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Friday, September 25, 2026
Your Dubai weekend, sorted.
 

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WEEKEND EDITION
   
THE LEAD
Still hot, but the evenings are turning: what's open this weekend
It's still properly hot by day, but the evenings are starting to ease, and the outdoor season is creeping back in with them. The Dubai Fountain is back, at lower volume and with a shorter soundtrack until Wednesday 30 September. This weekend runs from free to Dh560, and the smart plan is air-conditioned by day, outside after sunset.
Apotheca's beauty warehouse sale runs Friday to Sunday, 10am to 7pm at Crowne Plaza Dubai Jumeirah, up to 80% off with prices from Dh5. Two markets are free, ARTE at Times Square Center on Saturday and Ripe on Sunday. Jun's ten-course tasting menu in Downtown is Dh560 a head, Dh490 vegetarian, no booking required. The free stops are the two markets; the paid ones run from Dh5 to Dh560.
The season has been switching back on in stages all month, and you can see the arc. Al Ain Zoo's Glow reopened on 5 September, the Dubai Opera anniversary gala landed on the 12th, and now the Fountain, the one free show the whole city actually stops to watch, is back, just quiet until Wednesday. Nothing on this list needs a reservation, so the only real decision is which day to go: Saturday for ARTE, Sunday for Ripe.
WHAT TO DO

Plan Saturday around the ARTE market at Times Square Center, free from 10am to 7pm, then catch the Fountain's evening show once the heat drops.
   
QUICK 3
1 Kalba's first Jashe and Sahnah Festival runs through Sunday
The inaugural Jashe and Sahnah Festival opened Thursday in Kalba and runs until Sunday 27 September at Al Samar neighbourhood in Al Ghail, on the Sharjah east coast. It is a celebration of the coast's maritime and culinary heritage, Jashe is small Al Ouma fish sun-dried and ground with spices and dried lemon into Sahnah powder, across 4,800 sqm with more than 85 producing families and three cash-prize competitions. The read: it is a real road trip if you want out of the city this weekend, roughly 90 minutes from JLT, and you see the first-edition version before it gets polished and crowded next year.
 
2Nine restaurants are back, one reopens tonight
Hakkasan reopened at Atlantis The Palm on the 23rd, and Lion in the Sun is back on the 62nd floor of Mandarin Oriental Downtown this Friday with its open-fire Mediterranean cooking and the full-moon installation. Buddha-Bar, Shimmers, Andaliman, Scalini and Tattu Dubai are already open, with Ninive returning 1 October. If you have been waiting for a favourite, most are back this weekend, so book the Friday or Saturday dinner rather than assuming a walk-in.
 
3The UAE tightens its Iran posture: flights and banking
The General Civil Aviation Authority suspended all flights by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE until further notice, effective Thursday, in compliance with a US ban, with no time frame or conditions set for lifting it. The UAE Central Bank separately barred Bank Melli Iran, with its eight UAE branches, from any transactions between the UAE and Iran over anti-money-laundering and terror-financing failures. On the UN week, The National reported Iran handed the US a road map, a ceasefire of up to 60 days, a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in phases, and an end to the US blockade, but nothing is signed, and Washington has not agreed to any of it. If you fly an Iranian carrier or bank through Bank Melli, your routing changes now. For everyone else, Dubai is operating normally, and the tighter posture is a compliance move following the US ban rather than a fresh escalation.
   
WHAT IT MEANS
A renewal quote is now the weakest hand a landlord holds
Per fam Properties' analysis of Dubai Land Department registrations (agency estimate), rents on new leases for the same building and unit type are 15.3% lower than they were in January, while renewal rents are down only about 1%. New leases overtook renewals for the first time since the dataset began in January 2023: 633 more in July, 2,139 in August.
The second-order point is the one to act on. A renewal quote only looks like the market's verdict because a comparable apartment elsewhere now costs materially less, and the 90-day notice window turns that gap into leverage rather than a formality. If your renewal lands this autumn, check the actual market before you sign: the official RERA rental calculator on dubailand.gov.ae, Valustrat's quarterly reports, and Is This Rent Fair all now show the softening, three lenses on the same shift.
$106
BRENT CRUDE

Brent is back above $100 at about $106 a barrel on 24 September (Trading Economics).
WEEKEND PICK
The free K-pop night that's worth your Friday
K-Fest, Dubai's first Korean culture festival, opens Friday at Festival Bay in Dubai Festival City: the IMAGINE Show at 7.30pm, then a free concert from 8pm headlined by Kwon Eunbi and ONEUS. Saturday brings a second free show at 8pm with Korean dancers AIKI and Choi Young-jun. It is free, it runs to 4 October across the city, and it is the one thing on this weekend's list I would actually leave the house for.
TOOL OF THE DAY
Is This Rent Fair?
Free Dubai Rent Calculator
 

Your landlord wants more rent. Dubai's RERA law sets the legal ceiling. Enter your building, get the number, see where you stand, and know exactly whether they can.

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The calendar is moving again, and next week the money question returns: October's fuel prices land at month-end, and the household budget gets its first real look at what the cooler driving season costs. I will also be watching whether Iran's UN-week road map firms into anything real, or slides back, and what that does to Hormuz and oil. Back Monday. Stephan
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Dubai Mornings provides general information only. Nothing here constitutes legal, financial, visa, or real estate advice. Verify all claims with official UAE sources before acting.
SOURCES

·  Dubai Fountain shows resume at reduced volume: Khaleej Times (Sep 24)
·  Free K-pop, Dh5 beauty sale and two markets this weekend: Gulf News (Sep 24)
·  Kalba Jashe and Sahnah Festival: WAM (Sep 23)
·  Nine Dubai restaurants reopening: What's On (Sep 24)
·  UAE suspends Iranian airline flights under US ban: The National (Sep 24)
·  UAE Central Bank bars Bank Melli Iran: The National (Sep 23)
·  Iran road map and US-Iran talks: The National (Sep 23)
·  Brent crude: Trading Economics (Sep 24)
·  New-lease rents 15.3% lower than January (fam Properties agency estimate, analysis of DLD data): Global Business Outlook (Sep 24)

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