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Who is behind Caravanserai
Caravanserai Desert Camp is run by Tour Dubai, a Dubai company that also runs dhow cruises. In May 2024 the travel news site Skift reported that Big Bus Tours, the open-top sightseeing bus company, had acquired Tour Dubai. Today Tour Dubai's booking pages show the Big Bus Tours name in the footer, and Big Bus sells a bus-plus-desert-safari ticket that ends at the same camp.
So a "Big Bus desert safari" is not a separate product with its own camp. It is the Tour Dubai evening at Caravanserai, bundled with the bus.
What each ticket includes
| Ticket | Desert part | Extras | Where sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Bus + desert safari combo | 4x4 dune bashing, Caravanserai camp, BBQ and buffet, henna, falconry, fire and Tanoura shows, hotel transfers | 24-hour hop-on hop-off pass on two routes, 60-minute dhow cruise | Headout, Big Bus |
| Caravanserai safari with dinner and dune bashing | 4x4 dune bashing, buffet dinner, unlimited soft drinks, English-speaking guide, hotel transfers | None | Tour Dubai, Klook and other resellers |
| Caravanserai desert dinner without dune bashing | BBQ buffet, henna, belly and Tanoura dancing, fire show, water and soft drinks; transfers optional | None | Tour Dubai, Go City pass |
Tour Dubai excludes gratuities and souvenirs; Headout lists alcoholic drinks as excluded. The Big Bus product page returned an error in November 2026, so we used the Headout listing for the combo contents.
How the evening runs
Tour Dubai sends your pickup time on the day, based on sunset and where your hotel is. Between May and September it gives a pickup of 16:00–16:30; in the cooler months sunset is earlier, so pickup moves earlier too. The Go City description of the dinner-only version gives a rough shape of the night: about an hour's drive to the desert, around 25 minutes from the desert road to the camp, about 2.5 hours at the camp and an hour back. With dune bashing added, the whole evening is roughly 6 hours.
The camp itself is the familiar Dubai format: arrival drinks, henna and a falcon at the edge of the seating area, a buffet with grill stations, then belly dance, Tanoura and fire shows on a central stage. For how this compares with other camps, see desert dinners and the evening safari guide.
Combo or safari only
The combo makes sense if you have not yet seen the city: you ride the bus in the morning, take the dhow cruise, then go to the desert in the afternoon. The catch is time. The pass in the Headout combo runs for 24 hours, and the safari takes most of an afternoon and evening, so you get less bus time than the pass suggests. If you already have city plans, a standalone safari is simpler; our combos page compares other city-plus-desert tickets.
Before you pay
Check which version you are buying (with or without dune bashing, with or without transfers), whether the price includes the bus pass, and the cancellation window. Tour Dubai refunds in full only if you cancel 24 hours ahead. For pickup rules across operators, see timings and pickup.
