Where is Al Khazna?
Al Khazna (also written Al Khaznah) sits on the E22, the Abu Dhabi–Al Ain road, roughly halfway between the two cities. From downtown Abu Dhabi it is about 80 km — a 45 to 60 minute drive. From Al Ain it is about the same. That halfway position is the practical appeal: this is dune driving within an hour of two major cities, without committing to the deep south.
The OffroadPal entrance pin for the dune field sits at 24.30272, 55.12659 — in the sand belt north of the village, between the E22 and the Sweihan corridor. Three highways frame the area: the E22 to the south, Al Rawdah Road (E30) and Nimah Road (E40).
Three things share the name — know which one you mean
This is the part that confuses people, and it matters more here than at most spots:
| The name | What it is | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Al Khazna village | A settlement on the E22 with fuel, small supermarkets and a healthcare centre. The supply stop. | Tarmac |
| The Al Khazna dune field | The golden desert north of the village, continuous with the Al Khatim area. Its edges are gentle. | Beginner at the entrance — indicative |
| The official “Al Khazna Route” | A 45 km DCT self-drive route through this desert, published January 2021. | Advanced — DCT’s own rating |
The beginner reputation and the Advanced rating are both real — they just belong to different things. The flatter ground near Al Khatim is where local guides describe first-timer territory. The official route that shares the name crosses steep climbs, sharp drops and deep bowls, and Abu Dhabi’s tourism department rates it Advanced and suggests a long-wheelbase car. A newer driver who types “Al Khazna” into a maps app and follows the DCT waypoints gets a very different day than they planned.
What the terrain is like
Golden-to-reddish sand — the colour comes from iron oxides — shaped by the shamal wind into long ridges, crescents and open bowls. Local descriptions put these dunes between Al Wathba and Liwa in size: bigger than the small stuff by the city, nowhere near the giants of the Empty Quarter. Published height figures for this area disagree with each other, so we do not print one. Off-road tracks here tend to follow the natural valleys that carry runoff from the Omani mountains, which is why the driving lines feel long and rolling rather than short and sharp.
Landmarks drivers navigate by, from the official route notes: starfish dunes, a small oasis, camel farms, a desert camp, and a group of abandoned old cars sinking slowly into the sand — the area’s most photographed oddity.
Is Al Khazna good for a first desert drive?
The entrance area carries a Beginner grade in the OffroadPal app. Difficulty here is indicative, not a measurement. Wind, heat and traffic change a dune between one weekend and the next.
What the grade is based on: the edges of this field are open and rolling, escape back to tarmac is short, and the adjacent Al Khatim side is described by local operators as the gentle half of this desert. Club drives do use the Khazna field for warm-up runs before harder ground.
What the grade is NOT: permission to follow the official Al Khazna Route. That is an Advanced drive by the people who published it. If your soft-sand driving comes from a course or a few convoy trips, stay on the field’s edges and treat the deep bowls as scenery.
When to go
October to April is the season. Summer afternoons here reach 41–43°C, and local guides warn against the deep dunes between noon and 3 PM even in spring. The timing habit UAE drivers use everywhere applies here too: early morning or late afternoon, never the middle of a hot day.
Fuel, supplies and help
The village is the anchor. It has fuel on the E22 corridor, several small supermarkets, a healthcare centre and mosques. Arabian Nights Village, a Bedouin-style desert hotel, sits inside the area and works as a landmark. Emergency numbers are the standard UAE set: 999 police, 998 ambulance — and our emergency-numbers guide covers what to say when you call.
Phone coverage deep in the field is the usual desert story: fine near the roads, thinner as you go in. We have not verified spot-by-spot coverage here, so treat connectivity as unreliable once the tarmac disappears — that is exactly the situation offline maps exist for.
Airing down
Everything on this page assumes tyres at sand pressure. Operator guides for this specific desert publish 15–18 psi as the soft-sand range, down from 32–35 psi on the road. Our air-down guide explains the why and the how; deflate at the sand line, drive gently, and reinflate before tarmac.
The honest footer
OffroadPal grades are indicative and spots are not inspected. Nothing on this page asserts that Al Khazna — or any dune — is safe. The desert changes; drive with another car, tell someone where you are going, and turn around when the ground argues with you. The OffroadPal app carries the entrance GPS, the live grade and the spots around it.