Latin Notion’s six day bachata gathering arrives in Dubai on Wednesday 19 November 2025, bringing workshops and late night socials to Holiday Inn Al Maktoum Airport Hotel in Aviation City, Dubai Logistics City. The official festival schedule confirms that activity stretches from Wednesday 19 November to Monday 24 November 2025, with day one already running as a long programme from around 12:00 noon until about 02:00 on Thursday morning. Visitors can expect a mix of bachata, salsa and kizomba sessions, framed as an international Latin dance holiday rather than a single club night. Organisers target social dancers from across the Middle East, Europe and beyond, so English and Spanish dominate on site while the mood stays relaxed and friendly. From the opening afternoon on Wednesday, you are walking into a full festival experience, not just an ordinary midweek party.
Festival background and artist lineup
The Latin Notion Bachata Festival describes itself as a global celebration of Latin dance, with Dubai forming part of a wider world tour that also includes European and Asian stops. For the 2025 Dubai edition, organisers highlight dates from Wednesday 19 November to Monday 24 November 2025, promising a six day sequence of workshops, socials, shows and special events under one hotel roof. Promotional material mentions more than thirty international and national artists plus a dedicated bachata room, so dancers can focus on their preferred style while still tasting salsa and kizomba. The concept is simple but ambitious, turning a business hotel near Al Maktoum International Airport into a temporary Latin village where people eat, sleep and dance in the same building. Because this is an international lineup spread across six days, day one already feels busy and diverse from the first music cue.
How day one unfolds from noon to night
On day one, Wednesday 19 November 2025, the programme is expected to start around 12:00 noon with accreditation, welcome desks and first workshops in the main ballrooms. Early afternoon usually favours lighter sessions such as body movement, musicality or partnerwork refreshers, helping travellers who landed in the morning ease into the festival rhythm. As the day progresses, teachers often move into more focused topics like footwork drills, styling labs or leading and following clinics, with level descriptions guiding improvers and advanced dancers. You can take breaks at the hotel’s cafés or your room, then return refreshed as the evening segment starts. Because the schedule runs continuously from midday into the night, pacing yourself and choosing sessions carefully will keep your energy high until 02:00.
First night socials and party atmosphere
From early evening, the energy shifts toward social dancing as DJs begin warming up the main bachata room and any secondary salsa or kizomba spaces. Typically, a first round of shows or short introductions from the artists appears around prime time, giving you a taste of their style before more intensive weekend sets. The night social on day one is expected to flow well past midnight, with music often playing until about 02:00 on Thursday 20 November 2025. This makes it ideal for solo travellers and dance couples who enjoy long social rounds and are comfortable staying up late. It is not really a children’s event, so treat day one as an adults focused dance night rather than a family outing.
Pass choices and what makes sense for day one
The official ticketing page lists several pass categories in AED, giving you flexibility depending on how deeply you want to commit. Event passes currently range from 650 AED for a Full Pass up to 1,050 AED for a Platinum Pass, with VIP Passes priced at 950 AED before service taxes. These options are designed for dancers who plan to attend multiple days, but they also unlock day one workshops and socials without any extra door payments. For visitors who care more about parties than daytime workshops, a Party Pass at 550 AED focuses on the big weekend nights, while Single Day Passes between 350 and 400 AED cover Friday, Saturday or Sunday individually. If you only want to test the atmosphere on day one, starting with a lower tier pass and upgrading later can protect your budget while you decide how many nights you really want to stay.
Extra tickets, pre parties and add ons
In addition to core passes, Latin Notion offers separate night party tickets, pre and after party options and specialised masterclasses that can appeal to committed dancers. Night Party Passes for specific evenings sit between roughly 150 and 300 AED, covering popular weekend nights where the ballroom stays full until very late. A Wednesday night pre party option around 50 AED opens the festival with a more intimate social, which can be a relaxed way to meet people before the busiest nights. There is also a Thursday boat party currently priced at 350 AED plus tax, aimed at visitors who want a sightseeing element in addition to indoor dancing. Because these extras can quickly push total spending above 1,500 AED, it is wise to map out which parties and add ons genuinely matter for your first night and the rest of the festival.
Staying at Holiday Inn Al Maktoum Airport
The festival’s base at Holiday Inn Al Maktoum Airport Hotel in Aviation City places you close to Dubai World Central and within the wider Dubai Logistics City area rather than central Downtown. That location favours a staycation style approach, where many dancers book rooms in the same hotel so they can rest between workshops and return to their rooms safely after 02:00. Room prices in late November often fluctuate with demand, but planning for approximately 350 to 700 AED per night for standard categories is a reasonable starting assumption, depending on availability and promotions. Staying in house also saves taxi costs over several nights and allows you to change outfits, shower and recharge during shorter breaks. If you plan to dance from 12:00 until 02:00, staying in the festival hotel or a nearby property is usually the most comfortable and safest choice.
Getting to the venue from within Dubai
Because the hotel sits near Al Maktoum International Airport rather than a Metro line, almost everyone arrives by car, taxi or ride hailing service. From Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence, you should expect around thirty to forty minutes of driving in light traffic, with taxi fares often landing in the 80 to 130 AED range depending on route and tolls. From Downtown Dubai or Business Bay, journey times are similar and typical taxi costs can reach roughly 100 to 140 AED if you travel during busier evening periods. Residents in Deira or older parts of the city will usually drive via Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road or Emirates Road, with travel times again hovering around forty minutes outside peaks. Because there is no convenient Metro stop for Holiday Inn Al Maktoum Airport Hotel, planning your road route and allowing buffer time around 18:00 to 20:00 will greatly reduce stress before the first night social.
Travel from other Emirates for day one
Dancers coming from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or Ajman should treat day one as an overnight trip rather than a late evening visit. From central Abu Dhabi to the hotel area, driving can take about one hour and fifteen minutes in lighter conditions, but Friday and Sunday patterns often stretch that beyond ninety minutes. From Sharjah and Ajman, crossing Dubai and continuing south to Aviation City can also reach around ninety minutes in normal traffic, with significant variation if you leave during after work peaks. When you plan to stay at the festival until closing around 02:00, returning to another Emirate in the early hours is both tiring and potentially unsafe. If you travel from another Emirate, booking at least one hotel night for day one is usually much wiser than attempting a long, sleepy drive home after hours of dancing.
Weather, clothing and late night logistics
Weather data for Dubai in November 2025 shows a pleasant late autumn pattern, with daytime highs around 30 to 31 degrees Celsius and night temperatures often dropping to the high teens or low twenties, alongside very low rainfall and plenty of sunshine. For day one on Wednesday 19 November and the late night stretch into Thursday 20 November, you can expect warm, dry air when you arrive around midday, then more comfortable temperatures as you leave the ballroom after 02:00. Light, breathable clothing works well outdoors, while layered options are useful inside because hotel ballrooms can feel cool under strong air conditioning. Comfortable dance shoes, spare tops and a small bag for water and snacks will help you survive the long first day without feeling drained. Traffic on access roads into Aviation City usually builds in the early evening, so arriving earlier and staying parked until the party ends is much easier than trying to time your arrival for peak hours. All tickets and prices listed here should be treated as approximately correct, because organisers may adjust them closer to the date. According to recent planning advice shared by editors who monitor Dubai’s festival calendar at www.few.ae, dancers who secure passes early, book nearby accommodation and pre plan their transport enjoy a far more relaxed first night at Latin Notion Dubai. Make your reservation and travel arrangements in advance so that traffic, full hotel rooms or sold out passes do not cost you the opening night of this six day Latin festival.
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