This is probably the easiest destination in the series to resolve, and also the most categorical. Eighty-five millimetres of rain fall a year over eleven days, there are 3,395 hours of sunshine and the annual average high is 31.3 degrees. With those numbers there are no nuances to look for: there is one window, and outside it the climate decides for you.
01 Summer is not an option
The summer numbers are worth reading slowly. July and August have average highs of 40 degrees, with eleven hours of sun a day and zero millimetres of rain. August's lows are 32 degrees, that is, more than many European cities reach as a high. And with a dust-laden southerly wind the thermometer can climb to 44 or 45.
02 Humidity is the other half of the problem
Heat explains only half. This is an archipelago surrounded by a shallow, very warm sea, so humidity is added to the heat. The worst months are not those with the highest temperature but those with the worst combination: August and September, at 40 and 38 degrees with 57 and 58 per cent humidity.
Curiously, the year's highest humidity is in December and January, at 69 and 68 per cent. But with highs of 23 and 21 degrees, that humidity does not bother you: it registers as soft air. Which proves that here you should not look at humidity on its own, but alongside the temperature.
In August the night-time low is 32 degrees: more than many European capitals reach as a high.
03 A sea at 33 degrees does not cool you
Here is a figure worth internalising because it dismantles the obvious plan. The sea reaches 33 degrees in August and September. That is not bathing water: it is water warmer than skin temperature and, in practice, getting in relieves nothing. The idea of offsetting the heat with the coast does not work in the months when it would be most needed.
Where the sea does work is in the good window. In November it is 27 degrees and in December 24, with the air at 28 and 23: that is the combination you want. And in March it drops to 20, which is chilly for swimming even though the air is at 26.
04 Inside the good window
The window runs from mid-November to mid-March, and within it there are differences worth knowing. November and March are the warm ones, with highs of 28 and 26: you can still use the sea in November and you can walk comfortably in March. They are the two ends and probably the best balanced.
January and February are the cool ones, with highs of 21 and 22 and lows of 14 and 15. For anyone escaping a European winter, that is exactly what they want; for anyone expecting Gulf heat, it can be surprising to need a jacket after dark. And note: January and February concentrate, along with December and November, the few rainy days of the year.
05 The verdict
November if you want to use the sea: 28 degrees of air and 27 of water is the calendar's best combination, and it is the month the window opens. March if you come for the city and the archaeology: 26 degrees, 60 % humidity and eight hours of sun, with the heat still to arrive.
And one rule that saves a bad trip: do not come between May and October expecting to adapt. It is not a matter of early starts or seeking shade; with night-time lows of 30 to 32 degrees and 57 % humidity, the body does not recover between one day and the next. If those are your only possible dates, it is better to change destination than to change your schedule.
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