Mid-rise apartment blocks, with schools, hospitals and a big mall close by
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
Al Barsha 1 is the part of Al Barsha that sits right along Sheikh Zayed Road, made up mostly of mid-rise apartments and hotel apartments, with a small number of villas. Shops, schools, and Mall of the Emirates are all in this neighborhood.
One resident described it as unflashy, with buildings under twelve stories, more like a residential area; this is just one resident's opinion. Most of the villas are in neighboring Al Barsha 2 and 3.
Schools include GEMS Dubai American Academy and Dubai National School. Al Zahra Hospital is right on Sheikh Zayed Road, and Aster Clinic is also in the neighborhood.
Mall of the Emirates has a Carrefour hypermarket, and the mall has more than 630 stores in total. The Dubai Metro Red Line's Mall of the Emirates station and InsuranceMarket station both serve this neighborhood, with shuttle buses F33, F35, and F36 connecting to the mall station.
Going by our scores, this neighborhood ranks 9th out of 20 Dubai neighborhoods for convenience, right in the middle of the pack.
Of all the parts of Al Barsha, this one has the most complete sidewalks, but residents still mostly get around by car. Going by our scores, this neighborhood ranks last for sidewalks and second from the bottom for greenery, both in the bottom range.
One resident said the small lake next to the mall doesn't really count as a park. Al Barsha Pond Park, which has a jogging track, is just outside the southern edge of this neighborhood.
The mall and Ski Dubai draw people from all over Dubai, so traffic and parking demand around here increase on weekends and during peak hours. Most buildings have their own parking, but street parking near the busy commercial area is harder to find.
Al Barsha only became a residential area in the early 2000s; before that, it was mostly desert. Development picked up noticeably after Mall of the Emirates opened in September 2005.
That same November, Ski Dubai opened inside the mall, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East. In September 2009, the walkway connecting the Red Line metro to the mall was completed.
Compared with the 20 Dubai neighborhoods in this guide (scores 0–10)
Schools within the area or 1 km of it (KHDA-approved K-12 schools and universities; Dubai has no school catchments), hospitals, metro and tram stations, and parks of 1 hectare or more.
Maps show the shops and the sights. What a street is like, you only know by walking it. TidyMap uses AI street imagery analysis and public facility data to turn each area's street environment and everyday convenience into something you can compare. Search an address and look at the street outside first.
How to read it: yellow = poor, blue = good; grey = not enough data
TidyMap rates the street environment and everyday convenience. It does not assess the home itself, safety, noise or actual living experience. Street environment scores use AI assessments of imagery; convenience scores use public facility data.
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