The Museum of the Future is closed. Its exhibitions shut to visitors at the start of September 2026, and the museum says it will reopen in the first quarter of 2027, around its fifth anniversary. No tickets are on sale – the museum's own FAQ says they'll be released closer to reopening. The building still stands on Sheikh Zayed Road, and looking at it from outside is free.
Is the Museum of the Future open right now?
No. The museum confirms on its own site that it "temporarily closed its doors to visitors at the beginning of September 2026" to prepare a completely reimagined experience. The last day for the original exhibitions was 1 September 2026.
It is not closing permanently. The museum describes the closure as lasting "only a few months", with a reopening set for the first quarter of 2027, timed to its fifth anniversary – it opened on 22 February 2022. Its main exhibitions and experiences are unavailable in the meantime, and only "some spaces may remain accessible for selected activities and services". The retail store is online only.
Can you buy Museum of the Future tickets now?
No, and that is the single most useful thing to know before you book anything. The museum says tickets for the renewed museum "will be available closer to the museum's reopening in the first quarter of 2027".
For reference, entry was last published at ~AED 149 for adults, with under-4s free before the closure. Any site still advertising Museum of the Future entry tickets today is not selling you admission to the exhibitions, because there are none to sell.
What can you see during the closure?
The building, which is the part most visitors photograph anyway. It sits right on Sheikh Zayed Road in the Trade Centre district, and the exterior is unchanged – the museum has confirmed the renewal is internal only.
There is no free walk-in to the ground floor while the exhibitions are closed, so the "free lobby" advice you'll find in older guides doesn't apply for now. What you can do is walk up from the metro, photograph the torus and its calligraphy, and spend your ticket money elsewhere in the city.
Several Dubai city tours still include a photo stop at the museum alongside the Burj Al Arab and the Dubai Frame, which is a reasonable way to see it if you're touring the city anyway.
What will be different when it reopens in 2027?
Everything inside. The museum states plainly that the current exhibitions "will not return in their previous form" – they're being replaced by new exhibitions, a new narrative and a redesigned visitor journey, with a flagship experience reported as Mission 2071.
The museum's stated aim is to push interactivity further, so visitors act on ideas rather than walk past them. Accessibility for People of Determination is part of the redesign. The architecture stays as it is, which is why the outside looks finished while the inside is a building site.
Where is the Museum of the Future, and how do you get there?
It's on Sheikh Zayed Road in the Trade Centre area, directly linked to Emirates Towers metro station on the Red Line by an air-conditioned, step-free footbridge of around 500 m. That makes it one of the easiest landmarks in Dubai to reach without a car.
It is not next to Dubai Mall. The two are about 5 km apart, roughly two metro stops, and the search results that pair them are confusing the museum with the mall's own attractions. Parking sits under the building, and any taxi driver knows it by name.
What makes the building itself unusual?
A 77 m torus with a hollow centre, wrapped in 1,024 stainless steel panels across 17,600 m² of facade, each one shaped by a robot-assisted process. Designed by Killa Design and engineered by Buro Happold, it covers 30,548 m² in total and draws 4,000 MWh a year from nearby solar arrays.
The calligraphy across the facade is not decoration: it is three quotes from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, including "The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it and execute it." The shape carries meaning too – the green hill stands for the earth, the ring for humanity's ability to innovate, and the void at the centre for the unknown. Reported construction cost was around AED 500 million.
What to do instead while it's closed
Take the Burj Khalifa if you want the headline Dubai attraction, since it's about 10 minutes away by road and open all year. Our Burj Khalifa ticket guide covers which deck is worth paying for.
For a full day rather than an hour, Atlantis Aquaventure is the biggest single-ticket day out in the city. The Dubai Frame, a short drive north in Zabeel Park, is the closest thing to the museum in spirit: a modern landmark you visit mostly for the structure itself.
Keep this page for the reopening: tickets go back on sale closer to the first quarter of 2027.
Our guide to things to do in Dubai has the rest of the shortlist.
Featured image: Александр Сигачёв / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
