In the height of summer (around August), the UAE can reach stifling temperatures of 50°C (122 °F), which is not only uncomfortable but dangerous when spending large periods of time outside. Many tourists are wary of visiting and many locals leave the cities in the summer months – that said, business continues as normal in the United Arab Emirates, with most attractions and hotels remaining open.
Between May and September, residents and travellers can benefit from fewer crowds and less traffic (and far less time sitting on Sheikh Zayed Road). In addition, flights and hotels are significantly cheaper and big attractions often offer discounts. There’s lots to do inside the nation’s many comfortable air-conditioned spaces, including some truly unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences. These are the top places to visit in the UAE in summer.
1. The Rain Room, Sharjah
Sharjah’s dreamlike Rain Room is an immersive permanent art installation that will immediately remove you from the sizzling scenes outside. Step into a room filled with 2,500 litres of water and as you enter the downpour, amidst mood lighting and the sound of water, you magically stay completely dry, as if there’s some sort of forcefield around you. It’s a calming, unnerving and utterly unique experience.
2. Clymb Abu Dhabi
Feel the sensation of freefall (and very powerful air jets!) while floating on a smooth cushion of air out of the hot sun, at the world’s tallest indoor skydiving flight chamber. At Clymb Abu Dhabi , inside Yas Mall on Yas Island, participants can learn to hover and move through the air before eventually completing manoeuvres inside the Guinness World Record-holding chamber stretching 25 metres high and 10 metres wide.
3. Deep Dive Dubai
About six Olympic-sized pools deep – and filled with 14 million litres of fresh water – Deep Dive Dubai is a one-of-a-kind experience with a sunken city. It boasts submerged rooms, vintage cars, arcade games, and even a snooker table, all at a record-breaking depth of 60 meters. The eerie underwater experience is done in a chamber that is warmed to a very comfortable 30°C, ideal for the UAE’s summer months. Bring your family to witness the bizarre scene – they can snap photos of the action from observation windows.
4. The Louvre Abu Dhabi
Earning the moniker the ‘most visited museum in the Arab world’, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is about as impressive as art galleries get, with more than 8,600-sq-metres of indoor exhibition space and classic works by Leonardo da Vinci, Henri Matisse and Édouard Manet to modern works by Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian and Jenny Holzer. There’s also a vast collection of antiquities from around the world, including Egyptian tombs and porcelain dating back thousands of years.
5. A world of waterparks
The UAE is home to several fun parks where you can slip, slide and cool off. Wild Wadi is Dubai’s original waterpark; opened in 1999 it features an Arabian-themed collection of rides, including a wave pool, water slides, and the adrenaline-pumping Jumeirah Sceirah plunge slide. Aquaventure World at Atlantis The Palm, meanwhile, is the largest in the city, with more than 100 thrilling slides and rides, such as Odyssey of Terror and Leap of Faith (with a tunnel that goes through a shark tank).
On Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld has some 40 rides, including the thrilling Dawwama, the world’s largest hydromagnetic-powered water slide, and the interactive Bandit Bomber coaster. Last but not least, Al Ain Adventure Park offers whitewater rafting, kayaking and real surfing experiences on its manmade river and waves.
6. Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi
It might be sweltering outside, but that doesn’t have to prevent you from riding roller coasters. Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi is the world’s largest indoor theme park – spanning 1.65 million-sq-ft – with 29 rides and it's all completely air-conditioned. Here you can bounce up and down on a giant Daffy Jet-Propelled Pogo Stick, or spin around on the Scarecrow Scare Raid, under the creepy gaze of Gotham City scarecrows. It also holds shows in its six themed lands, and you can meet actors dressed as DC legends such as Batman and Superman.
7. Ski Dubai
The ultimate way to cool down in the desert is inside a giant fridge – Ski Dubai offers a 4,500-sq-m winter wonderland of real snow, with slopes for boarders and skiers (the top reached by chairlift, no less), bobsled runs, a Giant Ball run and tobogganing hills, plus an ice cave and resident family of penguins.
8. Roxy Xtreme Cinema
Stepping into Dubai Hill’s Roxy Xtreme is an eye-popping experience – its theatre has a screen so big you can fit two tennis courts inside it. Sit in the auditorium and watch movies laser-projected onto the enormous 28m high and 15.1m wide screen, or choose one of the three exclusive 12 seater Director’s Boxes, each with plush seats and waiters serving food.
9. Museum of the Future
Find out what life will be like in a century at the Museum of the Future, a seven-floor, egg-shaped building with mind-boggling exhibitions. Learn how a space station operates, get an augmented- and virtual-reality view of Dubai in 50 years and explore a library of life on Earth. The shop is the place to pick up some really cool futuristic gadgets too.
10. Time Out Market
Dubai is often about fine dining and celebrity chefs, but the Time Out Market offers a different culinary experience, more like an indoor street food market. Vendors serve up flavours from around the world, which are enjoyed on communal tables in a large dining area with a wrap-around terrace and views of Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain. Eat everything from Portuguese custard tarts to fragrant Thai and tangy ceviche.
11. The UAE's top malls
Any emirate you find yourself in has an easy option to cool down in – a mall. These retail air-conditioned wonderlands are as big as they come, with levels upon levels of brands. Some malls are more like villages or cities, and it’s easy to lose days enjoying their dining options, attractions and indoor play areas. Dubai Mall is the grande dame of UAE shopping complexes – it’s the biggest mall in the world, with an aquarium you can dive in, an ice rink to cool down in and a VR park to escape the desert in. Souk Madinat Jumeirah is more of a traditional souk experience with covered passageways and evocative smells and flavours, and Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall has its own full indoor climbing centre. Even smaller malls in more remote corners of the emirates, such as Ajman City Centre, City Centre Fujairah and Al Hamra Mall in Ras Al Khaimah all have shopping, food and entertainment like bumper car rides and soft play for smaller kids.
