Top 30 UAE Attractions

The UAE is an ori­en­tal fairy tale in the desert, built on petrodol­lars. Tourists from all over the world strive to touch the lux­u­ri­ous life, see the advanced achieve­ments of sci­ence and engi­neer­ing.

What to do in the UAE

In the UAE, first of all, you will be struck by archi­tec­ture on the verge of fan­ta­sy. Obser­va­tion decks of the Burj Khal­i­fa are locat­ed above the bird’s eye view. The Kayan tow­er is turned to an unprece­dent­ed 90 °. The singing foun­tains of Dubai and Shar­jah gath­er an incred­i­ble num­ber of spec­ta­tors for con­certs of water, light and music.

Amuse­ment parks are wait­ing for friend­ly fam­i­lies. One day is not enough to vis­it all the attrac­tions in IMG Worlds. Wild Wadi Water­park is full of pools and slides. By the way, it is here that the high­est water slide in the world is locat­ed. Fer­rari World is the realm of speed and rac­ing cars from the Ital­ian car brand.

For those who want calm bliss, there is a direct road to one of the many beach­es. Jumeirah and Al-Mamz­er stand out from the rest. Their coast­line organ­i­cal­ly com­bines walk­ing alleys with an abun­dance of green­ery, sports grounds and a sandy strip with sun loungers, umbrel­las, and oth­er attrib­ut­es of a lazy hol­i­day.

The cul­tur­al pro­gram must include a vis­it to the Jumeirah and Sheikh Zada ​​mosques, as well as a tour of the Lou­vre Abu Dhabi with mas­ter­pieces of world art.

Modern architecture

Burj Khalifa

This is the tallest sky­scraper in the world. Over $1.5 bil­lion was spent on its con­struc­tion, some of which was spent on cre­at­ing spe­cial con­crete that can with­stand tem­per­a­tures above +50 °C.

The height of the build­ing is more than 820 m, offices, apart­ments, a hotel, sports clubs, a bar and a restau­rant “Atmos­fera” are locat­ed on 163 floors. It is locat­ed on the 122nd floor and is con­sid­ered the high­est in the world.

The Burj Khal­i­fa has sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms: on the 124th, 125th and 148th floors. The lat­ter is locat­ed at a lev­el of 555 m above the ground. At the base of the giant there is a musi­cal foun­tain “Dubai”.

Musical fountain in Dubai

The danc­ing or musi­cal foun­tain at the foot of the Burj Khal­i­fa is the largest in the world. In fact, this is a colos­sal arti­fi­cial lake (12 hectares), from which over a thou­sand water jets burst out to a height of up to 150 m in time with the melody. A bizarre dance is accom­pa­nied by illu­mi­na­tion from 6 thou­sand spot­lights.

There are sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms around the foun­tain. Day­time and evening shows are avail­able. The lat­ter are the most spec­tac­u­lar. Tourists are expect­ed from 18:00 to 23:00.

Kayan tower in Dubai

The Cay­man Tow­er holds an inter­est­ing record — it is the most twist­ed build­ing in the world. The rota­tion of the roof rel­a­tive to the foun­da­tion is as much as 90 °. Each floor is off­set from the pre­vi­ous one. This is not only an inno­v­a­tive archi­tec­tur­al, but also a far-sight­ed prac­ti­cal solu­tion. This design suc­cess­ful­ly resists the winds from the desert, and the inte­ri­or heats up less.

In height, this sky­scraper is the eighth in the world (307 m). Inside there are apart­ments, restau­rants, swim­ming pools, a kinder­garten, a ten­nis court and sev­er­al beau­ty salons.

In 2015, Spi­der-Man Alain Robert climbed the Cay­man’s glass façade to the very top in a lit­tle over an hour. The secret of suc­cess and speed is adhe­sive tape on the hands.

