In just a few years, Dubai Hills Estate has gone from being a large off‑plan project to becoming one of the most sought‑after communities for families looking for a home in Dubai, with a carefully planned mix of villas, townhouses and apartment buildings surrounded by parks and services. The masterplan covers around 2,700 acres within Mohammed bin Rashid City and is crossed by Al Khail Road, which makes it easy to reach both Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina without giving up a much quieter neighborhood feel. This intermediate position means that many see the area as a new residential axis between the old and new centers of the city, striking a balance between urban life and green retreat. In the end, the feeling you get when walking its streets is that of a city within the city, designed for the long term and focused more on family growth than on transient tourism.
This family‑oriented vision is evident in every element of the master plan, from the large 18‑hole golf course to the kilometers of green areas reserved for parks, promenades and playgrounds, something unusual in other, denser developments in the emirate. On top of this is Dubai Hills Park, a large green lung of about 180,000 square meters where families find playgrounds, running tracks, picnic areas and a leisure offer that evolves as the neighborhood gains residents and services. Both real estate agents and families themselves point out that being able to go down to a real park, with grass, shade and wide open spaces, makes a huge difference in daily routines, especially for young children who need to run and play outdoors. That is why, when people talk about Dubai’s “green heart”, more and more eyes turn directly here, where life does not revolve only around the car and the shopping mall.
LIVING IN THE NEW DUBAI
Living in Dubai Hills Estate means settling in a community that many describe as a modern suburb: wide streets, calmer traffic than on the city’s main arteries and a mix of low‑ and mid‑rise buildings that lightens the urban landscape. The planning has sought to avoid the feeling of a forest of skyscrapers and instead opt for a more human scale, with well‑defined neighborhoods, landscaped roundabouts and open views towards the golf course and central parks. This design is reflected in the rhythms of daily life, as families can move around more calmly, walk to the park or go down for a coffee without feeling that everything moves at Downtown speed. Many residents also stress that, despite being a new area, the community is designed for people to get to know their neighbors, thanks to common areas, pedestrian paths and a neighborhood life that is taking shape around essential services.
On a day‑to‑day basis, this sense of “new Dubai” translates into much simpler routes for everyday tasks, from taking children to school to doing the shopping or going to the gym, all without practically leaving the community itself. The presence of a large shopping center like Dubai Hills Mall, with shops, restaurants and indoor entertainment, is combined with small high‑street style retail strips and services distributed among the different residential clusters, which reduces long journeys and helps families organize their time better. Compared with older neighborhoods, where everything is concentrated along a couple of avenues, here the activity has been deliberately spread out so that each group of buildings has its own small service “plaza” nearby. This makes everyday routines lighter and reduces the need to use the car for every small errand, something that people arriving from more congested parts of the city tend to appreciate immediately.
PARKS AND GREEN AREAS
One of the main reasons why so many families look at Dubai Hills Estate is the quantity and quality of its green spaces, conceived not merely as decoration but as true everyday meeting places. Dubai Hills Park, a huge central park of nearly 180,000 square meters, has been designed as the neighborhood’s real “outdoor living room”, with children’s play areas, sports facilities, running tracks, a skatepark and event spaces that come to life at weekends. Beyond this large park, the various sub‑neighborhoods incorporate small landscaped areas, shaded walkways and pocket parks where children can play under the relaxed gaze of their parents, without the need for long trips. This interconnected green network helps the neighborhood breathe better, softens the heat and offers rest points along daily routes, which greatly impacts quality of life in a demanding climate like Dubai’s.
The 18‑hole golf course, with its perfectly manicured green carpet, adds another layer of landscape and use to the community, but its impact goes beyond those who actually play golf, because it opens up long views and creates a rare sense of spaciousness compared with other neighborhoods. Paths, viewpoints and walking areas have been laid out around this main axis, allowing residents to enjoy sunsets, the cooler winter evenings and that distinctive contrast between intense green and the golden tones of the desert. For families, being able to walk to a park or a grass area is an important escape valve, especially for those coming from denser areas with less vegetation. In this respect, Dubai Hills Estate stands out as a very clear alternative to other residential developments in Dubai, precisely because of the number of square meters dedicated to parks and open space.
DUBAI HILLS ESTATE FOR FAMILIES
If you ask real estate agencies and resident forums which are the most family‑friendly areas in the emirate, Dubai Hills Estate appears again and again at the top of the list thanks to its mix of safety, services and green surroundings. Those who move in with young children particularly value the possibility of having schools, nurseries, parks and a large shopping mall within the same environment, cutting commuting times and daily stress, something that can weigh heavily in such a sprawling city as Dubai. The community has security, controlled access points and a layout that clearly separates major arteries from internal traffic, which adds an extra sense of calm when children play in the street or move around the neighborhood. In addition, the multicultural environment and resident profile, with many young families and professionals, helps create support networks, friendships for little ones and community activities throughout the year.
