Dubai camel ride outfit: what to wear for a day in the desert

Shoes, closed. If you take one thing from this page, take this one. The camp is sand, the dune you walk up is sand, and the short walk to the animal is sand. Shoes that close around your foot keep it out; sandals become a small shovel. Trainers are perfect and nobody needs boots. A pair you do not mind emptying afterwards is the right pair, because you will empty them.

Trousers, light and long. The Dubai camel ride outfit lives or dies on this choice. Long covers your legs against the sun and against the sand that moves in the afternoon; light keeps you comfortable while it does. Sitting astride an animal and then cross-legged on a carpet asks for something that gives, so linen, loose cotton or anything with stretch beats stiff denim and beats anything tight.

A top with sleeves. Sleeves are shade you carry with you, and shade is thin on the ground in a desert camp. A loose long-sleeved shirt over a t-shirt is the version most people end up in: sleeves down while the sun is up, sleeves rolled or shirt off once it drops.

A scarf. This is the piece that turns a good Dubai camel ride outfit into a comfortable one. When the sand lifts, a scarf across the mouth and nose is the whole solution, and there is no substitute for it once you are out there. It also covers your head in the middle of the afternoon and your neck when the evening cools. Any light, large one will do.

One warmer layer, for the evening. The listings that end with dinner and a show at the camp — $46 at seven hours, $69 at seven, $35 at four in the evening — keep you in the desert after dark. Away from the city the air cools once the sun is gone, and in the winter months a jumper or light jacket is the difference between watching the show and thinking about the car. Leave it in the vehicle if you do not need it.

Sunglasses and sun cream. Both go on before you leave the hotel rather than at the camp. Sand and low sun together are bright in a way that catches people out, and the back of the neck and the tops of the ears are where the sun finds you while you are looking at something else.

Getting on and off is the part people dress wrong for. A camel kneels to be mounted and then stands, back legs first, which tips you forward and then back. It is over in a second and it is completely normal, but it is easier in trousers that let your knees move than in anything you are holding down with one hand. Long, loose and light is the answer here as everywhere else on this page.

The sand does not stay on the ground. Between the vehicle, the dune and the camp, a little of the desert comes home with everyone. That is why closed shoes and a scarf lead this list, and why a bag you can shake out beats a nice one. If you brought a camera, a simple cloth bag around it is worth more than a lens cap.

Photographs are taken in low light. The afternoon and sunset listings put you on the sand exactly when the light goes gold, and in that light plain colours and flowing shapes look far better than logos and stripes. This is not a rule, it is just what people notice in their own pictures afterwards. It costs nothing to choose the loose linen shirt over the technical one.

The camp is a floor-level place. Low cushions, carpets, tables at knee height. Whatever you are wearing, you will be sitting cross-legged in it while dinner comes out. Add that to the case for loose trousers and against anything you have to keep arranging.

For any afternoon listing, wear closed shoes, light long trousers, a long-sleeved top, sunglasses and sun cream, with a scarf in your pocket. That is the complete Dubai camel ride outfit for a four-hour day such as $30, rated 4.9 across 44,864 reviews.

For an evening listing, add one warm layer. $35 at four hours and $69 at seven both leave you at an outdoor camp after dark. In the winter months that jumper is the whole difference in how the evening feels.

For a sunset trek, dress for sitting as much as for riding. $79 is six hours around a camel trek with stargazing and a BBQ, rated 4.8 across 2,630 reviews, and a good part of it is spent on the ground at the camp rather than on an animal.

For a buggy or quad listing, expect more sand. $91 runs 1h 30m and is rated 5.0 across 1,516 reviews. A scarf and closed shoes stop being advice here and start being the point of the Dubai camel ride outfit.

And for the balloon at sunrise, book warm and early. $305 includes a camel ride and breakfast, rated 4.8 across 437 reviews, and it is the one listing where you dress before the sun rather than against it.