The Best Day Trips from Dubai
Every trip here is a road trip, because nothing outside Dubai is on a railway. That makes the question simple: how many hours in the car, how many hours out of it, and can you actually stand to be outside when you arrive.
What is the best day trip from Dubai?
Abu Dhabi, for the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which is free to enter and needs a timed slot booked in advance. Hatta is the better trip if you want mountains and water rather than a city. Sharjah is the shortest and the most underrated. Skip the lot between June and September unless the plan is indoors.
The 8 best day trips, ranked
Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.
Abu Dhabi
The one trip almost everyone takes140 km southwest · ~1 hr 20 min - 1 hr 45 min by road
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the reason, and it lives up to the photographs: white marble, reflecting pools and the world's largest hand-knotted carpet. Entry is free. Louvre Abu Dhabi under Jean Nouvel's perforated dome is the other half of a good day, and the two sit at opposite ends of the city.
Getting there: A straight run down the E11 motorway. Intercity coaches leave from Ibn Battuta and Al Ghubaiba bus stations for a few dirhams and take around two hours; a taxi or a booked car is faster and a guided tour is the simplest way to combine the mosque with the museum. There is no rail link.
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Hatta
Mountains, kayaking and a change of scenery130 km east · ~1 hr 30 min by road
A mountain exclave of Dubai in the Hajar range, with a dam, a startlingly turquoise reservoir you can kayak on, and the Hatta Heritage Village rebuilt as a mountain settlement. It is the only place within reach of Dubai where the landscape is rock and water rather than sand or sea, and in winter the temperature is noticeably cooler than the coast.
Getting there: Drive or take a tour. The road crosses a corner of Omani territory on some routes, so take your passport and check your car insurance covers it; the newer route stays inside the UAE. Public transport is limited and this is not a trip to attempt without a booked car or a tour.
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Sharjah
Museums and the best value30 km northeast · ~30 min, but 60-90 min in traffic
Sharjah is the UAE's culture emirate and it has the museums Dubai does not: the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization is genuinely first-rate, and the Al Noor Mosque runs tours for non-Muslims. The restored Heart of Sharjah district is the largest heritage quarter in the Gulf. It is the best value day out from Dubai and the least visited.
Getting there: The shortest hop from Dubai and the one most distorted by traffic: the Dubai to Sharjah corridor is among the most congested in the country at rush hour, so go mid-morning and come back before four. Taxis and buses both run frequently.
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Al Ain
History, shade and a serious mountain road160 km southeast · ~1 hr 45 min by road
The green inland city on the Omani border, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its oasis and its Bronze Age tombs. The date palm oasis is still irrigated by falaj channels that are thousands of years old and it is properly shaded, which matters here. Jebel Hafeet, the mountain road above the city, is one of the great drives in the region.
Getting there: A straight inland drive on the E66, or an intercity coach from Al Ghubaiba. Once there you need a car or taxis, because the sights are spread out across the oasis city.
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Ras Al Khaimah and Jebel Jais
Altitude, cool air and the zip line115 km northeast · ~1 hr 15 min to the city, ~2 hr to the summit road
Jebel Jais is the highest mountain in the UAE and the summit road climbs to viewing platforms above 1,900 m, where the air is genuinely cool when the coast is unbearable. The world's longest zip line runs from near the top. Ras Al Khaimah itself has beaches, a ruined pearl-diving village at Al Jazirah Al Hamra and far fewer visitors than Dubai.
Getting there: Drive north on the E11. Jebel Jais is a further 45 minutes of switchbacks above the city on a superb modern road, and you want your own car or a tour, because taxis will not wait for you up there.
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Fujairah and the east coast
Snorkelling and a different coast130 km east · ~1 hr 45 min by road
Fujairah is the only emirate on the Gulf of Oman rather than the Arabian Gulf, which means a different sea, better snorkelling and mountains coming down to the water. Al Bidyah Mosque is the oldest in the UAE, a small mud and stone building with four domes. Snoopy Island off Al Aqah is the diving and snorkelling spot people actually come for.
Getting there: The drive crosses the Hajar mountains, which is half the point, and you need a car or a tour. Allow longer than the distance suggests because the mountain section is slow.
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The Dubai desert and Al Marmoom
The half day that most changes the trip50-70 km southeast · ~45 min - 1 hr by road
The desert is the thing Dubai actually sits in and most visitors never leave the coast to see it. Al Marmoom is a conservation reserve with oryx, gazelle and flamingos at Al Qudra lakes, and the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve is stricter and quieter. Sunset over the dunes is the single best hour available near the city.
Getting there: Almost always a booked tour, because dune driving needs a permit-holding operator and a properly equipped vehicle. Afternoon departures returning after dinner are the standard format.
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Musandam, Oman
Fjords and dolphins, better as an overnight180 km north to Khasab · ~2 hr 30 min - 3 hr by road, plus the border
The Musandam peninsula is a fjord coastline of sheer rock dropping into deep water, and the dhow cruises out of Khasab are the reason to make the effort, usually with dolphins alongside. It looks nothing like the rest of the region. Be realistic though: with the border, this is a very long day and it is better as an overnight.
Getting there: This one leaves the country, so you need your passport and, depending on nationality, an Omani visa, and you should allow real time at the Tibat border post. A hire car may not be insured to cross; most people take an organised tour that handles the formalities.
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Abu Dhabi from Dubai: get the mosque slot before you book anything else
This is the trip most people take and the one most often spoiled by a detail nobody mentions until the gate. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is free to enter, and that is exactly why it needs planning: free plus extraordinary means numbers have to be controlled, and they are controlled by a timed slot you book online in advance.
- Entry costs nothing. Registration for a time slot is also free and takes a few minutes on the mosque's official site, and it is the thing to do first, before you book a car or a tour.
- Visiting hours are Saturday to Thursday, 09:00 to 21:00, with last admission at 20:30. On Friday the mosque opens 09:00 to 12:00 with last admission at 11:30, closes for Friday prayers, and reopens 15:00 to 21:00.
- The dress code is enforced rather than suggested. Women need loose, opaque clothing covering arms and legs plus a headscarf; men need long trousers and sleeved shirts. Bring your own scarf rather than relying on finding one.
- The drive is about 140 km on the E11 and takes roughly an hour and a half in normal traffic. Intercity coaches from Ibn Battuta or Al Ghubaiba cost a few dirhams and take about two hours.
- Pair it with Louvre Abu Dhabi rather than trying to add a third thing. The two are at opposite ends of the city and that is a full, comfortable day.
- Go late rather than early if you can bear the timing. The mosque is at its best in the last hour of light and after dark, when the white marble takes the lighting, and the crowds have thinned from the morning tour buses.
- In summer, treat this as an indoor day. Both the mosque interior and the Louvre are air-conditioned, but the walking between the mosque's courtyards is in full sun and it is brutal in July and August.
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Photo credits (8)
Photos via Wikimedia Commons, used under their respective licences.
- Abu Dhabi: giggel - CC BY 3.0 · source
- Hatta: Syed Jamshaid Ali - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- Sharjah: Prof. Mortel - CC BY 2.0 · source
- Al Ain: Radosław Botev - CC BY 3.0 pl · source
- Ras Al Khaimah and Jebel Jais: Stevenmccombe - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- Fujairah and the east coast: Mike Che - CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
- The Dubai desert and Al Marmoom: Gfilip - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- Musandam, Oman: Robert Haandrikman - CC BY 2.0 · source