Indoor Fun in Dubai: Trampolines, Glow Mini Golf, Pac-Man and More

Indoor fun in Dubai is the answer to the hottest hours of the day — and to an evening when you want to do something different. On this page we've gathered eight very different venues: jumping, skating, gaming, smashing, virtual reality and optical illusions. All of them are indoors and air-conditioned, and most suit both kids and adults.

BOUNCE in Al Quoz is Dubai's first trampoline park. It has areas with their own names: the Performance Area for free jumping, Slam Dunk for basketball dunks, the X Run obstacle course, The Summit climbing wall, the Big Bag landing airbag, and a dodgeball court. Our ticket includes an hour of free jumping, from age 4. There's a café on site and parking behind the building.

RollDXB is an indoor roller rink inside an industrial building in Dubai Maritime City, near Port Rashid. The vibe is 1980s roller disco, with a DJ, plus a ramp for anyone who wants to try tricks. The ticket includes an hour of skating, professional roller skates, and protective gear for wrists, knees and elbows. On Wednesday evenings there's a women-only session.

3D Blacklight Minigolf is on the Bahar Plaza level in JBR. It's an 18-hole mini golf course across three themed rooms, hand-painted in colors that glow under blacklight. You wear 3D glasses, and the artwork seems to leap off the walls. An average round takes about 45 minutes. The venue is open until 1:00 a.m., so it also works well after dinner in the Marina.

The Smash Room in Al Quoz is a smash room: you put on a protective suit, helmet and gloves, get a bat or hammer, and smash glass items and old electronics. Everything is sent for recycling afterward. Pac-Man Live Experience, also in Al Quoz, is the classic arcade game at life size: you run through a lit-up maze projected on the floor, collect points and dodge the ghosts. The game lasts 30 minutes.

At Dubai Festival City Mall you'll find Dinosaurs: The Immersive Odyssey. The visit takes you through a museum's fossil storeroom, a VR journey among life-size dinosaurs, an area with moving, roaring animatronic dinosaurs, and a creative corner with a fossil dig. WIKIT at Emirates Golf Club is an AR cricket venue: you hit a real ball against a virtual bowler, with live scoring and instant replay.

Illusion City is in The Wharf Mall on Bluewaters Island, at the foot of the Ain Dubai giant wheel. It has more than 50 optical illusions, like an upside-down room and a spinning tunnel, with staff on hand to help you frame the perfect shot. How to choose? With young kids: the illusions, the dinosaurs or mini golf. Teens and adults: Pac-Man, the smash room or the trampolines. Music and movement lovers: skating.

All the venues are indoors and air-conditioned, so they suit any season, and summer and the middle of the day in particular. At weekends there are more families. BOUNCE is open Monday to Friday 12:00–21:00, and Saturday and Sunday 10:00–20:00. The mini golf at JBR is open until 1:00 in the morning, and the dinosaurs until 23:00 at weekends.