Burj Al Arab

The tallest hotel in the world (321 m) stands on an arti­fi­cial island off the coast of Dubai. The build­ing, resem­bling a boat with a flut­ter­ing sail, looks epic against the back­drop of the sap­phire waves of the bay. You should come here in the evening to enjoy the reg­u­lar show of music and light — bizarre paint­ings are pro­ject­ed onto the facade of the build­ing.

Burj Al Arab is the most expen­sive and lux­u­ri­ous hotel on the plan­et. Here is the under­wa­ter restau­rant Al-Mahara, through the glass walls of which you can watch marine life in all its col­or­ful splen­dor.

Singing fountains in Sharjah

These unusu­al foun­tains are the main attrac­tion of Al Majas Park. The width of the arti­fi­cial pool is 220 m, jets of water soar into the air for 100 m and merge in a bizarre dance. Col­or­ful lights and music accom­pa­ny the per­for­mance.

The apogee of the action is a water screen ris­ing from the depths of the reser­voir. On it, with the help of lasers, the main mile­stones in the his­to­ry of the UAE are repro­duced. There is also a small show for chil­dren with a mini fire­works dis­play. Foun­tains are open from 19:30 to 00:00.

ancient buildings

Sharjah Al Hish Fort

The for­ti­fi­ca­tion stands in the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter of the city of Shar­jah. The fortress was built in 1820 from coral, shells and clay by order of Sul­tan Saqr Al-Kaz­i­mi. For a long time, the pow­er­ful walls were home to the rul­ing dynasty of Shar­jah, who did a lot for the eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al devel­op­ment of their emi­rate.

In the 1970s, the fort suf­fered at the hands of local res­i­dents, who began to dis­man­tle its walls to build their hous­es. A large-scale recon­struc­tion of the build­ing took place in 1996. Today there is a muse­um here.

Healy Archaeological Gardens

The gar­dens, locat­ed in the sub­urbs of Al Ain, are a well-groomed park, on the ter­ri­to­ry of which there are ancient build­ings. The main ones are 3 tombs in the form of tow­ers. Two are open to the pub­lic, while the remain­ing one is under­go­ing inten­sive archae­o­log­i­cal exca­va­tions.

In addi­tion, here you can see the ruins of stone hous­es and pub­lic build­ings. Accord­ing to sci­en­tists, the age of the build­ings exceeds 3000 years. Rest on the park lawn or bench will be the finale of an inter­est­ing excur­sion.

Fort Al Jahili

The fortress, built at the end of the 19th cen­tu­ry by order of the ruler of Zai­da the First, is locat­ed in the Al Ain oasis on the very bor­der with Oman. The citadel pro­tect­ed the inhab­i­tants from the raids of war­like nomads.

In 2008, the fort was opened to tourists. There is a muse­um in cool halls hid­den behind thick walls. It is ded­i­cat­ed to the British trav­el­er Wil­frid The­siger. In the 1940s, he twice crossed the Rub al-Khali desert, one of the hottest in the world.

Cultural attractions

Louvre Abu Dhabi

The rich­est muse­um in the Mid­dle East opened in 2017 in an inno­v­a­tive build­ing designed by Jean Nou­v­el. The exhi­bi­tions cov­er the his­to­ry of mankind from the Stone Age up to the present day.

Among the main trea­sures of the muse­um are 300 arti­facts from the Lou­vre in Paris. These are the mas­ter­pieces of Picas­so, Manet, Belli­ni, Leonar­do da Vin­ci. There are also themed halls ded­i­cat­ed to the art of India, Iraq, Chi­na, Japan, Spain and oth­er coun­tries.

dubai opera house

The mul­ti­func­tion­al art space opened in 2016. The giant build­ing with glass facades was designed by the Dutch archi­tect Janus Ros­tock. The ultra-mod­ern struc­ture is shaped like a tra­di­tion­al dhow. Inside there is a huge hall for 2000 spec­ta­tors.

