Explore United Arab Emirates

Dubai

The world's most-visited city by some metrics, Dubai has transformed itself from a pearling village to a global megalopolis in a single human lifetime — the Burj Khalifa stands 828 metres above what was open desert in 1980, and the Palm Jumeirah artificial archipelago is visible from orbit. Yet the city holds more than spectacle: the Creek's traditional abra water taxis, the Gold Souk, and the atmospheric lanes of Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood (Dubai's oldest surviving quarter) offer a counterweight to the hypermodernity that has become the city's defining international image.

Abu Dhabi

As the federal capital and the wealthiest of the seven emirates by virtue of 95% of the UAE's oil reserves, Abu Dhabi has invested in cultural infrastructure on a scale matched by few cities on earth — the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, completed in 2007, is the world's eighth-largest mosque and one of the most breathtaking works of Islamic architecture built in living memory, its 82 domes and courtyard that can accommodate 40,000 worshippers finished in white Makrana marble and Swarovski chandeliers. Saadiyat Island, a purpose-built cultural district, houses the Louvre Abu Dhabi — a collaboration with the French museum that opened in 2017 under a Jean Nouvel dome whose 7,850 perforated steel stars cast a 'rain of light' across galleries spanning 5,000 years of world art.

Sharjah

The third-largest emirate and the only one to span both the Gulf and Indian Ocean coasts, Sharjah has positioned itself as the UAE's cultural capital — it was named UNESCO World Book Capital in 2019 and the Sharjah International Book Fair is the third-largest in the world. As a dry emirate (alcohol is completely prohibited throughout Sharjah, unlike the other six), it presents a more conservative and family-oriented character than Dubai, and the restored Heritage Area around the Blue Souk and the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization offer the most substantive Islamic cultural experience in the federation.

Fujairah

On the Gulf of Oman coast — the UAE's eastern shore, facing the Indian Ocean rather than the Arabian Gulf — Fujairah is the only emirate that doesn't border the main body of the Gulf, giving it a distinct character defined by ancient Portuguese-era forts, volcanic Hajar Mountains, and the best diving and snorkelling in the UAE. The waters off Snoopy Island near Dibba and the artificial reef site at Martini Rock are among the Gulf region's finest dive sites, and the coastal road from Fujairah to Dibba passes Al Aqah Beach, frequently ranked among the best beaches in the Arab world.

Ras Al Khaimah

The northernmost emirate, bordered by Oman and rising into the Hajar Mountains, Ras Al Khaimah is the UAE's adventure destination — the Jebel Jais zipline at 1,680 metres altitude is the world's longest, and the mountain terrain offers hiking, via ferrata climbing, and camping that seems at odds with the stereotype of the UAE as a city of skyscrapers. The emirate is actively developing its tourism infrastructure around the Formula 1 race circuit on Yas Island — no, wait, that's Abu Dhabi — around its beaches, mountain resorts, and ancient archaeological sites, making it increasingly compelling for visitors seeking something beyond Dubai's urban spectacle.

Al Ain

The UAE's garden city in the eastern Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed, the federation's founding father, and the site of the country's only UNESCO World Heritage inscription — the ancient oases, falaj irrigation channels, prehistoric stone tombs, and Bronze Age settlements of the Al Ain Cultural Sites, which demonstrate 4,000 years of human adaptation to desert conditions. Al Ain Zoo, one of the largest in the region, and the Al Ain Palace Museum — the childhood home of Sheikh Zayed — make this an unusually layered destination in a country whose major cities were mostly built in the last 50 years.

Ajman

The smallest of the seven emirates by area, Ajman covers just 259 square kilometres but holds one of the UAE's most charming historic centres — the Ajman Fort Museum, a late 18th-century fortified palace that served as the ruler's residence until 1970, is surrounded by traditional Emirati buildings that give the old town a scale and intimacy entirely different from Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Ajman's dhow-building yard, where traditional wooden fishing vessels are still crafted by hand, and its relatively uncrowded beaches make it a rewarding half-day from Sharjah.

Hatta

An exclave of Dubai nestled in the Hajar Mountains near the Omani border, Hatta offers an entirely different face of the emirate — terracotta-walled forts, a freshwater dam reservoir surrounded by dramatic rocky escarpments, and mountain biking trails across 80 kilometres of purpose-built terrain. The Hatta Heritage Village recreates traditional mountain Emirati life, and the Hatta Wadi Hub (outdoor adventure centre with kayaking, Segways, and archery) has made this the UAE's premier eco-tourism destination for residents escaping Dubai's heat.

Umm Al Quwain

The least-visited of the seven emirates is also the most unchanged — a quiet mangrove-fringed peninsula with a traditional fishing harbour, dhow yards, and a pace of life that feels genuinely removed from the frenetic construction energy of the surrounding UAE. The UAQ Marine Club on the lagoon, affordable watersports, and the remarkable Dreamland Aqua Park make it a popular escape for UAE residents, and the emirate's low-key atmosphere and archaeological sites around the ancient Al Dour settlement give it a cultural dimension that tourism has not yet overwhelmed.

Sir Bani Yas Island

Off the coast of Abu Dhabi's Western Region, Sir Bani Yas is the UAE's most extraordinary wildlife destination — Sheikh Zayed transformed a barren island into a vast game reserve in the 1970s, and it now shelters over 13,000 free-roaming animals including cheetahs, hyenas, Arabian oryx, giraffes, and over 170 bird species in a savannah landscape that looks nothing like the Arabian Gulf. The island's Neolithic archaeological sites and early Christian monastery ruins dating to the 6th century AD add a historical dimension to one of the most unlikely wildlife experiences in the Middle East.

Inscribed as the UAE's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, the Cultural Sites of Al Ain encompass a remarkable collection of natural oases, ancient tombs, and Bronze Age settlements that together demonstrate 4,000 years of continuous human settlement in one of the world's most demanding desert environments. The beehive-shaped stone tombs at Hafit date to around 3000 BC, making them among the oldest surviving monuments in the Arabian Peninsula; the falaj irrigation channels at Hili and throughout the oases represent an engineering tradition that transformed the desert and sustained communities for millennia. Al Ain itself — the 'Garden City' and birthplace of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan — represents the living continuity of an ancient oasis culture within the modern federation.

Inscribed in 2025, the Faya Palaeolandscape in the Emirate of Sharjah preserves a palaeoanthropological record of extraordinary significance — stone tools and fossil evidence demonstrating that early human populations used this landscape as a migration corridor between Africa and Eurasia, possibly for hundreds of thousands of years. The site challenges earlier assumptions about the routes and timing of early human dispersal out of Africa, positioning the Arabian interior not as an impassable barrier but as a periodically habitable corridor during wetter climatic periods. Faya joins a small group of sites worldwide that materially advance the scientific understanding of deep human prehistory.