Salik and Darb tolls: what visitors pay in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Salik and Darb tolls side by side

Both are barrier-free. You never stop, wind down a window or tap a card. Cameras and tags read the car as it passes under the gantry, and the toll lands on the account linked to that vehicle. If you’re a passenger, the toll belongs to whoever owns that account: the taxi company, the rental firm, or us.

Across our UAE transfer routes, tolls come up in almost every quote, so here is the short version before the detail.

How does Salik work?

Salik reads a tag on the windscreen as the car passes a gate and deducts the toll from the account linked to that tag. There’s no booth and no stopping. Dubai has 10 gates, and the newest two, Business Bay Crossing and Al Safa South, went live on 24 November 2024.

Salik used to charge a flat AED 4. Since 31 January 2025 it has used variable pricing by time of day, and from 1 June 2026 the toll carries 5% VAT, which turned AED 6 into AED 6.30 and AED 4 into AED 4.20.

How much is Salik in 2026?

On Monday to Saturday, the bands are:

The 1am to 6am free window applies seven days a week. Sundays, public holidays, Ramadan and big events can follow different rules, and Salik announces changes for those days. If an exact figure matters to you, check salik.ae on the day.

So a 7am run along Sheikh Zayed Road past three charging gates costs AED 18.90 in tolls alone. The same three gates at 11am cost AED 12.60. Leave at 2am and it costs nothing.

Where are the Salik gates?

Two pairs get special treatment. Pass Al Mamzar North and Al Mamzar South in the same direction within an hour and you’re charged once. The same goes for Al Safa North and Al Safa South.

People often search for “Salik at the airport”. Salik doesn’t charge you for using the airport itself. The gates are on roads around the city, the Airport Tunnel among them, and whether your route passes one depends on where you’re heading. The other link is parking: Dubai Airports lets drivers pay DXB car park fees through Salik, and an unpaid fee is deducted from the account automatically.

The E311 (Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road) and the E611 (Emirates Road) have no Salik gates. Drivers heading to Sharjah, the northern emirates or the far south of Dubai often use them, traffic permitting.

How does Darb work?

Darb is Abu Dhabi’s toll, set up under Law No. 17 of 2017. Each crossing costs AED 4, and the official Darb fees page lists the charging windows at the bridge gates as 7am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm. Sundays and official public holidays are free at those gates.

Three changes in the last year matter for anyone driving between Dubai and Abu Dhabi:

1. From 1 September 2025, the evening window grew from 5pm to 7pm into 3pm to 7pm, and the daily and monthly caps were scrapped.
2. In April 2026 the four bridge gates were renamed after their locations: Sas Al Nakhl (Sheikh Zayed Bridge), Al Saadiyat (Sheikh Khalifa Bridge), Al Maqta (Al Maqta Bridge) and Rabdan (Musaffah Bridge).
3. On 4 May 2026 two new gates opened: Ghantoot, on Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Street (the E11) in Ghantoot, and Al Qurm, on Wahat Al Karama Street at the entrance and exit of Sheikh Zayed Street. Both charge AED 4 on every crossing, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

That third change is the big one for transfers. Ghantoot sits on the main coastal road between the two cities, so an E11 run between Dubai and Abu Dhabi now pays Darb at any hour, Sundays included.

Vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi have to be registered with Darb. An unregistered car gets ten working days’ grace, then fines of AED 100, AED 200 and AED 400 for repeat offences. A registered car whose wallet runs dry is fined AED 50 a crossing after five working days.

Some vehicles are exempt automatically, including licensed public taxis, buses rated for 26 or more passengers, motorcycles and emergency vehicles.

Which transfer routes cross toll gates?

This depends on the road the driver takes and the time of day, so read it as a guide, not a bill.

For longer trips between emirates, our Dubai to Abu Dhabi private car page covers timings and car choice.

Who pays the toll?

Whoever owns the vehicle account pays first. What reaches you depends on how you travel.

In a Dubai taxi, you pay. Dubai Taxi’s tariff says extra fares apply when the cab passes Salik gates, and the toll is added to the fare at the end. In an app ride, look at the fare breakdown before you confirm.

In a rental car, the tag and the Darb registration belong to the rental company. It pays as you drive and bills you later under your contract, which can add its own fee per crossing. If you plan to cross into Abu Dhabi, ask whether the car is registered with Darb, because the fine for an unregistered crossing lands on the company and can come back to you.

In a car booked with us, our fixed fare includes Salik and Darb on the route unless the quote says otherwise. You don’t see a tag, a top-up or a toll line on the day. That’s one less thing to compare when you weigh a taxi against a private transfer.

Can you avoid Salik or Darb?

Partly, if you’re driving yourself and can choose your hours.

• Salik is free from 1am to 6am every day, and off-peak gates cost AED 2.10 less than peak ones.
• The E311 and E611 carry no Salik gates, though they can add distance depending on where you start.
• Darb’s bridge gates are free outside 7am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm, and all day on Sundays and public holidays.
• Ghantoot and Al Qurm can’t be timed around. They charge around the clock.

As a passenger with us, none of this changes what you pay, since the toll is already in the fixed fare. The driver picks the road that gets you there on time, and we price the trip on that basis.

A note on checking rates

Toll rules in the UAE have changed at least four times since the start of 2025: variable Salik pricing, the Darb cap removal, two new Darb gates, and VAT on Salik. We checked every figure on this page on 12 October 2026 against Abu Dhabi Mobility, Dubai Taxi, Dubai Airports and news reports of the Salik announcements. If you’re reading this months later, check salik.ae and the Darb pages before you budget a self-drive trip.

If you’d rather not think about it at all, send your route, date and flight number on WhatsApp to +971 58 181 0789, or book a Dubai airport transfer. The fare we send already counts the gates.