Attractions

Bastakia Quarter

This district, on the waterfront east of the Dubai Souq and Diwan, features a number of traditional wind-tower houses. Built in the late 1800s, the quarter was once the home of wealthy Persian merchants, most of them from the Bastak district and lured to Dubai by its relaxed trade tariffs.

Bur Dubai Souq

Bur Dubai Souq has been beautifully rebuilt to appeal to shopping-mad tourists, but mostly caters to the Indian and Pakistani expat community. It does not sell many Arabian things, but is certainly the place to purchase a custom-made sari.

Deira Gold Souq

Deira's celebrated Gold Souq attracts buyers from all over the world. Pass through its wooden lattice archways and you'll find great dazzling heaps of gold chains, rings, earrings, bracelets and every other kind of jewellery. It also sells silver.

Diera Covered Souq

This souk has more of an Indian flavour than an Arabic one. It sells just about everything, but notably textiles, clothes, kitchenware, walking sticks, and all the henna you'll ever need.

Dubai Creek

Dubai's waterfront epitomizes the city's personality. If you do only one touristy thing in Dubai, make sure to visit Dubai Creek and see the grand trading port from the water. You can book a cruise or abra (small boat) for an hour or so; ask the captain to take you to Al-Maktoum Bridge and back.

It's also worth taking some time to walk around the dhow wharfage on the Deira side of Dubai Creek, to the west of the abra dock. Dhows bound for ports from Kuwait to Mumbai (Bombay) dock here to unload just about everything, including kitchen sinks.

Dubai Museum

The Dubai Museum is housed inside the Al-Fahidi Fort, which was built in the late 1790s, and is believed to be the city's oldest building. The museum has collections of everything from Arabian sailing boats to the curved daggers known as khanjars. There are multimedia and interactive displays, and all the exhibits have captions in Arabic and English.

Electronics Souq

The Electronics Souq is the place to get all the televisions, calculators, stereos, digital cameras, video games, DVD players and karaoke machines you've ever wanted. It's all almost tax free, and once the haggling is done, can be got for rock bottom prices.

Grand Mosque

This multidomed mosque boasts the city's tallest minaret. The mosque might appear to be a beautiful example of restoration work, but it was in fact built in the 1990s. As well as being the centre of Dubai's religious and cultural life, the original mosque was also home to the town's kuttab (Quranic school) where children learnt to recite the Quran from memory.

Maintaining the style of the original Grand Mosque, which dated from 1900 and was knocked down to make way for another mosque in 1960, its sand-coloured walls and wooden shutters blend in perfectly with the surrounding old quarter of Bur Dubai.

Perfume Souq

While the Perfume Souq is really just a group of shops, it sells a staggering range of Arabic and European perfumes. The European perfumes are a mixture of designer originals and copies while the Arabic perfumes are much stronger and spicier. It's worth buying some of the latter for the kitsch packaging alone.

Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum House

Built in 1896, this was once the home of the ruling Al-Maktoum family. It was built using traditional methods, from coral coated with lime and plaster. Inside there's an interesting exhibition of photographs showing how little time it took for Dubai to go from a little fishing and pearling town to a big money, resort-style oil city.

Spice Souq

The Diera Old Souq is a wonderful place to wander round and take in the scents of spices and fruits. In the eastern part of the market you'll find sacks brimming with frankincense, dried lemons, ginger root, chilli and cardamom. The rest of the market is full of rugs, shoes, kitchenware, glassware and amusingly tacky little trinkets.