140 of 153 places fit
Open-stage karaoke in a British pub where the room sings along to the big choruses.
A private gallery in a villa behind Al Bateen Mall, showing modern and regional work in house-sized rooms you can see in half an hour.
Its visual arts halls show Emirati and regional artists for free, currently the Zuleya 2026 exhibition running to 15 January 2027.
A 5,250-square-metre library built to feel like walking into a life-size pop-up book.
Viewing platforms along the 3.5 km shaded path look straight over the Mangrove National Park mudflats, where waders feed at low tide.
A fully shaded 3.5 km path, closed to cars, runs along the mangroves and links the island to the mainland.
A shaded 3.5 km promenade with viewing platforms runs right along the edge of Mangrove National Park, free and open around the clock.
A free weekly writing group where you can bring a chapter, poem or blog post and get honest feedback, with a separate Arabic session.
Comedy Kix's free Thursday stand-up set in the InterContinental's Belgian beer bar, so the only cost is what you drink.
Outdoor ping pong tables in a park, free to use whenever they are empty.
Reopened on 26 October 2026 after a rebuild, with artisans working at the old crafts and a view of the Corniche skyline across the water.
A free weekly sketching session where paper and materials are provided, so you can turn up with nothing and draw for three hours.
The city's specialist game shop runs in-store events and tournaments, the easiest way to find regular players for card and strategy games.
Bowls, ledges, handrails and street obstacles on Hudayriyat, now free to enter and open until midnight at weekends.
A free waterside walk facing the Mangrove National Park, where kayak tours set off into the channels.
A free half court inside Reem Central Park, walkable from most Reem towers.
Over a hundred Afghan-run shops selling rugs, kilims and floor cushions at prices well below the malls.
Two shows run until 10 January 2027, Juma Alhaj's light installation Revelation and the group show Archipelago of Whispers, in converted port warehouses.
Weekend workshops change every week, from a free Tatreez Circle on 6 December to Al Sadu weaving with an Emirati weaver on 13 December.
Rows of small shops stacked with cartons of khalas, saqai, medjool and ajwa, with sellers handing out tasting dates and coffee.
The Art in Motion screenings put films in the museum courtyard, free with advance booking.
All Manner of Experiments, a survey of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, runs until 3 January 2027, with Saturday talks in the gallery reading room.
Open every day until 8pm, with a 10,000-book children's annex and a rare books hall of about 1,900 titles.
The only private art foundation in the Saadiyat Cultural District, free, quiet and a short walk from the Louvre.
A free floodlit court in a municipal park, with parking for nearly 100 cars.
Free floodlit outdoor courts in a municipal park, with a 2.1 km jogging track around it.
Free floodlit beach volleyball court in a neighbourhood park.
Tuesday night karaoke at a sports bar by the F1 track, with no limits on song choice.
A public outdoor court where the Masdar Pickleball Club, close to a hundred members, plays and lets newcomers join in.
A public court on Yas Island that costs nothing to use.
The new platform gives you 45 metres of frontage with seats and a water cooler, open until midnight.
An 800 m Blue Flag beach with calm, shallow water facing Hudayriyat, plus a water sports hut for kayaks and paddleboards.
Steady coastal breeze and a city beach you can reach in ten minutes from downtown.
An 800-metre Blue Flag beach facing Hudayriyat, with a watersports centre on the sand if you have no board of your own.
The water is calm and shallow, so children can put their face in the sea and see fish without leaving their depth.
A free public beach where you can set up beach volleyball without booking anything.
Qasr Al Hosn, the Cultural Foundation and House of Artisans share one landscaped block, a short walk from the old Hamdan Centre and the WTC souk.
A low-rise villa district with a former fishing harbour turned marina, a public beach and dhow builders still nearby.
Family Park has two designated barbecue zones (A and B) on the island, so it is the easiest legal grill without leaving the city.
Foster + Partners' modern take on a souk sits on the site of the old Central Market, with carved timber lanes and oud and spice stalls.
Two kilometres of lifeguarded city beach with three zones: the free Al Sahil section at Gate 4 and two quieter fenced family sections.
Eight kilometres of palm-lined road between the sea and the towers, from Mina Zayed past Etihad Towers to Emirates Palace.
