Jewellery
Where to buy gold in Dubai and what you will actually pay
Buy at the Deira Gold Souk for range and bargaining, at Gold and Diamond Park for bespoke work, and in a mall for fixed prices. You pay the day's gold rate for the weight, plus a making charge you can negotiate, plus five per cent VAT on the lot.
Buy at the Deira Gold Souk if you want range, heritage designs and room to bargain. Buy at Gold and Diamond Park on Sheikh Zayed Road if you want something made or altered to your design. Buy in a mall if you would rather pay a fixed price and skip the haggling. Wherever you go the bill is the same two things added together: the day's gold rate for the weight and karat, plus a making charge. The rate is fixed by the market. The making charge is where your negotiating power lives.
Is gold cheaper in Dubai than back home?
On the shop floor, usually yes. The metal trades at one global price, so nobody here buys gold cheaper than anyone else. What is different is the tax layer and the number of shops competing for the same customer within walking distance of each other.
I am not going to give you a percentage saving, and I would be wary of any article that does. Those figures move every time a government adjusts an import duty, and the numbers online are years out of date and contradict each other. Check the day's rate on the Dubai Jewellery Group rate board, compare it against the rate at home that morning, and you have a truer answer than any blog can give you.
How a gold price is actually worked out
Three parts. The gold rate per gram for your karat, multiplied by the weight. The making charge, which pays for design and labour and is quoted either as a percentage of the gold value or a flat amount per gram. Then five per cent VAT.
One correction, because this is written wrongly everywhere: VAT applies to the whole jewellery bill, not only to the making charge. The zero rating you may have read about covers investment-grade bars and coins of 99 per cent purity or higher, traded between registered businesses. A 22K bangle is jewellery and carries VAT on the full price. Visitors can claim most of it back on the way out. Residents cannot.
Making charges vary by how the piece was made. Rough bands, and they differ by shop:
| Type of piece | Rough making charge | Room to negotiate |
|---|---|---|
| Machine-made plain chains and bangles | Lowest, sometimes near zero | Little, but ask for zero-charge stock |
| Standard necklaces and earrings | Middle band | Good |
| Handmade and intricate work | High | Good, and worth pushing |
| Antique, jadau, temple work | Highest | Some, the labour is real |
Which karat should you buy?
22K, stamped 916, is the default for South Asian and Middle Eastern jewellery. It has the deep yellow colour people actually want and survives daily wear. 21K, common in Arabic bangles and heavy chains, sits just below and is slightly harder. 18K, stamped 750, is what most stone-set and contemporary designs use, because a softer alloy will not hold small stones securely. 24K, stamped 999, is for bars and coins, not jewellery, because it bends.
My rule of thumb: 22K for anything bridal or sentimental, 18K for a piece you will wear to work and knock against a laptop. If you are buying gold as savings, skip jewellery and buy a bar. You will not lose the making charge when you sell.
Getting to the Deira Gold Souk, and when to go
The souk sits in Al Ras in Deira, with something like 380 to 400 shops packed into a few covered lanes. By metro, take the Green Line to either Gold Souq station, which used to be called Palm Deira, or Al Ras. Both are around a five-minute walk. Coming off the Red Line, change at Union and stay on the Green Line towards the Creek side, not the other direction.
The prettier way in is the abra. A public abra across the Creek costs AED 1 at the time of writing. Board at Bur Dubai Abra Station, or Al Fahidi Marine Transport Station if you want fewer people, and you land at Deira Old Souk station on the far bank. Walk through the covered souk lanes from there and you come out at the gold shops. Worth doing once, ideally between November and March.
Hours are roughly 10am to 10pm Saturday to Thursday, with many shops shutting between about 1pm and 4pm, and a later start on Friday from around 4pm. Shops set their own hours, so check before you make a special trip. Go on a weekday if you can.
