01
Museum of Islamic Civilization
A restored souk on the creek holding manuscripts, astrolabes and a gold-thread kiswah from the Kaaba, under a blue-tiled dome.
03 · Emirate
Sharjah
The country's reading room
Named Cultural Capital of the Arab World, and the only emirate with coasts on both the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its museums are not a side attraction here — they are the point, and they are unusually good.
Getting there
Sharjah International Airport, or 30 to 45 minutes from central Dubai outside peak hours.
When to go
November for the international book fair; the cooler months for the east coast and the desert centre.
Good to know
Sharjah is a dry emirate: no alcohol is served or sold anywhere in it.
Cities & areas
Where inside the emirate
City
Sharjah city
The country's museum estate, walkable, and dry.
City
Khor Fakkan
Sharjah, but on the Gulf of Oman — an exclave on the other coast.
Neighbourhood
Heart of Sharjah
The restored old town, and the largest heritage project in the region.
Region
Mleiha
Sharjah's central desert, and 130,000 years of human occupation.
Signature places
What makes Sharjah itself
02
Heart of Sharjah
The largest heritage restoration project in the Gulf, returning the old town to its 1950s footprint street by street.
03
Mleiha Archaeological Centre
Evidence of human presence going back tens of thousands of years, in a desert of fossil dunes and Bronze Age tombs.
04
Khorfakkan & Kalba
The emirate's east-coast enclaves: a deep-water bay for diving, and the oldest mangrove stand in the country.
05
Sharjah Art Foundation
Year-round exhibitions across restored courtyard houses, and the biennial that put the emirate on the art-world map.
See the place
Sharjah before you arrive
Sharjah
Reading the region
0s / 29s
Wide view
Experiences here
What to do here
Sharjah · Arts & museums
Museum of Islamic Civilization
Astrolabes, manuscripts and a kiswah woven with gold thread, in a restored souk under a blue-tiled dome. The best single room in the country for understanding the region.
2 hoursAED 10 from
Sharjah · Desert & dunes
Fossil dunes and Bronze Age tombs, Mleiha
One of the oldest recorded human presences outside Africa, in a landscape of petrified dunes. Guides here are archaeologists, not drivers.
Half dayAED 175 from
Sharjah · Coast & islands
Kalba's old mangroves by kayak
The oldest mangrove stand in the UAE, on the emirate's east-coast enclave. Kingfishers, turtles, and water flat enough to hear them.
3 hoursAED 140 from
Sharjah · Heritage & forts
Heart of Sharjah after dark
The Gulf's largest heritage restoration, returning the old town to its 1950s footprint. Galleries stay open late and the lanes are cool by then.
EveningFree
Tickets
Book entry now
Sharjah
Sharjah museums day pass
Instant
Sixteen museums, one ticket
AED 25 from
Sharjah
Mleiha Archaeological Centre
Instant
Archaeologist-led tours extra
AED 55 from
Where to stay
Rooms in Sharjah
★★★★ · Al Mureijah
Heart of Sharjah Courtyard
Inside the restoration district, with eleven museums and the creek within a fifteen-minute walk.
In the museums quarterAlcohol-free
Free cancellation · 8 rooms left · 731 reviews
AED 480per night
★★★★ · Kalba, east coast
Kalba Mangrove Retreat
On the oldest mangrove stand in the country, on the Gulf of Oman side of the mountains.
Kayak from the deckBirding
Free cancellation · 4 rooms left · 342 reviews
AED 690per night
Eat & drink
Tables worth booking
Emirati & Persian · ••
Courtyard House Kitchen
In a restored merchant's house in the heritage district; the saffron rice is the reason to book.
Tours that include it
Let somebody else drive
8 days · 7 emirates
The Seven Emirates Grand Tour
One country, all seven emirates, anticlockwise from the capital so the mountains and the east coast come last.
- 7 nights, 4★ and 5★
- Private guide & vehicle
- All entries
- Airport transfers
AED 7,450per person
6 days · 2 emirates
East Coast Dive Week
Snoopy Island, Dibba Rock and Martini Rock in the clear-water season, with one day out of the water in the mountains.
- 10 guided dives
- Nitrox available
- Wadi Wurayah day
- Equipment
AED 5,240per person
4 days · 3 emirates
Ramadan Nights
The country at its most social, after sunset. Dates move with the lunar calendar, so departures are confirmed annually.
- Iftar with a family
- Night souks
- Calligraphy workshop
- Late museum hours
AED 3,640per person
What's on
In the calendar
Culture
Sharjah International Book Fair
November
One of the largest book fairs in the world by footfall, with a fortnight of readings, translation deals and children's programming.
Free entry
Entry to the fair is free. The programme of talks and workshops is open to fair visitors.
Sharjah
Arts
Sharjah Light Festival
February
Projection works mapped onto mosques, museums and university façades across the emirate, free and after dark.
Free entry
Free and outdoors: the projections are on public buildings across the emirate, and the route is walkable.
Sharjah
Arts
Sharjah Biennial
Spring, every other year
The exhibition that made the emirate a fixture on the international art calendar, spread across restored courtyard houses.
Free entry
Entry to the exhibitions is free, across several venues; a few performances are ticketed.
Sharjah
People who were there
Sharjah, as visitors see it
@bookfairdiary
Eleven days, four halls, and I still did not finish the translation pavilion.
Sharjah Book Fair · #SIBF
@fossildunes
Bronze Age tombs, and a guide who is an actual archaeologist.
Mleiha, Sharjah · #Mleiha
Continue the journey
And next door
01 · Emirate
Abu Dhabi
The capital, at its own pace
Heritage & fortsArts & museums
02 · Emirate
Dubai
Where the record is the baseline
Desert & dunesArts & museums
04 · Emirate
Ajman
Small emirate, long shoreline
Coast & islandsHeritage & forts
05 · Emirate
Umm Al Quwain
The quiet one
Coast & islandsHeritage & forts
Every emirate is within a day's drive of every other.