Skydiving in Dubai — Palm Drop Zone vs Desert Campus

Skydive Dubai runs two drop zones and the choice between them is the main decision you make.

The Palm drop zone is the one behind every photograph you have seen — you jump over Palm Jumeirah with the whole island symmetrical beneath you, the Marina skyline behind. It costs substantially more, books out weeks ahead in the cooler months, and is the reason most people skydive in Dubai at all.

The Desert Campus at Margham is inland, cheaper, and jumps over open dunes. The freefall is identical; what differs is what you are looking at. If the experience of jumping matters more to you than the specific view, it is the better value, and availability is far easier.

Either way: no experience is needed, the briefing takes around twenty minutes, you freefall roughly a minute at about 200km/h, then spend five to seven minutes under canopy. You cannot use your own camera, so photo and video packages are sold separately and are worth taking.