The the­ater sea­son lasts all year round. Opera and bal­let stars of world renown shine on the stage, famous per­form­ers give con­certs. The build­ing also has a mul­ti­func­tion­al area (2000 sq. m), which can be eas­i­ly trans­formed for exhi­bi­tions, con­fer­ences and oth­er events.

Dubai Museum

The muse­um is locat­ed in the restored Al-Fahi­di Fort (1787). At the entrance there is an exhi­bi­tion show­ing maps of Dubai. Using them, it is easy to track how the region has changed since the start of the oil boom. In the court­yard there are sev­er­al authen­tic boats, as well as a hut made of palm leaves — a reflec­tion of the past life.

You should def­i­nite­ly vis­it the hall with edged weapons, vis­it an exhi­bi­tion that tells about pearl min­ing. Arti­facts found dur­ing exca­va­tions of tombs in the Al-Qusais area are also stored here. The age of some objects is 3–4 thou­sand years.

religious buildings

Jumeirah Mosque

The largest mosque in Dubai is one of the few open to non-Islam­ic tourists. Excur­sions are orga­nized twice a week, where they talk about the main com­mand­ments, Allah, the cul­ture and tra­di­tions of the Mus­lim world.

The build­ing was built in 1979 in the Fatimid style, so it resem­bles medieval Egypt­ian mosques. The facade is fin­ished with snow-white sand­stone. The absolute dom­i­nant of the com­plex is a huge dome framed by minarets.

sheikh zayed mosque

The cyclo­pean-sized mosque is a sym­bol of the wealth of the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates. It was built in hon­or of Sheikh Zayed ibn Sul­tan Al Nahyan, who unit­ed dis­parate lands into a sin­gle pros­per­ous state. Here is his tomb.

$500 mil­lion was spent on the con­struc­tion of the com­plex. The mosque occu­pies an area equal to 5 foot­ball fields. Four minarets soar 107 meters into the sky. More than 80 domes crown the roof and cov­ered gal­leries. The mar­ble facade is gen­er­ous­ly inlaid with gems and gold.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque offers free 45-minute guid­ed tours.

Entertainment

Ferrari World Amusement Park

This is the world’s largest amuse­ment and amuse­ment park under the aus­pices of the famous con­cern Fer­rari. A unique fea­ture of the exte­ri­or is a sol­id red stream­lined roof with an area of ​​​​over 200 thou­sand square meters. m.

Inside — enter­tain­ment with an auto­mo­tive accent. Here you can watch doc­u­men­taries about the evo­lu­tion of rac­ing cars, vis­it pavil­ions where var­i­ous engines are exhib­it­ed, vis­it the box­es for assem­bling sports cars.

The pride of the park is the roller coast­er:

• For­mu­la Rossa is the fastest in the world, the cab­ins accel­er­ate to 240 km/h in just 4 sec­onds. The speed is close to rac­ing F1.
• Fly­ing Aces — slides with the steep­est loop. Feel­ings dur­ing the fall are inde­scrib­able.

And final­ly, you can dri­ve around the race track in a real Fer­rari car.

Bollywood Parks

The only amuse­ment park cre­at­ed based on the mas­ter­pieces of Indi­an cin­e­ma. In addi­tion to attrac­tions, here they offer to immerse them­selves in the world of film pro­duc­tion. Tourists are invit­ed to vis­it the pavil­ions with col­or­ful scenery, see how the shoot­ing process is going on and even take part in extras.

There are cin­e­mas equipped with the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy. After the ses­sion, it is worth tak­ing a walk along the styl­ized Bom­bay street with sou­venir shops, restau­rants and recre­ation areas. Every day at 20:00, a col­or­ful parade with ele­phants and artists in nation­al Indi­an cos­tumes is held in the park.

