First-timers base themselves in Dubai and take a day or two in Abu Dhabi for the Grand Mosque and the Louvre. Repeat visitors trade up for Sharjah's museums, the oases and forts of Al Ain, and the mountain road to Fujairah and Khor Fakkan on the east coast. The comfortable window is November to March, when daytime heat drops back into the twenties.
2 United Arab Emirates city guides
Fun fact
The federation was declared on 2 December 1971 with six emirates. Ras Al Khaimah joined on 10 February 1972 and made it seven.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityAbu Dhabi is the capital and by far the largest emirate. Sharjah holds the museums, Al Ain the oases and forts, and the east coast a mountain shoreline that looks nothing like the Gulf.
The realityThe Hafeet tombs outside Al Ain are around five thousand years old, and the wind-tower quarter of Al Fahidi in Dubai predates oil entirely. The glass towers are one layer, not the whole story.
The realitySummer is brutal. From November through March the days are warm and dry and the evenings cool enough for a jacket on the water.
The realityModest dress means shoulders and knees covered in public places, and a headscarf inside mosques. Beaches, pools and hotel bars have their own, far looser, norms.
The realityThe malls are real and enormous. So are the mangrove kayak routes in Abu Dhabi, the diving off Khor Fakkan, and the desert road south to the Liwa dunes.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Greet with the right hand, and accept coffee or dates with it too.
- During Ramadan, do not eat, drink or smoke in public in daylight hours. Many restaurants screen off or open after sunset.
- Dress modestly away from the beach. Shoulders and knees covered is the rule in malls, souks and older neighbourhoods.
- Alcohol is served in licensed hotels and restaurants. Drinking or being drunk in public is an offence.
- Ask before photographing people, and never photograph government buildings, ports or airports.
- Friday midday prayers pause much of the country for an hour. Plan errands around them.
- Bargaining is expected in the souks and nowhere else. In a mall, the price is the price.
Famous Emirati faces
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Sarah Al Amiri
Ahlam
Ali Mabkhout
Hussain Al Jassmi
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi
Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi
Omar Abdulrahman
Adnan Al Talyani
Nayla Al Khaja
Hassan Sharif
Sultan Al Neyadi
Hazza Al Mansouri
Nora Al Matrooshi
Ali F. Mostafa
Mohammed Kazem
Must-try Emirati food
Harees
Wheat and meat cooked down to a smooth porridge, finished with ghee.
Khanfaroush
Saffron and cardamom cakes, crisp outside and soft in the middle.
Machboos
The national dish: spiced rice and slow-braised meat, sharpened with dried lime.
Thereed
Stewed meat and vegetables poured over torn regag bread.
Ouzi
Slow-roasted lamb over spiced rice, the centrepiece of a celebration table.
Saloona
The everyday household stew, tomato-based, with meat or fish and whatever is in season.
Balaleet
Saffron vermicelli under a thin omelette. Breakfast, and a Gulf trade route on a plate.
Chebab
Saffron and cardamom pancakes, served with date syrup or cream cheese.
Khameer
Soft date-sweetened bread, split and filled at breakfast stalls.
Regag
Paper-thin bread cooked on a hot plate, folded around cheese, egg or fish paste.
Madrooba
Salted fish or chicken pounded into a thick, buttery mash.
Samak mashwi
Whole hammour or safi grilled over coals, straight off the Gulf.
Luqaimat
Fried dough balls under date syrup and sesame. The dessert nobody skips.
Batheeth
Dates worked into toasted flour with cardamom, rolled into the oldest sweet here.
Karak chai
Strong tea boiled with evaporated milk and cardamom, sold from roadside hatches.
Gahwa
Arabic coffee with cardamom, poured small and offered with dates.