A culture day on Saadiyat, planned around the heat

Saadiyat is the one district in the Emirates built around museums rather than retail, and a day there works better than the sum of its opening hours suggests — if you get the order right.

Start at the Louvre, and start early. The building is the exhibit as much as the collection is: the dome, the light falling through it, and the way the galleries open onto water. The first hour after opening is the only time you will have the outer walkways to yourself, and by midday the dome's shade is the busiest real estate on the island.

Break for lunch rather than pushing through. The cultural district's cafés are unremarkable but well air-conditioned, and the middle of the day is not the time to be crossing an open plaza between buildings.

The afternoon is for the rest of the district and for Saadiyat's beaches, which are among the best in the country and remain surprisingly quiet. Late afternoon on the sand is the reward for a morning spent indoors.

A practical note on the drive: Saadiyat is fifteen minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi and ninety from Dubai, which makes it a comfortable day trip from one and a long day from the other. If you are coming from Dubai, leave before eight or accept that you are arriving at eleven.

And check closing days before travelling — the museums here do not all keep the same week, and a Monday arrival has ruined more than one itinerary.