Al Rigga Metro Station Overview
Al Rigga is a Red Line station in Zone 5, in old Deira. It is station R17, one stop south of City Centre Deira and one stop north of the Union Red and Green Line interchange.
The station sits on the corner of Al Rigga Road and Salah Al Din Road, both lined with budget and mid-range hotels, currency exchanges, and South Asian and Filipino restaurants. Al Ghurair Centre, one of the UAE's oldest malls, is about a five minute walk along Salah Al Din Road.
First and last train from Al Rigga Station
These times come from the official RTA timetable. For the exact minute on the day you travel, the RTA S'hail app is the live source.
| Direction | First train | Last train |
|---|---|---|
| To Centrepoint | 5:14 AM daily | 12:52 AM (Mon to Wed, Sun) 12:51 AM (Thu, Fri) 12:49 AM (Sat) |
| To Expo 2020 | 5:02 AM (Mon to Sat) 7:47 AM (Sun) | 11:52 PM (Mon to Wed) 11:49 PM (Thu, Sat, Sun) 12:53 AM (Fri) |
| To Life Pharmacy | 5:00 AM (Mon to Sat) 7:53 AM (Sun) | 11:48 PM (Mon to Wed) 11:53 PM (Thu, Sat, Sun) 12:49 AM (Fri) |
Book a Deira food walking tour
A guided walk down Al Rigga Road and into the spice and gold lanes is the easiest way to read this side of the Creek. Most start within walking distance of the station.
Al Rigga Station opening hours and facilities
Al Rigga station keeps the standard RTA opening hours, the same right across the network:
- Monday to Thursday: 5:00 AM to 12:00 AM
- Friday: 5:00 AM to 1:00 AM
- Saturday: 5:00 AM to 12:00 AM
- Sunday: 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Al Rigga has the standard Dubai Metro facilities, confirmed in the official RTA passenger guide. The station is step-free, with lifts to all levels, tactile guidance paths, and dedicated wheelchair spaces on every train. Nol card machines and a ticket counter sit inside the concourse, alongside bilingual signage and information screens. Du Wi-Fi covers the network.
Every regular train carries three cabin types: Gold Class at one end, a Women and Children cabin with pink signage, and Standard cabins. Door pictograms on the platform show where each cabin stops. The station has at least one bus connection, dedicated Metro Police, CCTV throughout, and emergency call points on every platform and train.
Al Rigga Road is one of the easiest streets in Dubai for a late-night karak. The cafes around Landmark Restaurant, beside the Delta Center, serve karak chai around the clock and stay busy past midnight. The street is well-lit and walkable, with the station right at the corner.
The street that anchors Deira’s hotel strip
Al Rigga Road has been the centre of Deira’s hotel and restaurant strip since the 1990s, when the wave of budget and mid-range hotels along it opened to serve the rising South Asian and Filipino business traveller market into Dubai. The street runs parallel to Salah Al Din Road, both intersecting at the Metro station, and between them they carry close to one hundred restaurants and dozens of currency exchanges. Karak chai is the everyday street drink: cafes around the Landmark Restaurant beside the Delta Center serve it around the clock, and the cluster is busy past midnight on most nights, with the Metro running until just after 12:30 AM for the trip back south.
Al Ghurair Centre, the oldest mall
A five minute walk north along Salah Al Din Road brings you to Al Ghurair Centre, one of the oldest malls in the UAE. The original building opened in 1981 and has been rebuilt and expanded several times, most recently in 2012 to add the City Walk extension and a new hotel block, as The National documented at the time. The mall has a Carrefour hypermarket on the lower ground floor with direct lift access to the underground car park, which makes it the easier evening shopping trip if you have a few bags to carry home on the Metro.
A short, dense neighbourhood
Al Rigga and Salah Al Din run east to the Creek, and on the way they pass through the densest pedestrian neighbourhood in modern Deira: tailoring shops, sweet shops, money changers, and small grocery chains. The walk west from the station drops into Naif and Baniyas Square within fifteen minutes, with the Spice Souk on the Creek edge another ten beyond. For visitors based in the Deira hotels, a long evening walk along Al Rigga to the Creek and back is the easiest free orientation to old Dubai.
For Al Ghurair Centre, exit on the Salah Al Din side and follow the road north for five minutes. The mall has direct lift access from the lower ground level into the underground car park, useful if you are picking up groceries or shopping in the cooler evening hours and want to walk straight in without crossing a road.
Fares from Al Rigga Station
Fares depend on how many zones your trip crosses, not how many stations you pass. A Silver Nol card costs AED 3 within one zone, AED 5 across two zones, and AED 7.50 for three or more zones, per the RTA Nol fares page. A personal Blue Nol card pays the same as Silver. Gold Class costs double: AED 6, 10 or 15 across the same bands.
Without a Nol card, the Red ticket is a separate, higher tariff of AED 4, 6 or 8.50 by zone band, and the blank ticket costs AED 2 to buy. Children aged five and under travel free, and travel is free for People of Determination.
| Destination | Stops | Zones | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall | 8 | 2 | AED 5.00 |
| Mall of the Emirates | 12 | 3 | AED 7.50 |
| Expo 2020 | 24 | 5 | AED 7.50 |
| Airport Terminal 3 | 4 | 1 | AED 3.00 |
| Union | 1 | 1 | AED 3.00 |
Metro Stations Before and After Al Rigga Station
- City Centre Deira (R16): The stop after Al Rigga on the Red Line going towards Centrepoint
- Union (R18): The stop after Al Rigga on the Red Line going towards Expo 2020
Get a Dubai travel eSIM
A prepaid eSIM gives you data the moment you arrive, useful for the RTA S'hail app and food-delivery apps around the Al Rigga restaurants.