Taste of Abu Dhabi, free fitness classes: Best things to do in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this weekend: November 13-15, 2026

Looking for the best things to do in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this weekend? November 13 to 15 is packed with options, from free fitness sessions and family festivals to brunches, live comedy and late-night dining. Football fans can catch Roberto Carlos at Real Madrid World, while culture lovers have Down to Earth at Jameel Arts Centre and a Northeastern Chinese residency at Shang Palace. There’s also Switch Disco by the beach, a wildlife-and-wellness weekend at Dubai Safari Park, free outdoor workouts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and plenty of food-led plans if moving is not remotely on your agenda.

Dubai Fitness Challenge doesn’t have to mean jogging around the same neighbourhood loop for the hundredth time. Boxpark’s free After Hours programme offers Outdoor HIIT Boxing on Saturday evenings. On Sunday, things get considerably more neon with Glow-in-the-Dark Zumba and silent-disco-style headsets.

Price: Free; registration via the FITZE app
When: Sat, 6pm-7pm (HIIT Boxing); Sun, 7.30pm (Glow-in-the-Dark Zumba)
Where: Boxpark, Dubai

Black Bunny Dubai is turning one, which obviously calls for three days of hourly entertainment to celebrate. Between performances, you can enjoy go-karts, bowling, trampolines, and arcade games. As for the hourly experiences, there'll be mascot parades, magic and bubble shows, dance performances, a Symphony of Light show, and lucky draws.

Price: Top up Dh575 and receive Dh1,150 in credits during anniversary weekend
When: Nov 13-15
Where: Black Bunny Dubai

Shang Palace is looking north for its latest guest-chef residency. Visiting chefs Hayden Wu and Duke Guo from Shangri-La Harbin are bringing the food of Dong Bei — Northeastern China — to Dubai for eight days. Expect the sort of hearty, bold cooking associated with Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, with a specially curated menu built around traditional techniques and regional dishes.

Price: A la carte

When: November 14-21, lunch and dinner

Where: Shang Palace, Level 1, Shangri-La Dubai

Sunday evening can either be spent thinking about Monday or eating mixed grills with your pup. QWERTY is understandably suggesting the latter. Grill & Chill Sundays combines food with three live acoustic sets from Ariel between 6pm and 9pm, plus roaming QWERTY grazers offering bites around the terrace. Packages start at Dh75, making it a fairly low-commitment way to stretch the weekend out for another few hours before acknowledging that Monday exists.

Price: From Dh75 per person
When: Sundays, 6pm-10.30pm
Where: QWERTY, Ground Floor, Media One Hotel, Dubai Media City

Decision fatigue is considerably less annoying when the question is which restaurant to try next. Taste of Abu Dhabi returns to Yas Island with 16 restaurant pop-ups, each serving tasting dishes so you can work your way around the festival without committing to one enormous meal. There are also cooking demos and workshops with Gino D’Acampo, Rachel Allen and Thomas Straker, live-fire cooking, music, DJs and the new Candy Land Kids Zone. Children under 12 enter free, which leaves a little more of the budget for another plate.

Price: From Dh80; under-12s enter free
When: November 13-15; 2pm-midnight (Fri-Sat), 2pm-10pm (Sun)
Where: Gateway Park North, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

If you’ve been meaning to return to Ikigai, the reopening offer provides a pretty good nudge. Until November 15 (Sunday), the Dubai Marina restaurant is taking 50 per cent off food from its à la carte menu, giving you an excuse to work through Japanese-inspired dishes such as Australian Wagyu Ribeye Robatayaki, Donabe Claypot and Sugoi Tori Miso. The offer doesn’t apply to drinks or special menus and can’t be stacked with other promotions, but half-price food still makes this one of the easier weekend decisions.

Price: 50 per cent off à la carte food

When: Until November 15

Where: Ikigai Resto + Bar, Millennium Place Marina Hotel, Dubai Marina

There are brunches with a view, and then there’s eating 122 floors above Dubai. Le Cloud Brunch at At.mosphere runs every Saturday, with soft, house and sparkling packages and the city spread out far below. Once brunch wraps at 4.30pm, there’s also a lounge afterparty and AED 155 Sunset Package if heading back to ground level feels premature. This is firmly one for a birthday, visiting guest or Saturday when an ordinary table at street level simply isn’t going to cut it.

