Young and old gather at countless tents to relax after a day's fasting

Over in one corner a group of friends talk animatedly as they smoke shisha.

There is Arabic music playing gently in the background as the waiters and waitresses move discreetly through the haze of smoke.

This is life in one of the countless Ramadan tents in the hotels of Dubai and Abu Dhabi this month.

They are places where young and old alike come to relax with friends, relatives and work colleagues after a day's fasting.

At the ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai there are spaces for nearly 170 people who begin arriving from 8pm, although the room only really starts to fill up more than two hours later.

Jordanian public relations worker Khalil Majdalawi, 29, was there with more than half a dozen pals. "You can go to cafés at any time of year but at these Ramadan tents the atmosphere and music is different. You can go out with friends every day.

"It's nice you can stay until two o'clock in the morning because you are only working a few hours so you can sleep in the afternoon instead," he said.

Saudi Arabian Wahid Bin Omar Al Khawaji, Managing Partner of company Global-U Tech, has his own tent at the Fairmont for the whole of Ramadan.

The 34-year-old said spending his evenings there was vital for business.

"During the day you cannot accomplish much because of the short working hours, so I invite people here to talk about business, about life and about Ramadan. It's socialising and doing business at the same time. The food is good and the atmosphere is nice," he said.

At the Layali Al Helmiya tent at Le Royal Meridian in Abu Dhabi, Adil Bimassen, a 22-year-old flight attendant from Morocco, likes to go to Ramadan cafés to escape from the stress of work.

Also at Le Royal Meridian, Abdullah Al Zaabi, a 31-year-old UAE national accountant, said he likes meeting up with his friends at the tents.

"They only put the tents up at Ramadan so I like to make use of them. I come with my friends, smoke shisha and stay awake until suhoor," he said.

While the majority of those enjoying Ramadan tents are Arabs, the welcoming atmosphere means they also appeal to expatriates from other parts of the world.

Dubai-based Plotr Bural, 31, an air conditioning specialist from Poland, said the tents were "more chilled-out" than much of the entertainment on offer during the rest of the year.

"You can enjoy it easily as a non-Arab. It's not a closed community at all. It's nice for me to get involved in these Arab traditions. I cannot make it every day during Ramadan but from time to time it's fun," he said.

Get-together
Variety is the key

It can be hard to decide whether it is best to try an indoor or an outdoor Ramadan tent.

Spending the evening outside has the advantage of improved ventilation, but against this, conditions can be sticky at times.

Mohammad Abdullah, supervisor of the Ramadan café at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai, said the hotel had moved events indoors because of complaints from customers in previous years that it was too humid.

"We thought we'd try something different indoors and it's been a pretty good success, with some guests booking tables for the whole month," he said.

Jordanian engineer Faris Mohammad, 56, said his preference was for outdoor Ramadan tents.

"You can get dizzy at the tents inside because of the smoke. The air just comes straight back out of the air conditioners and you smell all the shisha flavours," he said.

Ramadan tents offer all sorts of different things to eat and drink - although for most people the highlight is smoking a shisha.

Shishas available at Ramadan tents in Dubai come in a wide array of flavours, with the most popular including mint, orange, apple, strawberry and Ajami.