Another factor that attracts many families is the variety of housing typologies, which allows them to move to a different home without leaving the same community, something very practical as the family grows or needs change. There are apartments designed for couples or families with one child, townhouses and large standalone villas by the golf course, so many residents start out in a smaller property and, over time, move up to a larger home while keeping the same school, friends and routines. This continuity reduces the impact of moving on children and helps maintain a stable environment, which adds to the ongoing plan to keep adding services, local shops and community activities as the neighborhood matures. For this reason, many people see Dubai Hills Estate not only as a place to live for a few years, but as a space to build a long‑term family project.
SCHOOLS AND NURSERIES NEARBY
In education, Dubai Hills Estate has a key advantage: its proximity to several high‑level schools and a good number of nurseries and early‑childhood centers that cover practically all stages within the same environment. Among the most frequently mentioned are GEMS Wellington Academy – Al Khail, with a British curriculum, and GEMS International School – Al Khail, which offers a full IB program, both highly rated for their academic standards and quality of facilities, as well as for being located next to or within the development itself. These schools, together with GEMS New Millennium School and other GEMS centers, have turned the area into a genuine educational hub, reducing travel times and allowing children to go to and from school on very short routes. For parents, knowing that top schools are so integrated into the community brings extra peace of mind and makes for a more organized life.
Alongside the large schools, the area also has specialized nurseries and early‑years centers such as Blossom Dubai Hills Nursery or Raffles Early Childhood Centre, designed to support families from the very first months. These spaces not only offer educational programs adapted to different methodologies, but are woven into the neighborhood’s daily life: they are located near pedestrian paths, next to parks and just a short drive from most residential clusters, which makes it easier to fit work schedules around young children’s routines. In addition, many of these nurseries and schools run extracurricular activities, sports and clubs that become another meeting point for families, further strengthening the community fabric around the neighborhood. The result is a very complete educational ecosystem that, together with the leisure and sports offer, turns Dubai Hills Estate into a kind of large‑scale “family campus”.
GROWTH, SERVICES AND MALL
The neighborhood’s growth can be clearly felt around Dubai Hills Mall, a large two‑level shopping center that has established itself as the community’s meeting point thanks to its combination of shops, restaurants and entertainment for all ages. This mall, located at the heart of the development and conceived as the area’s main shopping and entertainment hub, offers a mix of international brands, supermarkets, cinemas and children’s attractions, avoiding the need to travel to more distant areas for basic services. New residential zones, street‑level retail and offices are organized around it, helping the neighborhood stay lively throughout the day, not only at peak hours. For many families, being able to cover almost any need without leaving the community has become one of the main reasons to choose this neighborhood over others.
But service development is not limited to retail, because the masterplan also includes clinics, medical centers and a whole network of sports facilities ranging from community pools and gyms to tennis courts and cycling routes. This web of facilities makes it much easier to maintain an active lifestyle, as residents can run on the park circuits, cycle along internal lanes or join organized activities without leaving the neighborhood. On top of this, there is relatively convenient access to other key areas of the city thanks to direct links with Umm Suqeim Street and Al Khail Road, which cuts travel time to places such as Business Bay, Arabian Ranches or the communities along Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road. Taken together, all these services reinforce the idea of Dubai Hills Estate as an almost self‑sufficient ecosystem, well connected yet with a life of its own.
INVESTMENT AND QUALITY OF LIFE
Beyond everyday convenience, many families also look at Dubai Hills Estate through an investor’s lens, because the neighborhood has become one of the preferred destinations for those seeking properties with strong potential for appreciation and high rental demand. Its combination of strategic location, modern infrastructure, prestigious nearby schools and abundant green areas means that both residents and international investors see it as a place where property value depends not only on bricks and mortar, but on a quality of life that is hard to replicate elsewhere in the emirate. Agencies highlight that its “family‑friendly” label and its status as one of the newest areas in so‑called “New Dubai” support price stability, even in more volatile periods. For those looking to buy a home in which to live while also protecting their wealth, this balance is particularly attractive.
Quality of life in Dubai Hills Estate is ultimately built on many small urban‑design and service decisions which, taken together, make a difference: walkable pavements, large parks, prestigious schools, a major mall integrated into the neighborhood, nearby sports and healthcare facilities and a community of neighbors with similar priorities. For families, this translates into less time in the car, more time outdoors, more opportunities for children to grow up in a safe, multicultural environment and a daily routine that is more predictable and pleasant, something especially valuable in such a dynamic and demanding city as Dubai. For all these reasons, when people talk about the “most modern neighborhood in new Dubai” and mention words like parks, schools and family growth, it feels increasingly natural for Dubai Hills Estate to be one of the first names in the conversation.
