IDEX and NAVDEX 2027 transport from Dubai: delegations, convoys and the ADNEC commute

IDEX and NAVDEX 2027 run Monday 25 to Friday 29 January 2027 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. From Dubai, allow 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours each way. Book delegation cars as one convoy with the drop-off agreed in advance: during IDEX, ADNEC’s car parks are allocated by organiser sticker, and everyone else is dropped off or uses park-and-ride.

Plenty of delegations move to Abu Dhabi for show week. Exhibitor teams, embassy staff and visiting executives often stay in Dubai and commute instead. We run Dubai to Abu Dhabi chauffeur transfers and full-day hire for both, from a single sedan to a multi-car delegation. Here’s what the organiser has published and how we’d plan the week.

When is IDEX 2027, and is there an IDEX in 2026 or 2028?

IDEX is held every two years, in odd-numbered years. NAVDEX, the naval defence and maritime security exhibition, runs alongside it at the same venue. The official IDEX website gives 25–29 January 2027 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi and lists opening hours of 9am to 5pm.

Edition	Dates	Venue	Status
IDEX and NAVDEX 2025	17–21 February 2025	ADNEC Abu Dhabi	Held
2026	No edition	–	IDEX is biennial
IDEX and NAVDEX 2027	25–29 January 2027 (Monday to Friday)	ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi	Confirmed by the organiser
2028	No edition expected	–	The show after 2027 hasn’t been announced

Watch the date. ADNEC Group’s first announcement for 2027, made in February 2025, said 21–25 January. The IDEX and NAVDEX websites now both say 25–29 January, so plan on those.

Who gets in: registration and badges

IDEX is a trade show, and access runs on badges. The organiser’s FAQ sets the rules:

• Free online pre-registration is required for every attendee, and each registration goes through an approval process that can take days or weeks.
• Onsite registration isn’t possible. Badges are printed at home, in colour, one per person, and you bring the printout to get in.

Badges travel with the passengers, not the drivers, so on day one our chauffeurs check at hotel pickup that everyone has one before the convoy leaves Dubai. Ninety minutes down the E11 is the wrong place to find one missing.

Drop-off, park-and-ride and sticker parking at ADNEC

During IDEX, each ADNEC car park is assigned to one sticker colour. The organiser’s Plan Your Visit page lists them:

Car park	Who can use it	Access
Parking A	Green sticker only	Near the Aloft hotel; entrance on President Joko Widodo Street, via the bridge
Parking B	Red sticker only	Closest to Andaz Capital Gate; from Al Multaqa Street
Car Park D	Blue sticker only	Near Al Khaleej Al Arabi Park 4 and Marina Hall; from Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street
Marina Car Park E	Yellow sticker only	Just after ADNEC Marina Hall; from Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street

Without a sticker, there are two ways in. Park & Ride runs from Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Nation Towers (the organiser’s suggestion for visitors coming from downtown) and Sas Al Nakhl. Or you’re dropped by taxi, Uber or Careem at Point F in the embassies area, or at Marina Car Park D. A chauffeured car without a sticker uses those same drop-off points.

How we run drop-off and pickup

1. Stickers come from the organiser, not from us. If your delegation is allocated stickers, tell us early and we’ll send the plate numbers of the cars assigned to you, so each sticker goes on the right car.
2. One drop-off point for the week. We fix it on day one by your hall and programme, and keep it.
3. Cars hold nearby. A car without a sticker can’t wait at the kerb. The chauffeur holds where marshals direct and comes back when you call.
4. Call 20–30 minutes before you walk out. The roads around ADNEC are slow at closing time, and a convoy takes longer to form up than a single car.

Planning a delegation convoy from Dubai

A delegation isn’t a group booking with more seats. Order matters, and the principal’s car can’t be the late one. This is how we set one up:

1. Send the manifest a week out. Names, protocol order, who rides with whom, hotel, and the daily programme including evening receptions.
2. Match cars to roles. The principal in a first-class sedan such as an S-Class or a full-size SUV, staff in SUVs, aides and equipment in a six-seat V-Class. Larger groups travel together in a minibus or coach through our bus rental in Abu Dhabi service.
3. One coordinator on each side. Your protocol officer deals with one dispatcher of ours, and that person moves every car.
4. A spare car on standby for delegations of five cars or more. IDEX programmes change by the hour.
5. Security stays with your team. We provide cars and RTA-licensed chauffeurs, not close protection. If your delegation travels with its own security detail, we work to its timings and routes.