Wild Wadi Waterpark

One of the best water amuse­ment parks in the Mid­dle East. To vis­it all the slides and beach­es, one day is hard­ly enough. The pride of the park is Jumeirah Sceirah, the fastest free-fall slide in the world. Extreme ski­er slides down from a height of 23 m at a speed close to 80 km/h. Anoth­er wow attrac­tion is Break­ers Bay. In the huge wave pool, small storms are reg­u­lar­ly arranged when the waves reach 1.5 m.

Amusement Park IMG Worlds

One of the most favorite leisure spots for chil­dren and adults. Already from the thresh­old, vis­i­tors enter the fab­u­lous world of their favorite char­ac­ters from films and car­toons. Swings, carousels, slot machines and pavil­ions with vir­tu­al real­i­ty are installed in lux­u­ri­ous scenery. There are cin­e­mas, sou­venir shops and restau­rants.

Ski Dubai Ski Complex

Snow in the desert is the last thing tourists expect to see in the UAE. The Mall of Emi­rates oper­ates the real and so far the only ski resort in the Mid­dle East (25,000 sqm). There are trails of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty for skiers and snow­board­ers. Ice slides, tub­ing and ice skat­ing are pop­u­lar activ­i­ties for chil­dren.

The lifts are work­ing. Equip­ment rental is includ­ed in the tick­et price. For a fee, you can rent win­ter clothes — every­thing except hats and gloves.

natural attractions

National Mangrove Park

Reserve area of ​​approx­i­mate­ly 19 square meters. m is locat­ed in the coastal zone of Abu Dhabi. Man­grove forests are an impor­tant part of the local ecosys­tem. They have become an insur­mount­able bar­ri­er to tidal waves; over 60 species of birds and count­less fish and crus­taceans live in their thick­ets.

From April to June, the park is espe­cial­ly crowd­ed with vis­i­tors. They come to see thou­sands of flamin­gos com­ing here to give birth. Boat and kayak rentals are avail­able.

Sir Bani Yas Island

The once desert­ed island (87 sq. km) off the coast of Abu Dhabi, by order of Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, turned into a bloom­ing nature reserve. Trees and shrubs were plant­ed here, which became a home for rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the wild fau­na. Now gazelles, roe deer, sheep, ostrich­es, giraffes, chee­tahs and oth­er ani­mals live in it. The waters around the island are also pro­tect­ed by nature — seabirds fly here to nest.

Parks and beaches

Jumeirah beach

The well-groomed beach imi­tates an ori­en­tal oasis. On the ter­ri­to­ry of about 13 hectares there are long palm alleys with com­fort­able bench­es for relax­ing, flower beds with exot­ic flow­ers, and a Japan­ese rock gar­den for aes­thetes. There are sports and chil­dren’s play­grounds, bar­be­cue areas with awnings and bench­es.

The sandy coast is dense­ly crowd­ed with sun loungers and umbrel­las. Res­cuers vig­i­lant­ly mon­i­tor the order on the water. There is all the nec­es­sary infra­struc­ture: cafes and restau­rants offer spicy local dish­es.

Umm Al Emarat Park

This is a true 5 star park for fam­i­lies. Walk­ing paths, paved with col­ored bricks, look like a col­or­ful Ara­bic car­pet. Long palm alleys, foun­tains and arti­fi­cial chan­nels give cool­ness. Per­fect­ly smooth green lawns are a real exot­ic in the desert. The park has rides, a botan­i­cal gar­den and a mini-farm with pets. There is a stage for con­certs and sou­venir tents.

Al Mamzer

Al Mamz­er is locat­ed at the extreme point of the Dubai coast. In fact, these are 5 beach­es in cham­ber bays. The entire coast­line has been award­ed the Blue Flag, the high­est award for clean­li­ness and envi­ron­men­tal friend­li­ness.

All the nec­es­sary infra­struc­ture for recre­ation is avail­able: toi­lets, show­ers, chang­ing cab­ins, sunbeds and umbrel­las. Life­guard tow­ers are on the job. There are 2 swim­ming pools, cafes, restau­rants and small shops. It is pos­si­ble to rent a gaze­bo for a pic­nic for the whole day.

