events
What is on in Al Ain in November 2026
Nine events, each with its dates read off the venue or the organiser's own page. Plus one set of dates going around for the Book Festival that we could not confirm.
Al Ain has a busy November. Below is what is on, when, and where.
We do not type these in by hand or lift them from a listings account. Every date here was read off the venue's or the organiser's own page. Where that page and a widely shared post disagree, we say so rather than pick one.
What is already running
Four things opened on 23 October and run into November, all around Al Qattara.
Traditional Handicrafts Festival 2026 — until 11 November, Souq Al Qattara.
Bakhar Al Bait: Emirati Flavours and Kitchen Stories — until 11 November, Souq Al Qattara.
Sound of the UAE — until 7 November, Souq Al Qattara.
Hayl Culinary Workshop Series — until 7 November, Al Qattara Arts Centre.
All four are listed by the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi, which runs them.
Heritage in the Making: A Shimmering Heritage runs the whole month, 1 to 30 November, also from the Department of Culture and Tourism.
At ADNEC Centre Al Ain
Sajaya Exhibition — 29 October to 1 November, Hall 2.
Najah Al Ain — 2 and 3 November, Hall 1. The venue describes it as the official launch of Najah Expo in Al Ain, extending the UAE's higher education fair to students and families in the city and the surrounding regions. If you have a school-age child here, this is the one on the list most likely to matter to you.
"Candlelight" Concert — 13 November, the Auditorium.
International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition, Al Ain 2026 — 25 to 29 November, Halls 1 and 2.
We have not checked admission prices or opening hours for any of these. The venue pages have them.
The Book Festival dates we could not confirm
You may have seen 24 to 30 November going around for the Al Ain Book Festival, at Al Ain Square by Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. It is not on our calendar, and here is why.
Those are the dates the 2025 edition ran, at the same venue. The Abu Dhabi Media Office's own event page for the festival gives 19 to 25 November and states no year. The organiser, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, had not published 2026 dates when we checked on 22 October.
So two different date ranges are in circulation, neither carrying a year, and nothing from the organiser. The festival is very likely to happen — it has run annually since 2009. We simply cannot tell you which week yet.
We will add it the moment the organiser publishes. If you are planning around it, wait.
Why we check dates this way
Each event is read off the venue's or organiser's own page, not off a news story or a social post, and we record the day we checked it. Organisers move dates, and the first announcement does not always get corrected afterwards.
A recent example: the Al Ain Future Business Forum was announced on 19 August for 28 and 29 September. A release on 17 September gave 23 and 24 September instead, and those are the days it ran. The August announcement is still live with the earlier dates.
If an event is on our calendar, someone opened the venue's page for it. If it is not, that is usually because we could not.
Where to see the current list
Our events page is rebuilt from those official sources rather than kept by hand, so it stays current as events are added and moved.