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About this tool
Plan what to wear and pack for the UAE by month and emirate, covering mosque cover-up rules, mall dress codes, beaches and Ramadan.
This planner works out what to wear and how much to pack for the United Arab Emirates from the month, the emirate, the places on your itinerary and whether you are travelling during Ramadan. Monthly climate normals for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, the northern emirates and Al Ain set the layering band, and the packing count comes from one rule — carry a laundry cycle plus a spare set while a wash dries, capped at the trip length. It then applies the coverage rules that are actually enforced: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque's wrists-and-ankles requirement, the shoulders-and-knees dress code posted at mall entrances, Sharjah's stricter public decency code, and the hard line around swimwear.
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Loose full-length light fabric is both the modest answer and the more comfortable one in Gulf sun, and the plan is built that way.
Sharjah's public decency code and dry status are handled separately from Dubai's, rather than averaged into one country rule.
Quantities follow one laundry cycle plus a drying buffer, with an explicit uplift for tops in the summer months.
Shoulders and knees covered is the working baseline in public. Malls including Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates post a dress code at the entrance and security do ask people to cover up. Swimwear is fine at the beach, the pool and a water park and nowhere else — put something on before you leave. Loose, light, long clothing handles both the modesty expectation and the heat better than shorts and a vest.
Loose, non-transparent clothing covering the hair, wrists and ankles — an abaya, or a maxi dress or long tunic with trousers, plus a headscarf. Men need long trousers and sleeves; shorts are refused. Bring your own cover-up, because visitors are no longer routinely issued an abaya at the entrance, and shoes come off before the prayer hall.
Yes. Sharjah applies a published decency code in public that expects shoulders and knees to be covered, and it is applied more visibly than in Dubai. Sharjah is also a dry emirate: no alcohol is sold or served anywhere in it, including hotels. Dressing a notch more conservatively there than in Dubai is the simple rule.
Dress a notch more conservatively, and do not eat, drink or smoke in public during daylight hours. The rules on restaurants screening themselves off have relaxed in recent years and many stay open, but the courtesy towards people fasting has not changed. Working hours shorten, live music and nightlife are restricted, and the evenings after iftar are when the country is at its liveliest.