Black Palace Beach: the quiet stretch, with nothing provided

Finding it

The turning is off Al Sufouh Road on the seaward side, between the Burj Al Arab end and the base of the Palm trunk, and it is not signposted as a beach. The track is compacted sand and a normal car manages it in dry conditions, though it is rutted in places.

This is a case where a mapping app is more reliable than looking for a sign, and where telling a taxi driver 'Black Palace Beach' works better than 'Al Sufouh Beach', both names are in use and the first is the one drivers recognise.

What is not there, and why it matters

No lifeguard is the important one. Swimming here is at your own risk with nobody watching, no flag system telling you the conditions, and no marked zone separating swimmers from anything else. The seabed shelves unevenly in places and there is no signage about it.

For strong swimmers on a calm day this is a manageable trade. For children, for weak swimmers, or on a day with any swell, the honest advice is to go to JBR or Kite Beach instead, where lifeguards work the flagged sections.

What to bring

Everything. Water for the whole visit, shade of your own if you plan to stay more than an hour, a towel, and something to carry rubbish out in. There are no bins and the beach stays clean only because people take their own away.

There is no shop within walking distance and no phone signal problem, but also nobody to ask for help. Tell someone where you are going if you are alone.

Why people come anyway

Because it is the one place on this coast that looks the way the coast looked before the developments. Wide sand, low dunes behind it, the sea empty of jet skis, and the city's two most photographed skylines at either end of the view.

It is also the best place on the mainland to watch the sun go down over the water without a crowd, which is a large part of its reputation among residents.

When to go

Weekday mornings for genuine emptiness. Late afternoon into sunset is the most rewarding and the busiest, though busy here means a few dozen people instead of a few thousand.

Avoid it in July and August unless you go at dawn, with no shade and no facilities, the summer heat here is a real hazard instead of an inconvenience. The season for it is roughly November to March.

What is around it

The beach sits on the Al Sufouh stretch, tucked between the Palm and the Burj Al Arab, which is the whole reason it looks the way it does in photographs. The sail-shaped hotel stands clear down the coast to one side and the Palm rises on the other, and there is nothing built directly behind the sand itself.

That emptiness is not permanent and it is not protected. This is undeveloped frontage in the most heavily developed stretch of coastline in the country, and access has changed more than once as construction has moved along the shore. Anything written about how to reach it, including this, is worth checking against a recent account before making a trip out of it.

It is also why the beach stays quiet. Without a road, a car park or a sign, the only people who find it are the ones who went looking, and on a weekday morning that can mean a handful of swimmers along several hundred metres of sand.