Miracle Garden and Butterfly Garden

Over 70 thou­sand plants and flow­ers grow in a unique gar­den in the mid­dle of the desert. About 760 thou­sand liters of water are spent dai­ly on their irri­ga­tion. Florists are con­stant­ly cre­at­ing incred­i­ble arrange­ments. These are fra­grant and col­or­ful fig­ures of ani­mals, sil­hou­ettes of world attrac­tions and even entire palaces. The exhibits are updat­ed reg­u­lar­ly.

The Mir­a­cle Gar­den is home to the largest But­ter­fly Gar­den in the world. It con­sists of 9 domes, where thou­sands of col­or­ful insects from all over the world flut­ter.

kite beach

A white sandy beach south of Jumeirah awaits out­door enthu­si­asts. Kitesurfers flock here. The con­stant wind and bot­tom relief cre­ate ide­al con­di­tions for prac­tic­ing this sport. All the nec­es­sary equip­ment can be rent­ed here. There are instruc­tors on the beach, where you can sign up for a kitesurf­ing les­son.

Interesting places and shopping

Al Markazi Market in Sharjah

The largest mar­ket in the emi­rate occu­pies a build­ing that looks like a padishah’s palace. Over 80,000 sq. m sell every­thing that the Mid­dle East is famous for. These are car­pets, spices, cop­per prod­ucts, jew­el­ry made of gold and sil­ver, and much more.

Tourists come here for sou­venirs. The bazaar sells mag­nets, dec­o­ra­tive plates, key chains and oth­er trin­kets at an attrac­tive price, which will be a great gift for friends from a trip to the hot UAE.

Archipelago “Mir”

To see the plan­et Earth in minia­ture, you should make a trip to the world’s largest arti­fi­cial arch­i­pel­ago “Mir”. Its islands, washed out of sand, repeat the out­lines of the con­ti­nents. The area of ​​man-made patch­es of land ranges from 14 to 83 thou­sand square meters. m. The width of the straits sep­a­rat­ing them reach­es 100 m, and the depth — up to 16 m. “Con­ti­nents” are on free sale and are wait­ing for their buy­ers.

Dubai Mall

A real par­adise for shopa­holics. Hun­dreds of bou­tiques of both local and world brands work here. Shoes, clothes, jew­el­ry, acces­sories, essen­tial oils, design­er fur­ni­ture — every­thing is there. Most of the buy­ers are in Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary, when sales begin in the shop­ping cen­ter.

After shop­ping, you can vis­it one of the many restau­rants or go to a movie show. Among oth­er high­lights of the mall is a real ice skat­ing rink.

Palm Jumeirah

This is one of the most ambi­tious engi­neer­ing projects in the world. The island in the Per­sian Gulf off the coast of Dubai is made in the form of a palm tree, on the “trunk” of which there are hotels, yacht clubs, shops and restau­rants. On the “stems” are inde­cent­ly expen­sive man­sions — each has a per­son­al access to the water.

The island is made of sand and stones. The semi­cir­cu­lar break­wa­ter pro­tects it from ero­sion. The Palm Jumeirah is con­nect­ed to the main­land by a bridge.

Dubai Gold Souk

Gold, gold and even more gold — this Dubai mar­ket is vis­it­ed not only for shop­ping, but also for a tour. Such a con­cen­tra­tion of pre­cious met­als and sparkling stones can­not be found any­where else in the world. Locat­ed in the Nass­er Square quar­ter, the bazaar has a T‑shape and 3 entrances, which allow it to receive a large num­ber of vis­i­tors.

The shops sell pen­dants, ear­rings and bracelets made by local crafts­men in a col­or­ful ori­en­tal style. From the abun­dance of dia­monds, emer­alds, sap­phires rip­ples in the eyes. There are also prod­ucts of well-known Euro­pean brands, such as Chopard or Carti­er.