The UAE is small — you can cross it in three hours — and six of the seven emirates are within day-trip range of Dubai.
Abu Dhabi — 90 minutes
The capital, and the obvious choice. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is free with a timed slot booked online, and is worth the journey by itself. Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island, in Jean Nouvel’s perforated dome, arranges its collection chronologically across civilisations rather than by region and is one of the best new museums anywhere.
Getting there: buses E100 from Al Ghubaiba or E101 from Ibn Battuta, roughly every half hour, about two hours, very cheap. Driving is ninety minutes.
Hatta — 90 minutes
Dubai’s mountain exclave in the Hajar range: a turquoise dam with kayaks, a restored stone village, and the best mountain biking in the country. Ten degrees cooler than the coast and a complete change of landscape.
Getting there: car, or bus E16 from Sabkha. Carry passports.
Sharjah — 30 minutes
The emirate immediately north, and the cultural one. Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation is the best museum of its kind in the Gulf. The Sharjah Art Foundation runs a serious contemporary programme across restored buildings in the old town, and the Sharjah Biennial is genuinely international. Al Noor Mosque offers tours for non-Muslims.
Sharjah is completely dry — no alcohol at all, and stricter dress expectations. Traffic between Dubai and Sharjah at rush hour is among the worst in the region; go mid-morning.
Getting there: bus E306 from Al Ghubaiba, or taxi.
Al Ain — 2 hours
The Garden City, inland on the Omani border, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Al Jahili Fort, the Al Ain Oasis with its working falaj irrigation channels and 147,000 date palms, the camel market, and Jebel Hafeet — a mountain road climbing 1,240 metres with one of the great driving views in Arabia.
This is where the UAE’s history actually is, and it is much less visited than it should be.
Ras Al Khaimah — 75 minutes
Mountains and beaches. Jebel Jais is the highest peak in the UAE at 1,934 metres, with the world’s longest zip line and a viewing deck. The old town has a fort and the abandoned pearling village of Al Jazirah Al Hamra, which is genuinely eerie and entirely open.
Fujairah and the east coast — 2 hours
The only emirate on the Gulf of Oman, with a different sea, better snorkelling and diving at Snoopy Island, and the Al Bidyah Mosque, the oldest in the UAE, dating from around 1446.
The desert
Sold everywhere as a desert safari: dune bashing in a 4x4, camel rides, a camp with dinner and dancing. Quality varies enormously. The cheap ones are a coach park with a camel; the good ones use the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and are quiet, small and genuinely worth doing.
Ask which reserve, how many vehicles, and how many people at the camp before booking.
Al Qudra Lakes is the free alternative — desert, flamingos, dark skies and an 86-kilometre cycle track — but you need a car.
Practicalities
Intercity buses are cheap and air-conditioned, and run from Al Ghubaiba and Ibn Battuta. Once you arrive anywhere outside Dubai, you will need taxis — none of these places is walkable.
Hire cars are inexpensive and roads are excellent; speed cameras are everywhere and fines are automatic.
November to March for anything outdoors. In summer, only Abu Dhabi and Sharjah make sense, because both are indoor days.
Choosing between them
One spare day and you want the single best thing: Abu Dhabi, for the Grand Mosque and the Louvre. One spare day and you want landscape: Hatta. Interested in art and culture rather than icons: Sharjah. Interested in the country’s actual history: Al Ain, which is underrated and underattended.
Crossing between emirates
There are no borders — the UAE is one country and you move freely. But the emirates set their own rules, and Sharjah is entirely dry with stricter dress norms. Do not carry alcohol through it, which matters on the Dubai–Ras Al Khaimah road.
Traffic between Dubai and Sharjah at peak times is severe enough to double a journey. Travel mid-morning or after eight in the evening.
Oman
The Musandam peninsula, reached through Ras Al Khaimah, is spectacular — fjords, dhow cruises, dolphins — and it is a different country requiring a border crossing and, for many nationalities, a visa. Doable in a long day with an organised trip; not something to attempt casually in a hire car, since most rental agreements do not permit taking the vehicle into Oman.