Overview
Al Marjan Island is four man-made islands off the Ras Al Khaimah coast, reaching 4.5 km into the Gulf. Rakeen, the government development arm, unveiled the project at Cityscape in 2007, reclamation finished in 2009 and the island opened in 2013. Marjan runs it today. The four islands are called Breeze, Dream, Treasure and View, and together they cover about 2.7 million sq m with 7.8 km of beach.
For most of its life this was a hotel island with a little residential attached. That changed when Wynn Resorts announced an integrated resort here, and the island has since become the busiest development site in the northern emirates. More than 18,000 homes and more than 8,500 hotel keys are planned at build-out, against around seven hotels and roughly 2,300 keys operating today.
The result is two very different markets on the same address. The ready stock is Bab Al Bahr and Pacific, built between 2011 and the late 2010s, trading at roughly AED 1,200 to 1,400 per sqft. The off-plan stock is a long list of branded launches reaching AED 4,800 per sqft on the beachfront. Buyers who compare the two without noticing the difference get a very confusing picture of what the island costs.
The residential names in and under construction include Danah Bay by Dubai Investments, JW Marriott Residences by WOW Resorts, Nikki Beach Residences by Aldar, Address Residences by Emaar, Mondrian, Nobu, W, Fairmont and around a dozen more.
Who it suits
Investors buying for capital growth. Al Marjan was the best-performing submarket in Ras Al Khaimah through 2026, and the Wynn opening in September 2027 is the clearest dated catalyst anywhere in the emirate.
Holiday-let owners. A large share of the ready apartments already operate as licensed short-term rentals, the beach is on the doorstep and the tourist flow is real: Ras Al Khaimah recorded more than 670,000 visitors in the first half of 2026, its strongest half year.
Buyers who want a beachfront apartment at a price that would not buy a studio on Palm Jumeirah.
It suits families much less well. There is no school and no hospital on the island, every run to a supermarket that is not the small on-site one is a drive, and a good part of the island is a construction site until at least 2028.
It suits anyone who dislikes noise and dust even less, for the same reason.
Homes and prices
Two price bases circulate for this island and they differ by roughly double. ValuStrat, which values ready stock, put Al Marjan Island apartments at AED 1,160 per sqft in the second quarter of 2026, up 9.4 per cent over the year and unchanged over the quarter. Portal asking prices, which are weighted towards branded off-plan, average far higher. The honest position is that ready secondary stock trades at roughly AED 1,160 to 1,220 per sqft, off-plan launches at roughly AED 1,700 to 2,600, and branded beachfront up to AED 4,800.
Asking prices from live listings in September 2026:
| Type | Beds | Baths | Size (sqft) | Price from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 0 | 1 | 430 to 600 | AED 550,000 |
| 1-bed apartment | 1 | 1 | 547 to 1,000 | AED 835,000 |
| 2-bed apartment | 2 | 2 | 925 to 1,560 | AED 1,020,000 |
| 3-bed apartment | 3 | 3 | 1,800 to 2,600 | AED 3,500,000 |
| Penthouse | 4 | 4 | 2,500 to 14,484 | AED 1,650,000 |
The penthouse row covers everything from a modest duplex in an older building to a 14,484 sqft four-bedroom asking close to AED 50,000,000, so treat the “from” figure as the floor of a very wide market rather than a typical price.
Annual rents in September 2026 run from about AED 27,000 for a studio, AED 41,000 to AED 68,500 for a one-bedroom and AED 52,000 to AED 80,000 for a two-bedroom. Cavendish Maxwell recorded Ras Al Khaimah rents up about 7 per cent over the year to the first half of 2026, but apartment rents fell 1.4 per cent in the second quarter.
Live stock: properties for sale in Al Marjan Island, apartments for sale in Al Marjan Island, 1-bedroom apartments for sale in Al Marjan Island and properties for rent in Al Marjan Island. Owners letting by the night should look at holiday homes in Ras Al Khaimah.
Amenities
Around seven hotels operate on and around the island, including Rixos Bab Al Bahr, Mövenpick Resort Al Marjan Island, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton and Rove Al Marjan Island. Between them they supply most of the restaurants, bars and beach clubs that residents use.
