2029 calendar

2029 opens with New Year's Day on a Monday, joining the weekend behind it for a three-day break to start the year. Ramadan begins on Tuesday 16 January, so the shortened working day covers the second half of January and most of February. Eid Al Fitr falls on Wednesday 14, Thursday 15 and Friday 16 February and runs into the weekend after it, producing five consecutive days off — the longest single break of the year, and it lands in the most comfortable weather this calendar offers.

Arafah Day is on Monday 23 April with Eid Al Adha on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that follow, so the whole working week disappears and the break stretches from one weekend to the next. The Hijri New Year holiday on Monday 14 May adds a three-day weekend three weeks later. April and May are the transition months here: the last usable beach evenings in April, and by the end of May the heat that holds until October is fully established across the country.

The Prophet Mohammed's Birthday holiday falls on Tuesday 24 July, in the middle of the school holidays and the middle of the worst heat, when a day off in the week is worth more for the air conditioning than for anything anyone plans to do outdoors. Daylight peaks in late June at about 13 hours 45 minutes and shortens through July and August: sunset in Dubai moves from just past 7 pm at the start of July to around 6:40 pm by the end of August, while the temperature does not follow it down.

Eid Al Etihad falls on Sunday 2 and Monday 3 December, so one working day comes out of it and the weekend before is extended by a day. Europe puts its clocks back on 28 October, returning London to four hours behind the UAE for the winter. The year runs to 365 days and closes on Monday 31 December, with the fourth quarter carrying the whole of the outdoor season: Global Village open since the middle of October, the fitness challenge through November and the racing at the turn of the month.