Most of what keeps children occupied in Dubai sits indoors under air conditioning, which makes the city easier with small kids than the forecast suggests. The Dubai Aquarium inside Dubai Mall runs a 48-metre walk-through tunnel, and the Underwater Zoo a floor above adds otters and crocodiles. KidZania is a scaled-down city where children try on adult jobs for an afternoon, and The Green Planet is a rainforest under glass, sloths included. At Ski Dubai the snow park beside the slope covers sledging, snowballs and a penguin encounter.

Outdoors the calendar runs November to March. That is the window for the beach, for Miracle Garden and its hundred-million-plus flowers, which opens in season only, for the zoo at Al Barari and for the cycle tracks around the Al Qudra lakes. Water parks are the exception and stay open all year: Aquaventure out on Palm Jumeirah has by far the most slides, Wild Wadi is older and more compact, and the Laguna park at La Mer is the gentlest for toddlers.

Practical points. Admission is usually priced by height rather than age — the cut-off is typically 105 or 120 centimetres, so measure at home before you book. For a desert trip with a toddler, ask for the version without dune bashing; the jolting suits nobody under four. Child seats in a transfer have to be requested when you book, since ordinary taxis do not carry them. Between June and September, plan nothing outdoors from about 11am to 4pm.