Riyadh is not a coastal city, and it does not dress like one. It stands some six hundred metres up on the Najd plateau, hundreds of kilometres from either sea, and its air is dry in a way that Dubai, Doha and Jeddah never are. For a man deciding what to wear in Riyadh, this changes the calculation. The heat is fiercer by day and gone by night; a winter evening can call for a jacket. And the city's manners favour cover: long trousers, a sleeve, a certain composure.

Saudi men, for the most part, wear the thobe, the long white garment, with the red-and-white shemagh or the white ghutra on the head. Visitors are not expected to adopt it. They are expected to dress modestly, and for men in the capital that has a settled meaning: long trousers and a shirt with sleeves in offices, restaurants, malls and museums. Shorts are seen in gyms, on sports grounds and inside residential compounds, and less so elsewhere. Individual venues set their own rules, which are worth checking, but a man in long linen is appropriately dressed in most of them.

The thobe itself makes the argument for what a visitor should pack. It is loose, long and pale, and it works: in dry air, shade carried on the body is worth more than bare skin. Linen follows the same logic. In low humidity, moisture leaves flax fibre quickly, so a long-sleeved linen shirt in Riyadh can feel cooler in the sun than a short one. The Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Oyster or Beige Cream is the working garment of a stay, with the Dark Blue for evening.

Many visits are for business. The meetings are held in the King Abdullah Financial District, in the towers along King Fahd Road, or in ministries, and a suit remains usual for a first meeting. A linen shirt beneath it is a quiet advantage on the walk from the car, and the interiors are cooled so thoroughly that the jacket is welcome once inside. The Bliss Linen Shirt in Vanille or Sky Blue takes a jacket well. Away from the boardroom, PP Trousers 100% Linen in White or Sapphire Blue and a pressed shirt answer most lunches, and the wider question is treated in our note on linen in the Gulf office.

The evening most visitors remember is at Diriyah, on the north-western edge of the city. At-Turaif, the mud-brick district that was the first seat of the House of Saud, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lit at night to the colour of honey, and Bujairi Terrace faces it across the Wadi Hanifah with a long row of restaurants. The setting suits earth tones. The Monte-Carlo Male shirt in Oatmeal or Oyster, with its walnut buttons, and PP Casual Linen Trousers in Vanille or Black, are in keeping with clay walls and palm trunks. Closed shoes; the paths are fine gravel.

Season matters more here than on the coast. From May to September the days pass forty degrees and life moves indoors. October and April are warm and pleasant after dark. From December to February the days are in the low twenties, clear and bright, and the nights can drop below ten degrees; the city's main season of outdoor events, concerts and open-air dining falls in these cooler months, on dates that change each year. Linen then becomes a layer: a long-sleeved shirt under a jacket or a knit, comfortable at three in the afternoon and still sensible at eleven at night.

The desert is close and worth a day. The Edge of the World, as the cliffs of the Tuwaiq escarpment north-west of the city are known, is reached by a rough track that asks for a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a driver who knows the way. There is no shade and a steady wind. Long linen trousers and a long-sleeved shirt protect against sun and blown sand, a scarf is useful, and boots or sturdy closed shoes are necessary on the loose rock. An early start, more water than seems needed and a layer for the drive back after sunset are the usual advice.

In the old centre, Al Masmak, the clay fortress taken by Abdulaziz in 1902, and the nearby Souq Al Zal, with its carpets, incense and antique coffee pots, are visited on foot in the cooler hours. Dust is the only real hazard to a pale shirt, and it brushes out of linen when dry. Hotel laundries in Riyadh are generally quick, so three or four shirts are enough for a week.

The summary is short. Sleeves long, trousers long, colours pale by day and dark by night, a jacket in winter. What to wear in Riyadh covers the city for both men and women, and those travelling on to the north-west will find AlUla asks for much the same.

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