Flat, lit and long, with the sea on one side and the skyline on the other, and you can turn around wherever suits your distance.
An 8 km dedicated lane runs the length of the Corniche between the sea and the skyline, with Careem Bike docks along it if you do not own a bike.
Marked zones run all along the Corniche, near City Park, Lake Park and Sorouh Towers, so you can cast on a lunch break.
Decades-old shawarma counters and curry houses fill the blocks between Abu Dhabi Mall and the marina.
The seafront path in front of the heritage village gives the classic straight-on view of the whole Corniche skyline across the water.
Fifteen minutes from downtown, with cycling and running tracks, a surf pool and the food-stall waterfront at Marsana.
The open water off the island lets you hold long reaches without hitting the city's breakwaters.
Sahara Marine rents boards on the island, so you can paddle the same water you would otherwise only see from the bridge.
A food-stall waterfront and beach on Hudayriyat where families stay out well past midnight in winter.
A dozen trucks parked along Marsana, from I Love Burgers and Boom Burger to Harr & Hloo's mashakeek grill and a zaatar-and-karak truck, a few steps from a free beach.
A 5.4 km waterside path with Highline Park looks straight across the channel at the city skyline.
The protected park holds most of the emirate's mangrove forest, and from the promenade you can watch herons and flamingos 15 minutes from downtown for free.
It is on the municipality's 2026 barbecue list and sits on the Qurm waterfront, so you grill with a sea view.
The lagoon is flat and sheltered by the mangroves, so even a windy afternoon stays paddleable.
More than 60 species turn up along the mangrove edge, including greater flamingos and western reef herons, 15 minutes from downtown.
The old port mixes the fish, date and carpet markets with 421 Arts Campus and a heritage village of 1960s Abu Dhabi.
Free coached sessions from a World Athletics-qualified coach, backed by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, with groups from first 5 km to full marathon.
A large central park on the official barbecue list, with space to spread out between grill sessions.
A beachfront strip of restaurants next to Soul Beach, minutes from the Louvre, with the sea one step off the path.
Three galleries host the city's biggest temporary shows, and from 19 to 22 November 2026 it holds the first Frieze Abu Dhabi.
A modern souk on the canal facing the Grand Mosque, with waterside terraces for dinner after browsing.
A canal-side walk with the National Aquarium and a view across the water to the Grand Mosque.
A 3 km palm-lined boardwalk links Etihad Arena, beach clubs and dozens of restaurants.
You ride the actual Formula 1 track under floodlights, free, with no cars and a smooth surface the whole way round.
You get the floodlit Formula 1 track to yourself and a few hundred others, run at your own pace with no traffic and no fee.
You run the actual Formula 1 track under floodlights, for free, with no traffic or crossings for the whole lap.
Narrow shaded streets and a wind tower were designed to keep you cooler than the rest of the city, and the central park grows food on its walls.
A fenced full-size outdoor court you can book, plus free half courts nearby in Clusters H and L.
One of Dubai's biggest book clubs (5,000+ on Meetup), alternating fiction and non-fiction, with members voting on the picks.
A 2.6 km rubberised loop through a planted park down the Palm's trunk, with more shade than most Dubai tracks.
A free public table in the park for a casual game on the way back from a walk.
Near-daily free beach volleyball on the Kite Beach courts, with a fixed setter rotation so beginners still get touches.
Three free runs a week from Common Grounds on Kite Beach, so you can pick an evening or a sunrise.
A free 5km open to any pace, run by the Spartan Race team, with a WhatsApp group for updates.
An 'any pace, any face' Saturday 5km, so nobody gets dropped.
A quiet Dubai public library devoted to art, architecture and design, with desks, exhibition space and computer rooms.
A free stand-up night from Dubai's long-running comedy school, often featuring its own graduates alongside regulars.
Twice-weekly ultimate frisbee on the grass at Za'abeel Park, from a club that teaches beginners from scratch.
Free family films on a big outdoor screen by the JLT lakes every Saturday, with a Dhs30 beanbag-and-popcorn upgrade if you want it.
A free outdoor court in a neighbourhood park, used mostly by locals from Al Nahda and Qusais.
The square fort where Sheikh Khalifa was born, with a glass exhibition hall inside the courtyard and a 21,000-palm oasis behind it.