Turtle Beach on Treasure Island has public water-sports hire. Bab Al Bahr and Danah Bay hold private resident beaches. Most hotel plots hold beachfront of their own, so the amount of genuinely open beach is smaller than the 7.8 km headline suggests.
Day-to-day retail is thin: small supermarkets, a pharmacy and the hotel outlets. Al Hamra Mall, with 130 stores, a cinema and a medical centre, is the nearest proper shopping.
Wynn Al Marjan Island will add a great deal when it opens in September 2027: 22 restaurants, bars and lounges, a beach club, 15,000 sq m of retail, a 900-seat theatre, twelve pools and a 98-berth marina, alongside the 225,000 sqft gaming floor that holds the first commercial gaming licence issued in the UAE. A dedicated Wynn Bridge is under construction to serve it.
Getting around
The island connects to Sheikh Mohammed bin Salem Road, the E11, about five minutes from the causeway. From there it is 30 to 35 km to Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, around 25 to 30 minutes, and 85 to 95 km to Dubai International Airport, which is 60 to 75 minutes off-peak and worse at rush hour. Dubai Marina is closer, around 55 km.
Ras Al Khaimah city centre is 15 to 25 minutes north. Al Hamra Village, with the mall, the golf club and the schools, is about ten minutes south.
Public transport is effectively absent. The nearest bus station is a 20-minute drive and taxis need booking. You need a car.
Schools and healthcare
There is no school and no hospital on Al Marjan Island, and that is the single most important practical fact for a family buyer.
The nearest schools are about ten minutes away in Al Hamra Village and Al Jazeera Al Hamra: RAK Academy Al Hamra, which added a secondary campus in August 2026, the New British International School, Zainab School and Al Jazeera Al Hamra Boys’ School. Nurseries include Red Bus, Little Treasures and Al Hamra Nursery.
For healthcare, clinics are about seven minutes away, including the RAK Medical Centre in Al Hamra Mall and the Al Afia Medical Centre. Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital, the nearest major facility, is about fifteen minutes. RAK Hospital and Saqr Hospital are in the city.
Investment view
Al Marjan Island led Ras Al Khaimah in 2026. ValuStrat recorded apartment values up 13.2 per cent over the year to the first quarter and 9.4 per cent to the second, against 3.5 per cent for Al Hamra and 2.3 per cent for Mina Al Arab. Both quarters were flat, so the market is still rising year on year but has stopped moving month to month.
The measured gross yield is 5.3 per cent across the emirate and Bayut put Al Marjan Island at 5.46 per cent for 2025. Service charges then take a meaningful share of that, and the gap between buildings is wide. In September 2026 the three Bab Al Bahr buildings were listed at AED 12 per sqft a year and the five Pacific towers at AED 17.50 to AED 18. On a 770 sqft one-bedroom that is roughly AED 9,200 against AED 13,900, which is more than half a percentage point of yield. None of the branded towers has a published rate yet, because none has handed over. There is no service charge index for Ras Al Khaimah, so the figure has to be asked for unit by unit.
Short-let returns need care. The only auditable dataset covering the island, from AirROI, showed an average daily rate of about USD 159 and occupancy of 39.6 per cent across 42 active listings, on a year to October 2025. Agency and developer claims of 70 per cent occupancy, or rental programmes promising 13 to 18 per cent gross, are not supported by that. Assume something closer to 40 to 50 per cent occupancy when you model a purchase, and read our holiday home management page for what the running costs actually are. Furnishing is the other number to model before you buy, and our furniture packages price it by size.
Supply is the risk. Cavendish Maxwell counted 13,800 homes due in Ras Al Khaimah between 2026 and 2028, and 25,600 to 2030 with 97 per cent of them apartments. Al Marjan Island already accounts for about 55 per cent of all sale listings in the emirate. Transaction volumes fell in 2025, to AED 12.4 billion across 6,600 deals, down 24.7 per cent in value. A lot of what completes between 2027 and 2029 will arrive on the resale market at the same time.
The counterweight is Wynn. September 2027 brings 1,530 rooms, more than 7,000 permanent staff and the first licensed gaming floor in the country onto an island of roughly 8,000 residents. Nothing else in Ras Al Khaimah has a catalyst of that size with a date attached to it. Buyers weighing the emirate against Dubai should read our guide on Ras Al Khaimah against Dubai.
