Dubai in March: the last comfortable month, and falling prices

The month that changes inside itself

This is the practical thing about March: the first and last weeks are different trips. Early March is a winter month: mid to high twenties, comfortable at any hour. Late March runs into the low thirties, and the midday hours begin to feel like the start of summer instead of the end of winter.

If you have a choice within the month, take the earlier half for comfort and the later half for price.

Where the value is

Rates come off the winter peak through March, and the drop accelerates towards the end. For a visitor who does not need the coolest possible weather, late March delivers most of the winter experience at a noticeably lower cost.

It is also less crowded. The observation-deck sunset slots become bookable closer to the day, and restaurants that needed a week's notice in January take a same-week reservation.

Racing, and what else is on

The outdoor events calendar continues from February into March, and the racing season culminates in the month, the Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan is the largest single event on the local calendar and fills hotels on its date.

As with February, worth checking in both directions before fixing dates.

What to plan for this month

Do the outdoor-heavy things in the first half if you can: the creek district on foot, a desert trip in daylight, the beaches without needing an early start.

By late March, start shifting the plan towards the summer pattern: outdoor early and late, indoors through the middle. It is not required yet, but it makes the difference between a comfortable day and a tiring one.

March against the rest of the year

Against February, early March is nearly identical and late March is noticeably hotter and cheaper. Against April, March is cooler and the sea still refreshes. Against January it is warmer, considerably cheaper and much quieter.

March's distinguishing feature is that it is two months in one. No other month in the Dubai calendar changes as much between its first and last week, which is why the advice here is about which half rather than about the month.

For a first visit that cannot be scheduled in deep winter, the first half of March is the best remaining answer in the year.

Wind, dust and the spring haze

March is when the wind starts to matter. The seasonal northwesterlies that blow down the Gulf pick up through the spring, and they bring two things with them: a chop on the sea that flattens the swimming on the exposed beaches, and dust.

A dusty day here is not a storm in the cinematic sense. It is a pale, flat sky, a horizon that has gone, visibility down to a few kilometres and a fine grit on every outdoor surface. The towers disappear from the middle distance, which matters if the plan for that day was an observation deck or the skyline photograph from across the creek.

It passes, usually within a day or two, and it is unpredictable more than seasonal. The practical answer is to hold the view-dependent parts of the plan loosely and do them on the clear morning, not on the booked morning. Anyone with asthma or a dust sensitivity should read the air quality page before travelling in the spring.

None of this makes March a bad month, and it remains one of the two or three best in the year. It simply means that the one thing March cannot promise is a clear horizon, and that a plan which depends on one should have a spare day in it. The compensation is that the same wind that carries the dust also takes the edge off the temperature, which is why the last genuinely comfortable outdoor evenings of the season fall in this month, not in April.