Living in Tilal Al Ghaf: neighbourhoods, lagoon, schools and daily life (2026)

Living in Tilal Al Ghaf means life in a gated, green community built around a swimmable lagoon, with a school, shops, trails and beaches inside it. The developer is Majid Al Futtaim, and the community is off Hessa Street in Dubailand, between Motor City and DAMAC Hills.

Majid Al Futtaim gives the community as more than 3 million sq m, with about 3,500 homes and 15,000 residents. The homes are in separate neighbourhoods, from townhouses to mansions on the lagoon, connected by paths, parks and cycle tracks.

This guide is about daily life and what to check before you buy. For every project on sale and its prices, see our Tilal Al Ghaf community page, and for the developer, our Majid Al Futtaim page.

Tilal Al Ghaf is in Dubailand, off Hessa Street, between Motor City and DAMAC Hills. Arabian Ranches, Dubai Sports City and Al Barsha South are in the same corridor.

It sits inland, away from the coast, so most journeys are by car. There is no metro station inside the community. For the wider district, see our Dubailand page.

Majid Al Futtaim quotes about 10 minutes to City Centre Me'aisem, 15 minutes to Mall of the Emirates and 25 minutes to Downtown Dubai and Al Maktoum International Airport. Dubai International Airport is about 30 minutes away.

The Elan brochure adds about 10 minutes to the Al Qudra cycling track and 17 minutes to Expo City Dubai. The amara brochure gives about 15 minutes to the Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates.

These are off-peak estimates, and traffic varies through the day. Test your commute at the time you would make it.

Lagoon Al Ghaf is the community's centrepiece: a recreational lagoon of about 110,000 sq m with white sand beaches. Yes, you can swim in it, and there are water activity programmes for kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddling.

The beaches are shared by the whole community. Majid Al Futtaim describes beach sports, an outdoor gym and barbecue areas on the sand, and the Elan brochure's amenity map shows beach cabanas, beach volleyball and beach restaurants and cafés.

Some neighbourhoods have more than a view. Alaya, Alaya Beach, Serenity Mansions, BO MONDE and Elysian Mansions have private beach access to the lagoon, and Lanai Islands sits on an island inside it. Plagette32 owners have private access to the beach club.

Most of what a family needs day to day is inside the community: a school, a nursery, a community hub with shops and restaurants, a mosque, pools, parks and the lagoon. The bigger malls are 10 to 15 minutes away by car.

The Park. At the heart of the community, The Park has landscaped trails, green spaces and lakes. Majid Al Futtaim lists picnics, open-air events at the amphitheatre, fitness sessions, children's activities, festivals, local markets and outdoor cinema.

DISTRIKT. The community hub, for shopping, dining, recreation and wellness. In amara, a green passage links homes to DISTRIKT and to Plagette, the beach area.

Trails. The 18 km of walking trails and 11 km of cycling and jogging tracks run through the whole community, past urban areas, quiet green spaces and areas set aside for exercise. Nearly 500,000 sq m of the community is parks, green open space and trees.

The Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai is inside the community. It follows the British curriculum and is designed for children aged 3 to 18.

For many families the school is the reason to look here, since the walk or short drive to school shapes the day. Ask the school which year groups it admits now, its fees and its waiting lists, and check its record in the KHDA directory.

For younger children, Elan has a nursery. For other schools in the area and the wider choice of family communities, see our guide to family communities and schools, which covers the Hessa Street corridor.

Tilal Al Ghaf's neighbourhoods differ more than most communities' do. Townhouses at Elan and Aura sit on the inland side; villas at Harmony and Alaya come next; and the lagoon edge is lined with mansions, club villas and, on the water, the Lanai Islands estates.

Townhouses and twin villas

• Elan. 3 and 4 bedroom duplex townhouses for families, with pools, community and fitness centres, a convenience store and café, and a nursery.
• Aura. 3 and 4 bedroom townhouses and 4 bedroom twin villas, with central parks, pathways and sikkas, and an optional Sky Suite. Lagoon Al Ghaf is a walk away.
• amara. Twin villas on a hilly landscape inspired by desert dunes and wadis, in the heart of the community. Majid Al Futtaim describes amara as the final neighbourhood of Tilal Al Ghaf. Padel, basketball, climbing walls and pools are part of the plan.

Villas

• Harmony. 4, 5 and 6 bedroom villas, each with a Garden Suite, a separate living space with a choice of layouts. Tennis courts, a yoga pavilion, Japanese-inspired landscaping and community gardening.
• Alaya. Grand villas on large plots, with a choice of Modernist or Mediterranean façade, private beach access to the lagoon, a clubhouse and an outdoor games room.

Mansions and estates on the lagoon

• Alaya Beach. Mansions and grand villas in The Mansions and The Reserve collections, in four layouts.
• Serenity Mansions and the Waterfront Collection. Bespoke mansions with a choice of façade and interior, with direct access to Lagoon Al Ghaf; the Waterfront Collection sits right beside the water.
• Plagette32. 28 club villas over three floors and 4 single-floor water bungalows at the lagoon edge, inspired by the French Riviera, with private beach club access.
• BO MONDE. A private neighbourhood of 13 mansions.
• Elysian Mansions. The newest mansion collection, overlooking the lagoon, with a 120 m private beach for mansion owners and a private Central Park.
• Lanai Islands. 13 estates on a private island in the lagoon: nine Shore Estates and four Edge Estates, with signature architecture by the South African practice SAOTA.

