Visiting Dubai during Ramadan

When it is

Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, so it moves about eleven days earlier each year. In 2027 it falls in February and March, in the heart of the cool season, and it will keep moving into January and then December through the end of the decade. The exact start depends on the sighting of the moon and is confirmed a day or two before. Eid al-Fitr, the holiday at the end, is three days of celebration when the city fills up again.

What changes

Muslims fast from dawn to sunset: no food, no drink, no smoking. The working day shortens, so offices and government services open later and close earlier. Daytime is quiet: fewer cars on the road in the morning, fewer people in the malls until the afternoon, a slower pace everywhere. Then at sunset the city breaks its fast, iftar, and comes alive for the night. Restaurants fill, malls stay open past midnight, families are out at one in the morning, and the tents and terraces serve until dawn.

• Eating and drinkingSince 2021 restaurants and cafés may serve during the day without screens, and most do. Visitors may eat and drink; the courtesy is to do so inside, not on the street, and not in front of people who are fasting
• AlcoholServed in licensed venues, usually from the evening; some bars keep normal hours. Music is quieter or absent in public places
• HoursAttractions and malls open later and close much later. Supermarkets keep their hours. Check anything with a fixed time
• DressA little more covered than usual in public places; shoulders and knees. Beaches and pools are as always
• The roadsEmpty in the morning, dangerous in the hour before sunset when everyone is driving home to eat. Do not be on them then

Why some guests choose it

The weather is the same as any other week of the cool season, and the city is quieter and cheaper. Flights and homes cost less in Ramadan than in the weeks either side, the beach is empty in the morning, the queues are short, and the evenings are the most sociable of the year. Iftar is a meal anyone can join: hotels and restaurants set long tables at sunset, and a guest who has never been to one will remember it.

A home suits Ramadan better than a hotel. You eat when you want, in your own kitchen, without thinking about who is nearby. You sleep through the quiet mornings and go out at night when the city does. And you have a balcony for the cannon at sunset, which you will hear across the city.

Being a good guest

Eat inside during the day; a café or your home, not a bench. Do not drink from a bottle in the street or in a taxi. Dress a little more carefully. Say Ramadan Kareem to people who greet you with it. Do not expect fast service from someone who has not eaten since five in the morning, and tip them well. If you are invited to iftar, go; it is the most generous thing the city does.

Our month-by-month notes say where Ramadan falls in each year, and we tell every guest booked across it what to expect before they arrive.

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