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Where to go
Destination
The one everyone comes for, and the one that keeps surprising them
Destination
The capital: quieter, grander, and better at museums
Destination
Mountains, dunes and a quieter coast, an hour and a half from Dubai
Destination
The east coast: Indian Ocean, mountains, and a desert evening if you start from here
A city that built itself in fifty years and has not stopped. The tallest building on earth stands twenty minutes from a creek where wooden dhows still unload cargo by hand, and both are worth your afternoon. Come for the skyline; stay for the gold souk, the old quarter and the desert that starts where the last road ends.
Known for
An hour and a half down the coast and a different register entirely. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the building people fly in to see, and the Louvre's perforated dome does something to daylight that photographs cannot hold. Yas Island keeps the children busy for a full day on its own.
Known for
The northernmost emirate still has desert you can reach in an evening: dune bashing, a camp dinner and the Hajar skyline behind it. Come for the safari; stay if you want the fort, the corniche and a slower pace than Dubai.
Known for
Fujairah faces a different sea. The desert safari that picks up here is the Ras Al Khaimah dunes with an east-coast start, so the day never begins with a crossing of the country. The oldest mosque in the UAE is here too, on the way to the water.
Known for
Ninety minutes of motorway separates them, so a full day in Abu Dhabi works from a Dubai hotel: the Grand Mosque, the Corniche and Emirates Palace, and back the same evening.