How to bargain without it being awkward
Bargain on the making charge. Never on the rate. If a shopkeeper offers you a discount on the gold rate itself, something is off, because that number is published and every shop works from the same board.
Aim for 20 to 30 per cent off the making charge and expect to meet in the middle. If it is quoted at 18 per cent or higher, say so. Walk through several shops first, because identical-looking pieces carry different charges. Buying two or three pieces together, or anything heavy, gives you leverage. Cash sometimes helps, since cards can carry a surcharge. Ask directly whether they hold zero making charge stock. It is a normal question here and nobody will be offended. Keep it friendly, and walk away politely if the number is wrong. That is part of the process, not rudeness.
Gold and Diamond Park, the malls and the airport
Gold and Diamond Park on Sheikh Zayed Road is the air-conditioned alternative: around 90 retailers with workshops attached, which makes it the right place for bespoke work, resizing and anything designed rather than picked off a tray. If you are buying stones too, my guide to buying diamonds in Dubai covers keeping the stone and the setting as separate line items.
The malls suit anyone who hates negotiating. The Dubai Mall has a souk-themed wing of gold retailers alongside the international houses, and Mall of the Emirates has Pure Gold and Jawhara. Malabar, Joyalukkas and Damas have branches across the city, including in the souk, so you can compare a mall price against a souk price for the same brand. My honest guide to Dubai's malls will tell you which to build the day around. At the airport, Dubai Duty Free sells bars and coins at prices close to the city, fine if you want bullion and have run out of time. The jewellery there is a small selection at higher charges. Buy that in town.
What protects you as a buyer
Shops have to display the official gold rate, itemise the making charge separately and give you a receipt. Purity is verified through hallmarking overseen by Dubai Central Laboratories, so you will see 999, 916, 875 or 750 stamped on the clasp or inner band. Ask for the receipt to show four things: weight in grams, karat, the per-gram rate applied that day, and the making charge on its own line. If a shop will not break it down that way, leave. You need that paperwork to resell, exchange, insure or travel with the piece.
Where my own gold has come from
I should be straight with you. Most of my gold has come from festive buying with jewellers I know and from the launches I cover, not from bargaining my way down the souk lanes. The advice above is the standard the trade works to, and what the people around me who buy there constantly have drummed into me.
The jeweller I keep going back to is Kanz Jewels, who I filmed a Dhanteras reel with in October 2024. What sold me was not the campaign, it was how they handled the old gold exchange and how much time they gave to explaining the deduction. Their team is also where I got the storage advice I now repeat to everyone.
Disclosure: Kanz Jewels is a brand I have worked with. My opinion is my own.
The fairs are where I have seen the most interesting fine jewellery. I covered DIALMAZ arriving in the UAE at the Jewels of Emirates Show at Expo Centre Sharjah, 29 January to 2 February 2025, and in November 2025 I went to Masaba's fine jewellery launch in Dubai and met her, having owned at least one piece from every collection she has done. If you want pieces you will not see in a mall, watch for those shows.
What I would skip
Buying gold jewellery as an investment. You pay a making charge going in and rarely get it back coming out, so a bar does that job better. Skip heavy 22K pieces meant for the office, because they scratch and you stop reaching for them. Skip any shop that quotes one total and will not itemise it. Skip the first shop you walk into, however lovely the tray looked.
If you are carrying gold home
The shop-floor price is only half the story. What matters is the landed cost: what you paid plus whatever your home country charges on arrival above your allowance. Allowances differ by country and by how long you have been away, and they change. Look them up for your passport and route before you buy, not at the airport. Keep the invoice with you rather than in the hold. If you are a visitor, take the tax-free tag at the till, keep the goods accessible and validate at the airport before check-in. You get most of the VAT back minus a small fee per tag, on a minimum spend of AED 250.
If you already own the pieces and want them looking new again, read how to clean gold jewellery at home. And if you are wondering how to wear a heavy piece without it wearing you, I have written about styling one hero piece.
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