Sunset Beach — the closest public sand to the Burj Al Arab

The view, and when to shoot it

The Burj Al Arab faces roughly west from here, so the sun sets behind and to the side of it depending on the month. Late afternoon into sunset gives you the hotel lit and the sky behind it; the hour after sunset gives you the building's own lighting against a dark sky, which is the version most people prefer.

Morning light comes from behind you and renders the hotel flat and pale. If the photograph is the reason for the trip, come in the afternoon, and the photo guide covers the other vantage points.

Surfing in Dubai

The break here is small and inconsistent and it works on winter swell, roughly October through March. On a good day it produces short, gentle waves suitable for beginners and longboards; on most days it produces nothing at all.

A surf school operates on the sand with boards to rent and lessons for beginners, and there is a real if small local community. Nobody comes to Dubai to surf, but if you already do, this is where.

Facilities

Lifeguards during posted hours with the flag system, showers, changing rooms and toilets. It is a working public beach instead of a development. There is no promenade of restaurants behind it, which keeps it quieter than JBR at the same hour.

A handful of cafés sit across the road and Umm Suqeim has more a short drive inland. Bring water in summer; the walk to buy any is longer than it looks.

Getting there and parking

Taxi or car, as with the rest of the Jumeirah strip. There is no metro within walking distance. Fifteen to twenty minutes from Downtown or from the Marina, a little more in traffic.

Parking is along the road behind the beach and it fills in the late afternoon, exactly when most people want to be there. Arriving an hour before sunset rather than fifteen minutes before makes the difference.

Combining it with the rest of the strip

Sunset Beach, Kite Beach and the Jumeirah public stretch run along the same coast within a few kilometres of each other, and a taxi between any two is a few minutes. Many visitors do the running track and food trucks at Kite in the morning and move here for the light at the end of the day.

Madinat Jumeirah and the Burj Al Arab itself are immediately inland, which makes an afternoon here easy to combine with dinner.

Swimming and the shore break

This is one of the few beaches on the Dubai coast with a genuine shore break, and it is why the surfers are here. The sea bed drops away more sharply than at the flat northern beaches, so waves that would dissipate elsewhere arrive with something behind them, particularly when the wind has been up.

For swimming that cuts both ways. On a calm day it is as easy as anywhere on the coast. On a windy one the water at the shoreline is busier than families expect, and small children are better off at the shallower stretches further north.

The lifeguard cover is real and the flags are the guide. Where a beach on this coast flies a red flag it is worth taking seriously instead of treating as caution for the sake of it, because the same conditions that make it a surf beach are the ones that make it worth flagging.

Board hire is available on the sand, and the operators will say plainly whether the conditions suit a beginner.

Ask before you swim on a windy day.