Tours in United Arab Emirates

Drive out of Dubai in the late afternoon and watch the city let go of you. The towers thin out, the road straightens, and the sand starts to turn from pale beige to something closer to rust. That colour shift is the first thing you notice, and it tells you the desert has properly begun.

The Emirates are seven separate places that happen to share a country, and they feel different from each other. Dubai is the one most people arrive in. You come for the skyline, the Burj Khalifa, the Palm, the old creek where wooden boats still tie up near the souks, and the malls that are really small cities with air conditioning. Cross the water in an abra and you are in a different Dubai, one of spice stalls, textile shops and men calling out prices.

Abu Dhabi is quieter and broader, with a corniche you can walk along and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which is worth seeing in the evening light when the white stone goes soft. Sharjah leans towards museums and calligraphy. Al Ain is green and inland, with oases you can wander through. Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah bring in mountains and a coastline where the pace drops. None of these are covered by a tour here yet, but you can ask, and a local guide can build a day around any of them.

What we do have is the desert, and it deserves a slow evening. Out among the red dunes the driver takes you up and over the crests, then you step out and the quiet hits. You can slide down a dune on a board, sit on a camel as the sun drops, and then walk into a camp where dinner is grilled over fire and the night ends with Tanoura spinning and fire dancers. Bring a light layer for winter nights, because once the sun goes the sand cools quickly.