How much is a Salik toll in Dubai?

A Salik gate costs AED 6.30 at weekday peak and AED 4.20 off-peak. Those are the tariffs of AED 6 and AED 4 with 5% VAT added, which Salik has charged since 1 June 2026. From 1:00 am to 6:00 am there is no toll at all.

Every rate, before and after VAT

The toll is charged per gate. A drive that passes three gates at peak costs AED 18.90, and the same drive in the free night window costs nothing.

Why older guides quote less

Because they quote the tariff, and the tariff is unchanged. Salik’s disclosure to the Dubai Financial Market on 22 May 2026 put it plainly: the underlying tariff structure remains unchanged, and VAT represents a pass-through item collected on behalf of the FTA. The price of the gate did not move; the tax was added on top of it and is passed to the Federal Tax Authority.

So a figure of AED 6 or AED 4 is not wrong, it is the price before tax. What you pay at the gate from 1 June 2026 onward is the column on the right. A guide written before June that quotes the tariff alone was accurate when it was written and is now short by the VAT.

The same disclosure applies the tax to tag activation fees as well.

Two things the announcement leaves open

We are not going to fill either gap with a guess. If your plans depend on a holiday or event day, check the rate on the day with Salik.

How a visitor ends up paying it

In a taxi, the toll is added to the fare whenever the trip passes a Salik gate, so the gates on your route show up on the fare. What gets added to a taxi fare covers that and the other extras.

In a rental car, the gate charge reaches you through the rental company. Neither Salik’s disclosures nor RTA’s announcement say how a rental company passes it on, or whether it adds its own handling charge per crossing. That is in the rental agreement, so ask before you sign. Before that, check that your licence lets you drive in Dubai at all.

If you would rather not drive at all, the airport-to-city options compare the metro, taxi and bus.

Where these figures come from

The tariffs and time windows are RTA’s variable pricing, as announced through WAM, the UAE’s official news agency, for the end of January 2025. The VAT and the statement that the tariff is unchanged come from Salik’s own disclosure to the Dubai Financial Market. Salik’s website blocks automated reading, so we watch its stock-exchange disclosures for any new filing on tariffs or tax instead. That is where Salik announced the VAT.