AED15
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a password
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 3 out of 5 stars
Described as an “artisanal coworking café by day, and a relaxed bar and eatery by night,” this venue is located on the ground floor of Zabeel House hotel in The Greens. It can get a little busy at certain times of the morning, since it is a hotel, and this is the place where guests can go for breakfast - but it does quiet down fairly quickly. It’s also a pet-friendly spot, which means you will occasionally encounter a yappy little dog that gets too excited (but it’s usually easily forgiven since pups = cute).
They have a couple of long coworking tables with plugs down the middle and very comfy seating, as well as a series of booths and other tables (although the latter does not have easy plug access), and some other couch-style seating (which usually does have an outlet nearby, but doesn’t have the right seat-to-table height for avoiding hunching over the laptop like Gru). The food is pricier than most comparable spots, since it is in a nice hotel, but it’s also really good - and if you fancy a bit of tipple, unlike your average coworking café, you can get it here. Bonus: The hotel is part of the Jumeirah Group, so if you have the Jumeirah One app, you can use it here.
The best thing about this place is, hands down, the staff. Truly some of the nicest, most sincere, friendly waitstaff you’ll ever meet. Street parking outside can be hard to find, but there is a valet option if you spend at least Dhs50 and get the ticket stamped - but the valet here is notoriously slow when fetching your car.
📍The Greens, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 6:30am to midnight daily
🍴☕ They serve breakfast from 6:30am-2pm daily, a Sunday Roast every Sunday, and international cuisine, speciality coffees, teas, and juices, and a range of alcohol
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a sign-in
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 4 out of 5 stars
A4 by Alserkal
This long-standing multi-function coworking space was renovated last summer. It has a number of square tables that are open to anyone who wants to use them - and it’s free to enter, as long as you buy something from the little in-house deli. Its uses are pretty diverse - people come here to work, as well as network, explore art in one of the nearby galleries, or pop in for a pause while exploring Alserkal Avenue’s many other quirky hipster-friendly venues. A4 Space by Alserkal is also home to one of my fave hidden gems in the UAE: Zerzura Rare Books. This wonderful business, started by a true rare books enthusiast, sells rare, unusual, and limited-edition books as well as prints of vintage posters, plus a few fun accessories like bookish-themed notebooks and tote bags. Pop in to have a chat with the extremely knowledgeable owner, Alex, or pet the resident cat - I find it hard to walk in here without buying something, or at the very least, adding something else to my wishlist. Alex can also help you source hard-to-find books, and has found and ordered me novels and comics I’d been struggling to find for years. Last time I visited, there was a first-edition print of The Silmarillion that I had my eye on. It’s found upstairs from the coworking space - where it’s fairly quiet but with a healthy, gentle buzz - and there are several plug outlets available too.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open Monday to Saturday 9am to 7pm
🛜 Wi-Fi is free
One of Dubai’s most long-standing, beloved cafés, there are plenty of seats here (with a downstairs as well as upstairs area, the latter of which feels split into two distinct parts with their own slightly different vibe). A fair few of them are near plug outlets, although you’re more likely to find those upstairs, for the seats against the walls and near the corners. It was named after the two popular foodies/restaurateurs behind it, and in its heyday, it had lines out the door. It’s still extremely buzzy on weekends, so if you go there during weekend breakfast or brunch times be warned that it will be quite loud and relatively packed - but during non-peak hours, it can be a lovely place to work. The food menu is extensive and changes every now and then so you’ll never get bored of it (although I still mourn the loss of a goat cheese phyllo pastry dish they had back in 2016 - please bring it back!). It’s generally filled with tasty, healthy, bougie café food and a wide range of good speciality coffee, made by wonderfully friendly baristas. They also sell bags of coffee beans in their retail section.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 8am to 4pm on weekdays, and 8am to 6pm on weekends
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, with a password
This two-storey “gourmet deli” in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers area is a counter-order set-up with cold and hot meals, breakfast, coffee, and pastries. Downstairs, you’l find a series of booth-style seats that all have plug outlets fitted into the inner seats, as well as some other regular tables. Upstairs, there are more regular tables as well as sofa-style seating (but electrical outlet access is more sparse there). There’s a range of healthy food here (including quite a few gluten-free options), with plenty of great salads available by the scoop (and there’s also a half-and-half serving for when you can’t pick one). If you have a sweet tooth, they have some pretty good desserts, but personally, my favorite treat from this place is their homemade biscotti (and their spinach and cheese phyllo cigars). They also have a terrace if you want outdoor seating (but there are no plug sockets there).
It can get busy during peak hours on weekdays, since there are multiple offices in the same building - but the truly stressful thing about working from here is the parking. RTA street parking in the area is not only limited, it also falls under the JLT parking curse of only allowing you to park there for 4 hours at a time. Be wary of the parking letter also: spots marked with letter “J” are charged at AED4 per hour, but those with the letter “I” are AED10/hour. You can park in the building’s indoor lot and ask the café to validate your parking token, as long as you order a minimum amount (last time I checked, this was AED50) - but even the lot can fill up. My advice? Go here when you need a half-day workspace at most - get there during off-peak hours and you’ll get a parking spot just fine, then plan to stay for 4 hours at most.
📍JLT, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 7am to 9pm daily
RAW Coffee Company
Describing itself as a relaxed community café, this hipster-cool spot in Dubai’s funky industrial area is an excellent creative hub, as well as gathering spot for leisurely breakfast catch-ups on weekends. While the latter can make the place a little loud, it’s still a nice place to work from - and since it has two stories, there are plenty of seats where you can settle in. Each area has a slightly different vibe, so pick the one that feels most conducive to your productivity - quite a few of the work-friendly areas are near plugs, intentionally so. The venue also hosts community events from time to time, from fundraising bazaars for worthy causes to food truck pop-ups outside. Getting connected to the internet can be a little bit of a pain sometimes - it is free, but the server can be a little finicky at times - but if you just ask a staff member for help if that happens, they should get you sorted. There’s a large parking lot outside with RTA paid spots, making it easy to find a place to keep your wheels while you work as well.
📍Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
⏰ Open from 7:30am to 6pm daily
🍴☕ They serve light bites, breakfast, lunch, desserts, speciality coffees, and smoothies and juices. They also sell coffee to take home.
🛜 Wi-Fi is free, albeit a little spotty
⭐ Writer-friendliness: 4 out of 5 stars
I’m usually at social company.
Ohhhh I need this!!