Dubai private tour: drivers, guides, a cabriolet and a yacht, priced

Six of the ten name a guide: five tours by car, below, and the cabriolet in the next section. The $130 half-day is the one with the reviews: five hours with a private driver and a licensed guide, the Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Beach, typical souks and more, on a route the listing calls customizable.

The $218 stopover tour is a guided driving tour of Dubai old and new that stops where you want, 5.0 across 480 reviews. It costs $88 more than the half-day; what it adds is the clock: three hours if that is all you have, eight if you have the day.

Two listings sell eight private hours. The $212 day includes one entry ticket, to the Dubai Frame, Miracle Garden or Global Village; 5.0 across 43 reviews. The $408 day is a guided tour for you and your family alone, from the old part of the city to new Dubai; 5.0 across 92 reviews. Both sit at 5.0 on a smaller base.

The $790 listing is a guided private Mercedes Sprinter for a half or a full day, five to eight hours: the Dubai Frame, Bluewaters Island, the Museum of the Future, the Blue Mosque and Old Dubai. 4.8 across 385 reviews.

The private tour after dark at $360 visits a typical souq and stops for photos of the tallest building in the world from outside; 4.8 across 49 reviews. The night page sets it beside the small-group evening that goes up the Burj Khalifa.

The $98 car and driver is the cheapest of the ten and the most reviewed, 4.6 across 980 reviews. It is a chauffeur service: a professional driver, a private vehicle and a flexible itinerary for a half day, a full day or a city-to-city transfer, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The listing describes a driver, not a guide; that is the difference from the $130 half-day.

The cabriolet tour at $343 is three hours in an open-top Mustang or Camaro with a tour guide, past the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina. 5.0 across 74 reviews.

The private 50-foot yacht at $123 cruises the coast for one to eight hours, stopping for pictures of Dubai Marina, the Burj Al Arab, Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah and Ain Dubai; 4.9 across 774 reviews. The other private charters are on the yachts and boats page.

The dune buggy safari at $245 is four hours in the desert: a 1000cc buggy, rock formations, dunes to slide down and a camel to ride at the end, with round-trip private transportation included. 4.9 across 246 reviews. The shared safaris from $30 are on the desert safari page.

What private costs over shared, listing against listing. The shared guided tour with Dubai Frame entry, the Blue Mosque, the Museum of the Future and a boat ride is $27 for five to six hours (4.8 across 6,158 reviews); the private half-day is $130. The shared eight-hour tour is $128 (4.6 across 2,680 reviews); the private eight-hour days are $212 and $408. The shared Marina yacht is $25 (4.7 across 22,285 reviews); the private 50-foot yacht is $123.

On ratings, private comes out ahead: five of the ten sit at 5.0, and the lowest is the car and driver at 4.6. On review counts it does not. The ten private listings have 3,708 reviews between them; the top pick of this site, the $24 guided walk of Al Fahidi Old Town with the souks, street food and an abra cruise, has 11,339 on its own.

So pay for a Dubai private tour when you want to set the route or the clock: the half-day at $130 costs about what the shared eight-hour tour does. Stay shared when the price matters most; the 68 cards on the home page start at $14 for Dubai Frame entry. Each of the ten private listings shows Free cancellation; read the deadline on the listing before you pay.