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Country guide
The United Arab Emirates has been one country since 2 December 1971, when seven emirates — Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah — federated. It covers 83,600 km² and held 11,027,129 people in 2024, of whom about 11 per cent are Emirati citizens; the rest came to work, and that shapes the food, the languages and the shape of a week more than any monument does. Abu Dhabi is the capital and Dubai the largest city, close enough to treat as one base. The northern emirates beyond them are quieter and far less built.
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph · Валерий Дед · CC BY 3.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
100 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Burj Khalifa is the 828-metre tower that Emaar opened in Downtown Dubai on 4 January 2010, and what a visitor actually buys a ticket to is a small part of it.
Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood stands on the Bur Dubai bank of Dubai Creek, a few streets of low coral-stone houses left standing while the rest of the city went vertical.
Dubai Mall stands on Financial Centre Road in Downtown Dubai, at the foot of Burj Khalifa, and its operator Emaar describes it as the most visited retail and lifestyle destination in the world, welcoming over 100 million visitors a year.
Deira Gold Souk is an open-air jewellery market in Al Ras, at the northern end of Deira, a few hundred metres back from the Dubai Creek waterfront.
The Museum of the Future is a steel torus standing on a planted green mound beside Jumeirah Emirates Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road, with an oval void cut through its centre.
The Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve is a 225-square-kilometre protected area in the emirate's inland desert, which the reserve describes as 4.7 per cent of Dubai's total land area and as the UAE's first national park.
Dubai Frame is a picture frame built at architectural scale in Zabeel Park, and it is run by Dubai Municipality rather than by a commercial operator.
Souk Madinat Jumeirah is a purpose-built covered marketplace inside the Madinat Jumeirah resort, in the Jumeirah district a short way south of the Burj Al Arab.
The Dubai Fountain is a choreographed water and light show staged on the Burj Lake, the artificial lake that lies between the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Souk Al Bahar in Downtown Dubai.
Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo is a two-level attraction built into The Dubai Mall and run by Emaar Entertainment, the mall's own leisure arm.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
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