Dubai

Dubai still books as a stopover more often than a standalone trip, which works fine given how much sits within a 20-minute drive of the airport, but it undersells the place - three or four nights lets a client cover the city properly and add a desert excursion or an Abu Dhabi day trip without feeling rushed. The city itself splits fairly cleanly into old and new: Downtown Dubai and the Marina are the glass-tower, mall, and beach-club version most photos show, while Al Fahidi, the Creek, and the gold and spice souks a short abra ride away are the older trading-post city that's easy to miss if a client sticks to the newer districts.

Heat, far more than crowds, is what actually dictates timing here. From June through September, daytime highs sit around 40°C with high humidity off the Gulf, which makes outdoor sightseeing genuinely unpleasant and pushes most activity indoors or into the evening - it's also when hotel rates drop hard, which suits clients who plan around air-conditioned malls and pool time rather than walking tours. November through March is the comfortable stretch, warm enough to swim, cool enough to be outside at midday, and correspondingly the peak season for both crowds and prices, with the turn of the year the single busiest and priciest stretch thanks to the New Year's Eve fireworks at Burj Khalifa.

Alcohol, dress, and public conduct rules are more relaxed than clients often expect from a Gulf destination, but they're not absent, and it's worth a quick briefing before departure rather than leaving a client to guess - modest dress is expected at the Grand Mosque and in older neighbourhoods, and alcohol is generally confined to licensed hotel bars and restaurants rather than general retail. A well-paced itinerary usually runs Downtown/Old Dubai for the first couple of days, a half-day or overnight desert safari, and the Marina/Palm Jumeirah area toward the end, with Abu Dhabi as a strong add-on day trip for anyone staying four nights or more.