How the neighbourhoods compare

Browse homes by type across Dubai on our townhouses and villas pages.

This table lists the Tilal Al Ghaf projects we track, with today's prices, sizes and status. It updates when we add or revise a project.

Resale homes in the completed neighbourhoods are sold through agents and are not listed here. For new releases across Dubai, see new launches, and for prices at the top of the market, projects over AED 20 million.

Not to be confused with Ghaf Woods. Majid Al Futtaim also builds Ghaf Woods, a separate forest community off Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road beside Global Village. We track Capria, Cilia and Lyra Residence there.

Yes. Homes in Tilal Al Ghaf are sold freehold, so buyers of any nationality can own them outright, with no need to live in the UAE.

Under Law No. 7 of 2006, non-UAE nationals may own freehold property in the areas of Dubai designated for them. An off-plan purchase is registered on the Dubai Land Department's interim register, Oqood, and converts to a title deed after handover. A resale of a completed home is registered directly as a title deed transfer.

The property route to the ten-year Golden Visa needs property worth at least AED 2 million. See our guide to the Golden Visa through UAE property, and for ownership across the emirates, can foreigners buy property in the UAE.

Beyond the price, budget for the 4% Dubai Land Department fee when the sale is registered, service charges every year, and the running costs of a house with a garden and pool.

• The 4% DLD fee. Paid once, when the sale is registered. On a resale, agents' commission and the buyer's share of transfer costs are added.
• Service charges. Under Law No. 6 of 2019, a management entity may only collect charges that RERA has approved. Rates for completed projects appear on the Dubai Land Department's Service Charge Index; for an off-plan home, ask for the estimate per sq ft.
• Master community charges. Part of what you pay supports the shared lagoon, beaches, parks and trails.
• Utilities. Electricity and water from DEWA, and any cooling account if your neighbourhood uses district cooling.
• Upkeep. Gardens, private pools and larger homes cost more to cool and maintain.

Every fee from booking to resale is in the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai.

Renting first is a sensible way to test the community and the commute. Any long-term let must be registered on Ejari, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's tenancy system.

If you buy to let instead, the same rules apply in reverse: a written lease registered on Ejari, and a holiday-home permit from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism for short stays. Check that your neighbourhood's rules allow short stays before you plan on them.

Six checks cover most of what matters:

1. The neighbourhood and plot. Ask how far the home is from the lagoon, the school and DISTRIKT, and what is planned next to it.
2. Lagoon access. Private beach access, direct lagoon frontage and a lagoon view are different things. Confirm which one your home has.
3. Completion status. For an off-plan home, read the anticipated completion date and grace period in the sale and purchase agreement. You can follow a project's certified progress on the Dubai REST app.
4. The payment schedule in money. Write down what falls due each quarter and on handover, and how you will fund it.
5. School places. If the Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai is the reason you are buying, confirm a place before you commit.
6. Running costs. Ask for the service charge per sq ft and how cooling is billed.

The full method is in our guide on how to check an off-plan project and developer, and the purchase steps are in how to buy off-plan property in Dubai. What happens on completion is in our handover process guide.

• Master community. A large development planned and run by one master developer, here Majid Al Futtaim, with shared roads, parks, the lagoon and amenities. Each neighbourhood is a separate project inside it.
• Gated community. A neighbourhood with controlled entry for residents and their guests. Several Tilal Al Ghaf neighbourhoods are gated.
• Private beach access. A path from your neighbourhood to the lagoon beach reserved for its residents. It is not the same as a home on the water's edge.
• Twin villa. A semi-detached villa that shares one wall with its neighbour.
• Garden Suite and Sky Suite. Optional extra living spaces offered in Harmony and Aura, laid out to suit the owner.
• Sikka. A narrow shaded lane between homes, a traditional Emirati street form used in Aura's layout.
• Oqood. The Dubai Land Department's interim register for off-plan sales, replaced by a title deed after handover.

Tilal Al Ghaf suits families who want a house, a school and a beach inside one gated community, and who will drive to work. It also suits buyers at the top of the market who want a lagoon-front mansion or an island estate with privacy.

• Families with school-age children benefit most, with a school, a nursery, play areas and the lagoon inside the community.
• Buyers who exercise outdoors have the trails and tracks on the doorstep, and the Al Qudra cycling track nearby.
• Buyers comparing nearby communities often weigh it against its neighbour DAMAC Lagoons and the other villa communities of Dubailand.

If you want a home on the metro or near an office district, a central area may suit you better. Our guide to Dubai's areas and districts compares the options.

Shortlist the neighbourhoods that match your budget and home type, then visit at the hours you would live there: the school run, the evening at the beach and the commute. Compare current releases on our Tilal Al Ghaf community page, and ask Majid Al Futtaim for the plot plan, the completion status and the full payment schedule for the home you want.