Guide · 8 minute read
The best of the Dubai beaches in winter are Kite Beach for space and watersports, JBR for everything within walking distance, Umm Suqeim for the Burj Al Arab view, and La Mer for shade and shallow water with children. From December to February the sea is around 22°C and clearer than at any other time of year, because the summer algae bloom is gone and the mornings are calm.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
Three reasons, and only one of them is temperature. The air is around 24°C rather than 42, which is the obvious one. The water is around 22°C, which is cooler than the summer's near-33 and considerably more refreshing than it sounds.
The third is clarity, and it is the underrated one. Warm still summer water off this coast carries algae and suspended sediment; cool winter water does not, and the visibility difference from the surface is obvious. Between December and February you can see the bottom in three or four metres on a calm morning, which is essentially never true in August.
The mornings are also flat. The wind here builds through the day, so a beach at nine in the morning in January is glass and the same beach at four in the afternoon usually is not.
The widest and longest public beach in the city, running along Umm Suqeim with the Burj Al Arab at one end. It is the watersports beach: kitesurfing at the marked end, paddleboards, kayaks and jet skis, and a running track along the back.
It is also the one with the most usable facilities — showers, changing rooms, and a strip of food trucks and cafés behind the sand rather than across a road.
In winter it is the beach for a whole day rather than an hour, because there is enough of it that a busy Saturday still leaves room.
The Beach at JBR is the most convenient stretch in Dubai and the busiest. Sand, a promenade of restaurants immediately behind it, parking underneath, and the Marina tram and metro a short walk away — you can arrive with nothing and stay all day.
It is the beach to choose if you have no car, if you are with a group that wants different things, or if the beach is one part of an evening rather than the whole plan. It is the wrong one if the point is quiet.
How JBR relates to the Marina and Bluewaters, which visitors routinely conflate, is in Dubai Marina, JBR and Bluewaters explained. Which of JBR and the Marina beach suits which day is in Marina beach or JBR.
The stretch immediately south of Kite Beach, and the one every photograph of the Burj Al Arab from a beach is taken on. It is quieter than either of the two above, has fewer facilities, and is the better choice for a walk.
In winter it is at its best in the last hour before sunset, when the hotel takes the light. The same building from the water is a different proposition entirely and is covered in the Burj Al Arab from sea level.
La Mer in Jumeirah is the most family-workable of the city beaches: shaded areas behind the sand, shallow water at the shore, food and toilets close, and a boardwalk that does not require crossing a road.
In winter the shade matters less and the shallow water matters more — 22°C is cold enough that small children last twenty minutes rather than an hour, and shallow water warms faster than deep.
Anything involving small children and water here, on a beach or a boat, is easier between November and March than at any other time.
Jellyfish still appear seasonally and unpredictably, more often in the shoulder months than in midwinter. Currents are gentle on this coast but not absent, and the lifeguarded beaches are lifeguarded for a reason.
Water quality is generally good on the public beaches and is monitored, but after heavy rain — rare, and rare in winter — it is worth a day's pause. The general picture is in is the sea safe to swim in off Dubai and where to swim in Dubai.
The best winter swimming on this coast is not from a beach at all. Anchored inside the Palm crescent the water is five to eight metres deep over sand, sheltered from the prevailing wind, and empty in a way no public beach is.
That is what an anchor stop on a charter buys, and in January — clear water, calm morning, nobody within three hundred metres — it is a different experience from the same sea at Kite Beach on a Saturday.
Yes. The sea is around 22°C from December to February, which is cooler than the air and clearer than at any other time of year. Most people swim comfortably after a minute or two.
Kite Beach for space and watersports, JBR if you want everything within walking distance, Umm Suqeim for the Burj Al Arab view and a quieter walk, and La Mer if you are with young children.
The summer algae bloom is gone and the mornings are calm, so there is far less suspended material. On a still January morning you can often see the bottom in three or four metres.
Not for most adults — it is cooler than the air, which is the reverse of summer, and takes a minute to adjust to. Young children last noticeably less time in it than they do in October.
JBR. The metro and the tram are a short walk away, parking is underneath if you do drive, and the restaurants are immediately behind the sand rather than across a road.
They appear seasonally and unpredictably, and are more common in the shoulder months than in midwinter. The lifeguarded beaches post warnings when there is a bloom.
Runs Dubai's public beaches and publishes their hours, lifeguard cover and flag system, all of which move with the season.
Leave the date and roughly how many of you there are and we will come back with the boats that are free and what each costs. No deposit at this stage.
WhatsApp only — messages and calls