Price: Dh350 (soft beverages); Dh441 (house beverages); Dh590 (sparkling beverages); Dh155 (Sunset Package for the afterparty)

When: Saturdays, 1pm-4.30pm; lounge afterparty follows

Where: At.mosphere Restaurant and Lounge & Bar, Burj Khalifa

If your fridge door could use some new artwork, the Souk of Little Creators should help. Children aged five to 11 can work their way through five creative zones, collecting stickers in an Artist Passport along the way. There are digital nature projections, colour experiments, illuminated sand art and finger-puppet making, plus a Sketch to AI station that transforms their drawings into digital artwork. It’s free too, although parents may find the surrounding boutiques rather less so.

Price: Free; first come, first served
When: Until November 15, daily 4.30pm-8.30pm
Where: Souk Amphitheatre, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

This is it. This is when football fans really score - Roberto Carlos is visiting Real Madrid World on November 13 and you can meet and speak to the player if you are around too. While you’re there, enter Grand Trivia, a six-month competition that will eventually send two people to Madrid to watch El Clásico in May 2027. Daily winners progress towards monthly finals, with signed jerseys up for grabs along the way.

That done, you can focus on the rides. There are more than 40 attractions to choose from including Stars Flyer, Hala Madrid Coaster and the Bernabéu Experience. Bored on the field? We don't think so.

Price: From Dh295. Grand Trivia is free with a Real Madrid World day ticket or annual pass

When: Nov 13

Where: Real Madrid World, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Dubai

Dubai Safari Park is joining Dubai Fitness Challenge for the first time with The Wild Weekend, and the workout setting is considerably more interesting than a treadmill. Saturday brings 2.5km and 5km runs followed by recovery sessions and breakfast, while Sunday offers yoga in the morning or Zumba later in the day. Each package includes the selected activity, dining, park admission, train access and entry to three live shows, so your exercise session can easily turn into a full day with the animals.

Price: Dh155 per package
When: November 14-15
Where: Dubai Safari Park, Dubai

If you like your wellness events with options, the Good Energy Club at Terra has plenty. The free festival returns for Dubai Fitness Challenge with a 5km community run, walks, Pilates, yoga, strength sessions and dance, plus a Recovery Village and Nature Recovery Trail for anyone who would rather slow things down. There are talks from Manal Rostom, Paddy Pimblett and Danae Mercer, while Lilly Sabri and Laura Pimblett lead Pilates Sculpt classes. You can even browse local brands at the Good Energy Market between sessions.

Price: Free
When: November 15, 7am-1pm
Where: Terra, Expo City Dubai

You don’t need to own a compost bin or know the name of every houseplant to enjoy Down to Earth. The free two-day festival returns to Jameel Arts Centre with workshops, performances, talks, sustainable shopping, thrifting and activities for the whole family. Browse the Green Bazaar and Farmers’ Market, swap pre-loved belongings at Faire Trade or investigate reworked fashion at Urban Market Concept. This year’s theme is Nature in the City: Growing Together, but thankfully nobody is going to quiz you on your recycling habits at the entrance.

Price: Free; sessions are first come, first served
When: November 14-15
Where: Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai

If you fancy hitting something before brunch — constructively, obviously — BetterFit Personal Training is running a free outdoor kickboxing and circuit session at Masdar City. The hour-long workout is beginner-friendly, so you don’t need to arrive knowing your jab from your cross. There are only 10 spaces in each class, though, so this one requires slightly more organisation than deciding on Saturday morning that you suddenly feel athletic. More sessions follow on November 21 and 28.

Price: Free; registration required
When: November 14, 9am-10am
Where: Masdar City, Abu Dhabi

If calling dinner “brunch” means you get three hours of food and free-flowing drinks, we’re not going to argue with the terminology. Jones Social’s Saturday Night Brunch starts with sharing plates including truffle beef sliders, blackened corn ribs and harissa chicken skewers, followed by a main of your choice and desserts for the table. A DJ handles the soundtrack - all you need to do is show up.

Price: Dh245 (soft beverages); Dh345 (house beverages); Dh445 (premium beverages)
When: Saturdays, 8pm-11pm
Where: Jones Social

World Kindness Day isn’t being treated as a one-off gimmick at Emirates Park Zoo. The Abu Dhabi attraction is using November 13 to highlight the less visible work its keepers do every day, from morning health checks and species-specific diets to enrichment activities designed to encourage natural behaviour. The zoo also operates as a Certified Autism Center, with staff trained to offer sensory-aware experiences. So if you’re planning a family zoo trip anyway, this weekend comes with a useful reminder that looking after animals involves rather more than simply feeding them.

Price: From Dh65
When: Daily
Where: Emirates Park Zoo & Resort, Al Bahia, Abu Dhabi