Is half board (breakfast and dinner) enough at Dubai hotels, and where to get lunch in between?

A poolside lunch alternative is the “Floating Platter” option: slots start at 2:00 pm and run every 30 minutes. It costs 477 AED for two people and includes four hours of pool access, snacks, and two glasses of sparkling wine; other drinks cost extra.

For a budget lunch, consider the fish market: a round-trip taxi was reported at about 40 AED. Prawns cost 26–95 AED per kg; a large salmon steak, 0.5 kg of large prawns, cleaning, and grilling came to about 60 AED for two people.

One traveler shared their experience: near their island hotel there's almost nowhere to eat — the nearest McDonald's is a 10-15 minute walk. For lunch they had carbonara at the hotel's beach cafe for 40 AED. There's a small shop in the hotel lobby, plus a few grocery stores on the island a 15-30 minute walk away.

If there are no food shops or fruit stalls near your hotel, check with the hotel in advance — you can usually pay extra to order à la carte dishes at the hotel restaurant even if your package only includes breakfast.

Confirm the meal concept before booking: breakfast-and-dinner is usually a buffet format, and the pool may be located across the street or reachable only by hotel shuttle — this isn't always clear from the tour description.

Breakfast-and-dinner is usually sufficient, with snacks in between: many tours already include meals, malls are full of cafes, and regular stores sell ready-made food. Most of your extra spending ends up going toward drinks and ice cream.

For lunch when your tour doesn't include a midday meal, mall cafes and ready-made food from supermarkets like Carrefour work well — per-portion prices are reasonably affordable, so you don't need to seek out a full restaurant.