[ The Mehfil ]
The Mehfil
The main stage. Where qawwali, classical music, ghazal, and the headline performances live. Designed like a courtyard, not an arena.
The home of SAMAA is one of Dubai's most beloved urban gardens - a festival park designed to slow you down the moment you walk in.
Zabeel Park (Gate 5) sits in the heart of old-new Dubai, a few minutes from the financial district and walking distance from the metro. Forty-seven hectares of green, threaded with walking paths, lakes, and gathering spaces. Mature trees that have seen the city become itself.
For two days in December, the section around Gate 5 becomes the SAMAA garden - staged with lanterns, draped with marquee fabric, sound-engineered to hold both intimacy and scale. The performance stage faces a lawn that seats two thousand without anyone feeling far. Around it, the pavilions, the bazaar, the food village, the healing courtyard.
The SAMAA garden is laid out so you can move at your own pace - drop into a performance, drift to the food village, sit a while in the healing courtyard, browse the bazaar, return to the stage.
The main stage. Where qawwali, classical music, ghazal, and the headline performances live. Designed like a courtyard, not an arena.
An intimate zone for experience, partner networking, relaxation, and conversations. Casual seating for a hundred. Cushions & chairs.
The food village. Curated stalls from across South Asia and the Levant, chef collaborations, signature mocktails. A destination of its own.
A marketplace of South Asian artisans, books, fashion, crafts. Carefully curated. The kind of stalls you actually want to stop at.
A quiet corner for breathwork, mindfulness, sound bowls, gentle therapies. A pause inside the festival, for whoever needs one.
A private enclosure for premium ticket holders, partners, and artists - valet, concierge, curated mocktails, and a quieter view of the stage.
Al Jafiliya Station
(Red Line)
A six-minute walk from the station to Gate 5. Signage will be in place across the festival weekend.
Sheikh Zayed Road
Exit 45
Paid public parking adjacent to Gate 5. Valet available for The SAMAA Lounge ticket holders.
"Zabeel Park,
Gate 5"
Set the drop-off explicitly to Gate 5. The other gates lead to different sections of the park.
December evenings in Dubai are mild and beautiful — light layers, comfortable shoes you can walk in for a few hours. No dress code. Dignified casual is the right register.
A light shawl, perhaps, for after sunset. We will provide cushions, seating, water, and everything else you need inside the garden. Phones welcome, but invited to be put away during performances.
Gates open at 3 pm. The first performance does not begin until 4. The intention is for you to walk the garden, eat, drift, and settle — before the listening begins.
SAMAA is a family festival. Children under 10 enter free with a ticketed adult. The garden has space for them to wander, and there will be programming made with them in mind across the weekend.
Leave us your name. We will write to you when the lamps are lit — with the lineup, the early-bird passes, and a few quiet surprises along the way.