Dubai has two seasons that matter: the one where you can stand outside, and the one where you cannot. Once you have picked the month, our guide to things to do in Dubai covers what to put in it. Everything else follows from that, including hotel rates, which attractions are open, and whether a desert safari, decoded is a pleasure or an endurance test.

The short answer

November to March is the comfortable season and the expensive one. May to September is uncomfortable outdoors and cheap. April and October sit between. If you can choose freely, go in November or March: the weather of peak season without the peak of the crowds.

November to March

Daytime 24 to 30 degrees, evenings cool enough for a jacket in January. This is when the city lives outdoors: the Corniche, the Marina walk, beach clubs, Global Village, outdoor dining and the garden attractions that close in summer.

What is open now and not later: Global Village from AED 25, Dubai Miracle Garden from AED 95 and the Butterfly Garden from AED 35. All three are seasonal and all three shut for the summer.

The cost. Hotel rates at their highest, attractions busiest, and the Burj Khalifa sunset slots sell out days ahead. December and the New Year period are the peak of the peak.

Worth knowing. January and February bring the occasional day of rain. The city is not built for it, roads flood quickly and desert activities get cancelled. It passes within a day.

April and October

Daytime 32 to 38 degrees. Hot, but a morning outdoors is still pleasant and the evenings are comfortable. Hotel rates fall noticeably from peak and the queues shorten.

This is the best value window in the calendar if you are flexible. Beach weather is excellent, the sea is warm, and a premium desert safari starting at 15:00 is entirely reasonable.

May to September

Daytime 40 to 48 degrees with humidity off the Gulf that makes it feel worse. Between eleven and four, outdoors is genuinely difficult rather than merely unpleasant.

It is still a reasonable time to visit if you build the day around it. Hotel rates fall sharply, restaurants that need booking weeks ahead in January have tables the same day, and the indoor attractions are quiet on weekdays.

Build the day as mornings early, middle of the day indoors, evenings outside from six. The full list of what is air conditioned is in Dubai in summer, from Ski Dubai to the Museum of the Future.

If you are here in summer with children, the water parks count as indoors in practice Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi is the third, from AED 265, and the quietest of the three.: you are in the water. Aquaventure from AED 205 and Wild Wadi from AED 249.

Ramadan and Eid

Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each year. During it, eating and drinking in public during daylight is not done, many restaurants close until sunset, and live music and nightlife are paused. Attraction hours shift later and malls stay open well past midnight.

It is a genuinely interesting time to be here, and iftar at sunset is something to experience rather than avoid. But if your plan is beach clubs and brunches, pick different dates. Eid, which follows it, is a public holiday and one of the busiest periods of the year domestically.

Month by month, briefly

  • January: coolest of the year. Shopping festival. Occasional rain. Jacket for the evening.
  • February: near perfect weather, still busy.
  • March: warm days, comfortable evenings, crowds thinning. One of the two best months.
  • April: heat arriving, value improving, sea warm.
  • May: summer begins. Plan indoors from late morning.
  • June to August: the hardest months. Lowest rates of the year.
  • September: still very hot, humidity at its worst, rates still low.
  • October: the turn. Outdoor life resumes in the second half.
  • November: peak weather begins, seasonal attractions reopen. The other best month.
  • December: excellent weather, highest prices, book everything ahead.

What to pack, by season

Winter: summer clothing plus one warm layer for evenings and the desert. Interiors are air conditioned hard all year, so the layer earns its place indoors too.

Summer: loose light fabrics, a hat, and the layer again, because the contrast between 45 degrees outside and a shopping mall is considerable.

All year: modest clothing for mosques and souks, closed shoes for desert activities, and more sun protection than you think.

If the date is fixed and it is summer

Do not write the trip off. Take the Abu Dhabi day early, which is mostly mosque interior, palace interior and vehicle. Take the Marina dhow cruise after dark, from AED 119. Keep the middle of every day indoors. The trip works; it just runs on a different clock.