When should you leave Dubai for IDEX?

The halls open at 9am. Traffic leaving Dubai builds from about 7am, and the Darb bridges onto Abu Dhabi island are busiest from 7 to 9am, so the departure time matters more than the route.

To be at ADNEC by	Leave Downtown, DIFC or Business Bay	Leave Dubai Marina or JLT
8:30am (early meetings, stand checks)	6:45am	7:00am
9:00am (doors open)	7:00am	7:15am
10:00am	7:45am	8:00am

Starting in Deira or near DXB? Add 10 minutes. Our Dubai to Abu Dhabi distance and travel time guide breaks the drive down by district and hour.

The evening is harder. Leave at 5pm with every other visitor and the drive back can take two hours. Leave by 4:30pm, or stay for dinner and set off after 8pm, when it drops to about 1 hour 30 minutes. Flying out on Friday 29 January, the last day? ADNEC puts Zayed International Airport about 15 minutes away.

Darb tolls, return with waiting, or full-day hire?

Each leg of the commute passes two Darb gates. The Ghantoot gate on the E11, just past the Dubai border, has charged AED 4 per crossing at any hour since 4 May 2026. The bridge gates onto the island charge AED 4 from 7 to 9am and 3 to 7pm, Monday to Saturday, according to Abu Dhabi Mobility’s Darb fees page. In our cars, Darb and Salik are inside the fixed Dubai–Abu Dhabi price, and registering Dubai-plated cars with Darb is our paperwork.

Booking	How it works	Pick it when
Return with waiting	One fixed price: Dubai to ADNEC in the morning, back to Dubai in the evening	You’re in the halls all day and come straight back
Full-day hire	The car stays with you, with any stops	Delegations, meetings in the city, evening receptions
Hourly in Abu Dhabi	Local hire, three-hour minimum	You’ve moved to an Abu Dhabi hotel for the week

A 7am pickup and a 7pm drop-off runs past the usual 10-hour full day, so give us the real hours and we’ll price the day as one job. For delegations we book full days.

Commuting suits one or two days at the show. For all five, with evening receptions, a hotel near ADNEC gives you back two to three hours a day, and our chauffeur service in Abu Dhabi covers the local runs.

IDEX is ADNEC’s second big week of January 2027: Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week runs 10–14 January. Our Dubai events calendar shows what’s on in Dubai at the same time, and our guide to delegation and VIP visitor transport covers the wider planning for official visits.

Frequently asked questions

What is IDEX in Abu Dhabi?

IDEX is the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, a trade show for land, sea and air defence held every two years at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. ADNEC Group organises it with the Tawazun Council and the UAE Ministry of Defence, and NAVDEX, the naval defence and maritime security exhibition, runs alongside it. The 2027 edition is 25–29 January.

Is IDEX held every year?

No. IDEX is biennial and held in odd-numbered years. The last edition ran 17–21 February 2025 and the next runs 25–29 January 2027, so there’s no IDEX in 2026 and none expected in 2028.

Can I register for IDEX at the venue?

No. The organiser says onsite registration isn’t possible. Every attendee pre-registers online for free, waits for approval, which can take days or weeks, and prints a colour badge at home to bring on the day. Register before you book flights and cars.

Is there parking at ADNEC during IDEX?

Only for vehicles with an organiser-issued sticker: car parks A, B, D and E are each assigned to one sticker colour. Visitors without a sticker use Park & Ride from Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Nation Towers or Sas Al Nakhl, or are dropped at Point F or Marina Car Park D by taxi or private car.

How long does it take to get from Dubai to ADNEC?

About 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on where you start and when. Dubai Marina and JLT are the quickest starting points; Deira and the DXB area are the slowest. Leave Downtown Dubai by 7am to reach ADNEC for the 9am opening.