Dubai Adventures

Straight in and straight at it: land, drop bags - the transfer runs under 40 minutes to most districts - and take the evening at Dubai Marina, where you can size up the city you are about to spend four days using hard.

The signature adventure day. Desert pickup around 3 to 3.30 pm for full-strength dune bashing across the red sand, sandboard stops, then camp: BBQ, fire, and the ride back by about 9.30 pm. Keep the earlier hours light on purpose - the dunes are the workout.

Aquaventure at Atlantis deserves an open-to-close day - slides, the shark lagoon and a beach attached. Take the Palm monorail out for the approach view. By evening you will want nothing more ambitious than dinner near the water. Book the waterpark entry as an add-on in the final quote so the day starts at the gates rather than in a queue.

Height day: the Burj Khalifa observation deck booked ahead, then the Museum of the Future if you reserved early, and the Dubai Frame if you did not. Three very different ways of looking at the same city, best done in that order.

Pack, check out and keep three hours in hand at DXB - Terminal 3 is a city of its own. If the adrenaline ledger feels unbalanced, a last jet ski or parasail slot at JBR in the morning settles it.