City Centre Ajman - Guide for Tourists
Page update - Sep 29, 2022
City Centre Ajman Mall is the largest in the Emirate of Ajman and the most convenient for tourists. There is a Carrefour hypermarket, familiar fast-foods, several interesting restaurants, and a large entertainment center for children. A trip to City Centre Ajman is a great way to spend the hottest part of the day or have a good night.
As of September 2022, City Centre Ajman is open. Starting September 28, 2022, wearing masks is no longer mandatory in shopping malls, restaurants, cafes. You can now walk around City Centre Ajman without a mask without the risk of a fine. This is great.
Where is it and how to get there
The mall is located on Al Ettehad Street, in the Al Jurf area. It is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away from the popular beach hotels. The location is probably the only inconvenience for tourists.
You can get there by bus, but it is very-very inconvenient. First, you have to get to Al Musalla bus station or to the stop at LuLu Hypermarket. You have to walk at least 1.5 kilometers from beach hotels to these bus stations.
A cab from the beach hotel will cost 15-20 dirhams. If you stay at a hotel away from the coast, it's even cheaper. See the current exchange rates of dirham on our page "UAE currency". The taxi fares are on the page "Taxis in Ajman and the UAE".
If you are going by rented car, then leave your car at one of the parking lots around the mall. There are a total of 1,800 parking slots. Before the last modernization there were only 750 places and there were problems with parking at weekends, but now the problem has been solved.
Operation hours
Monday through Thursday: 10 am to 10 pm (10-00 to 22-00).
Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10 am to midnight (10-00 to 00-00).
Carrefour Supermarket: 9 am to midnight daily (9-00 to 00-00).
VOX Cinemas and Magic Planet Center: 10 am to midnight daily (10-00 to 00-00).
The schedule has recently changed. Starting January 3, 2022, the United Arab Emirates switched to a 4½-day work week. Read more in our review "Weekends in the UAE".
Find your flight |
What is the convenience of City Centre Ajman?
City Centre Ajman is more convenient for tourists than any other mall in Ajman. There is only one big floor, one central gallery. You will not get lost and you will always quickly find the right store.
City Centre Ajman has a website with an updated list of stores and an interactive map. Unfortunately the site is only in English and Arabic, but even without knowledge of these languages it is clear - a minimum of text, maximum visibility.
The site address is citycentreajman.com. To find the location on the map of any store, find the store in the list and click on the icon with a black circle. See a nearby screenshot, click to enlarge.
Size matters
City Centre Ajman opened on December 1, 1998, which seemed like a real achievement for little Ajman at the time. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, the Emir of Ajman, took part at the opening.
At the time it was opened, there was about 366,000 square feet (34,000 square meters) of retail space.
In 2016, Majid Al Futtaim Group (the owners of the mall) invested 650 million dirhams (177 million US dollars) to build a new wing. The City Centre Ajman has now grown to 600,000 square feet (56,000 square meters) of retail space. The new wing opened at the end of 2017.
By UAE standards, 600,000 square feet is not much. It cannot be compared to Dubai Mall in Dubai (5,4 million sq.ft.) or Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi (2,5 million sq.ft.). However, City Centre Ajman seems huge for a modest Emirate of Ajman with a population of about 350,000 people.
Entertainment
The Magic Planet children's entertainment center is quite large - 16,000 square feet (1,500 square meters). There are two dozen game machines, a large soft play area, and several attractions.
Prices: soft zone - 40 dirhams per hour, game machines - 3-10 dirhams. At the entrance you need to buy a card and refill your account.
You can register on their website at https://magicplanetmena.com/en-ae/city-centre-ajman and get 50 bonus dirhams.
VOX Cinemas has been enlarged to 14 auditoriums after modernization. One of them is the VOX Kids auditorium and two VOX Max auditoriums. One of the rooms is a VOX 4DX format with moving seats, rain, fog, wind, lightning, and smell effects.
The movies are only in Arabic, English, Indian, and Malaysian. However, if you do not speak English, you can watch the movie with special effects in English, which will be also interesting.
The pleasure of watching movies in VOX 4DX format is not cheap. Prepare from 100 to 170 dirhams. In VOX Max it's 30-40 dirhams. In the VOX Kids it's 40-50 dirhams. The VOX Kids auditorium is almost the same as the common, except for the colorful chairs.
Find your hotel |
Where to eat & what to eat
The food court is located near the southwest entrance, next to the Magic Planet entertainment center. Among the familiar fast-food restaurants there are KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway. Cinnabon and Baskin Robbins are for those who love sweets.
At the Al-Safeer eatery you can try Arabic cuisine, but in a slightly adapted version.
City Centre Ajman has a small but interesting array of restaurants. GAZEBO is Indian cuisine, Mado is Turkish cuisine with particularly good oriental sweets, and Il FORNO Italian cuisine restaurant.
Carrefour hypermarket
The largest grocery store in Ajman, occupies about a quarter of the mall area (146,400 square feet, 13,600 square meters). In addition to everyday food, you can buy some edible gifts from the UAE there. Read our page "What to bring from the UAE" about the gifts.
Carrefour UAE catalog has about 100 kinds of dates and candies from them - from the cheapest Iranian ones to expensive ones from UAE and Saudi Arabia. To navigate better, read our "Dates in the UAE" page. Look for the stall in the photo near, click on the photo to enlarge.
There is fresh camel milk available, and there is pasteurized milk to take home as well. Read our page "Camel Milk in the UAE".
Where do they sell alcohol?
There is no alcohol store in City Centre Ajman right now (September 2022).
Where to buy a local SIM card?
The DU sales office is near the west entrance, it's next to the food-court.
The Etisalat sales office is also near the food-court.
Read our in-depth reviews "Cheap Internet in the UAE" and "How to call cheap from the UAE" to find out which SIM is better to buy.
Other stores
Of the major stores of famous brands in City Centre Ajman there is only H&M. Tourists also go to CENTREPOINT, a group of different stores: Babyshop, Splash, Shoe Mart, Lifestyle.
Go to the store ARABIAN OUD, which specializes in bakhoor and Arabian perfumes based on oud oil. Perfume is the most colorful gift from the UAE, we told you about it in detail in the review "Bakhoor and oud perfumes".
For parents, we recommend the Early Learning Centre store where you will find an interesting set of educational toys.
Tips for visitors
- If you need to change currency, look for the Al Ansari Exchange at the southwest entrance where the food court and Magic Planet Center are. Unfortunately, there is only one exchange office at City Centre Ajman. There used to be a UAE Exchange there, but it closed. Read our page "How to change money in the UAE";
- You can see current discounts and promotions at citycentreajman.com/offers;
- There is free Wi-Fi throughout the mall. If you have any problems connecting, please contact the Visitor Help Desk;
- There are baby changing rooms in every women's restroom;
- If for some reason the range of food in the food court at City Centre Ajman is not to your liking. Then exit the mall through the northwest exit. You'll see a highway interchange up ahead. Beyond that is the shopping district where Burger King and Texas Chicken are.
Enjoy your shopping and entertainment in Ajman, and read our interesting pages about the UAE (see the list of the pages below).
