Old Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi: 6 days of culture and food
The most common complaint about Dubai is that it has no culture. That is wrong, but it is an understandable mistake, because the culture is not where the marketing points. It is in a creek that has been a trading port for two centuries, in a neighbouring emirate that almost no visitor goes to, in th
- Duration
- 6 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 1
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
- From
- $1,980 per person
This route spends six days on that. It is the trip we build for people who have been to Dubai once and came home unimpressed.
Who it suits: second visits, people who travel for food, museum-goers, and anyone who suspects there is more to the Gulf than the skyline.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive, and Deira in the evening. Met at the airport and driven to a hotel in Bur Dubai or Deira rather than on the beach, deliberately, because it puts you inside the interesting half of the city. Late afternoon on the creek, the abra crossing, the spice and gold souks, and a first dinner in Deira: Iranian, Afghan or Keralan depending on what you like.
Day 2: Al Fahidi and the creek, properly. A full morning in the Al Fahidi historical district with a guide who can explain the wind towers, the coral-and-gypsum construction and what the creek actually did for two hundred years. The Coffee Museum and the Al Shindagha museums along the water. Lunch at a cultural centre that runs Emirati meals with a conversation attached, which sounds contrived and is not. Afternoon out of the heat. Evening in Al Karama and Satwa, eating across three places rather than one.
Day 3: Sharjah. Twenty minutes north and a different emirate. The Museum of Islamic Civilization, which is the best collection of its kind in the Gulf and is quiet on a weekday morning. The restored heart of the old town. The Sharjah Art Foundation spaces, which are serious and which mount real exhibitions. Sharjah is dry, so lunch is tea and a fruit juice, and it is a good day for it.
Day 4: Contemporary Dubai. Alserkal Avenue in Al Quoz in the morning: two dozen galleries in converted warehouses, an art-house cinema, and coffee roasters. The Museum of the Future in the middle of the day, which is a well-made building and a better exhibition than its reputation suggests. Late afternoon free. Evening at a Levantine or Emirati kitchen we rate.
Day 5: Abu Dhabi, and stay the night. Ninety minutes south. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque at opening. Louvre Abu Dhabi for the middle of the day, which is a genuinely good museum and an even better building. Qasr Al Watan in the late afternoon. Dinner in Abu Dhabi and one night there rather than the drive back.
Day 6: Abu Dhabi, and fly home. A slow morning, the corniche, or the Qasr Al Hosn fort if you want one more. Then to whichever airport your flight leaves from.
What is included
Five nights, four of them in old Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi, a private car with driver on the days that need one, English-speaking guides for the Al Fahidi morning, the Sharjah day and the Abu Dhabi day, all museum entries in the plan, an Emirati meal with a proper explanation attached, six restaurant bookings across six different food cultures, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant here and our partners in Dubai.
Where we eat, and why it matters
About nine in ten people living in the UAE were born somewhere else, mostly in South Asia, the Philippines, Iran and the Levant. That is the food story, and it is why eating in Dubai is better than eating in most cities of comparable size.
The hotel restaurants are competent, expensive and interchangeable, and we book almost none of them. What we book instead is the Keralan and Pakistani places in Deira and Al Karama, the Iranian bakeries and grills in Bur Dubai, the Filipino food in Satwa, the Lebanese kitchens that have been in the same family for thirty years, and, where it is available and genuine, actual Emirati cooking, which is rarer in restaurants than you would expect and worth seeking out.
The bill for a very good meal in these places is usually a fifth of the hotel equivalent.
Honest notes
Sharjah is dry. If a glass of wine with dinner matters to you, that day is a tea day, and it is worth knowing before you arrive rather than at the table.
During Ramadan this itinerary changes shape substantially. Daytime eating in public is restricted and many restaurants are closed until sunset. It is not a reason to cancel: the evening meal that breaks the fast is one of the best things you can eat in the Gulf, and we rebuild the days around it. We will tell you where the dates fall for your travel window.
Six days in old Dubai and Sharjah is not everybody’s trip. If you also want beach time, take a night out of this and add it at the end.
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