Sunday is the second day of the Emirati weekend and much the quieter of the two. Saturday takes the brunches, the sport and the shopping; Sunday tends to take the recovery, the family lunch, and the slow return to a schedule that starts again very early on Monday morning.
Public transport reflects it: the metro opens later on a Sunday morning than on any other day of the week, which catches out anyone who has planned an early start on the assumption that the timetable is uniform. Traffic is at its lightest of the week through the morning and builds only in the late afternoon.
It is also the day on which the Emirates and their immediate neighbours diverge most visibly. Several Gulf states retained the older weekend, so a Sunday here is a working day an hour's flight away, and anyone with business across that border spends part of the day answering messages from an office that is fully open.
Schools finish their weekend tonight, which makes Sunday evening the point at which bags are packed and the early alarm is set — the countdown to Monday's 6 am school bus effectively starts here.
The countdown resets to the following Sunday once the day has begun.
Common questions
Is Sunday a working day in the UAE?
No, it is the second day of the weekend. Several neighbouring Gulf states kept the older week, though, so it is a working day an hour's flight away.
Does the metro run normally on a Sunday?
It opens later in the morning than on other days, which catches out anyone planning an early start on the assumption that the timetable is uniform.
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