Sheikh Khalifa's birthplace, with a glass exhibition hall in the courtyard telling the fort's story next to Al Ain's smallest oasis.
A free contemporary art space on the Al Qasba canal that also runs low-cost art workshops.
A restored mud-brick tower house shows UAE artists upstairs and Bronze Age finds in its archaeological basement.
A restored 1930s souq on the road between the Qattara and Jimi oases, where local families sell crafts in a 35-metre covered corridor.
A souq in Mubdia Village run by Emirati women, selling incense, spices, henna, oud and dallah coffee pots.
A standing evening shift in Al Ain under Ne'ma, the national food loss and waste initiative, so you can volunteer after work on a date that suits you.
Quieter than the big oasis, with a 1930s souq, a mud-brick tower turned arts centre and a 4,000-year-old tomb on its edge.
Al Ain's main public library, near Sulaimi Garden, with reading rooms, a theatre and free wifi.
Sharjah's fish, meat and produce market, where the day's catch is auctioned from about 6am.
A new club (started May 2026, about 130 members) running 5km from the Gold Souq to Al Montazah, with 6km and 10km extensions to Flag Island.
A free court on The Walk a few steps from the beach and the JBR tram stops.
A free permanent collection of modern Arab art and Orientalist paintings, a short walk from the Sharjah Art Foundation buildings.
The Hili Grand Tomb is more than 4,000 years old and 12 metres across, set in a park that also holds Iron Age falaj channels and village walls.
A public garden built around the Hili Grand Tomb, a 4,000-year-old ring of carved stone 12 metres across.
A coffee, board game and tabletop role-playing spot that runs regular public game nights you can join solo.
Founded in 1925, the oldest library institution in the UAE, with Arabic and English lending collections and quiet reading space.
Free daily yoga on the beachfront promenade for the whole month of the Dubai Fitness Challenge, with no booking.
Soft sand and gentle water along the corniche, with showers, toilets, a volleyball court, lifeguards and a 500 m walking track.
A cushioned, well-lit 1.5 km loop around the pond with markers every 100 metres, so interval sessions need no watch maths.
A small open-shelf public library with periodicals and electronic databases, one of the few free reading rooms in Ajman.
The beach with the straight view of Burj Al Arab, a surf-only zone and night swimming until midnight.
Dubai's main beginner surf beach, with gentle breaks beside the Burj Al Arab when a winter swell comes through.
Dozens of commercial galleries, project spaces and a cinema in converted warehouses, all free to walk into, in one block.
One of the biggest free Friday runs in Dubai, a 5km on the Kite Beach running track open to every level.
About 7 km of rubberised, lit track along the sand with the Burj Al Arab ahead and water stations on the way.
Several free beach courts on the sand, with the sea for a swim between games.
A named beach on the Dubai licence list, so you can surf-cast with the Burj Al Arab in view without paying for a boat.
A free public court in one of Ajman's newer parks.
About 7 km of waterside path from Business Bay to the sea, crossing the canal's pedestrian bridges with skyline views.
Walkways and cycle paths run along the 3.2 km canal from Business Bay to the sea, with three footbridges to cross back and forth.
A dense, old-style district of small shops and Filipino and South Asian eateries between Jumeirah and Sheikh Zayed Road, often called Mini-Manila.
A cluster of blue-chip commercial galleries within a few minutes' walk of each other, free to enter, and easy to reach from the metro.
A low-rise grid of tailors, cheap Kerala and Pakistani restaurants and the Karama Shopping Centre stalls, with three metro stations on its edges.
The restored creek-mouth quarter where Dubai's ruling family lived, centred on Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, with the dhows and Deira across the water.
The emirate's largest library, a building shaped like a Quran lectern on the creek, with silent reading halls, study rooms and fast free Wi-Fi.
One of the few spots the free Dubai resident licence explicitly covers, with calm creek water and the metro nearby.
A 1.8 km creekside promenade built with wind towers and palm-frond shade, with dhows and abras tied up along it.
A free contemporary art museum on the creek with a research library you can sit in and a sculpture park outside.
Buy fish straight off the boats, about 70% from UAE waters, have it cleaned on the spot and grilled in the same building.
A sheltered creek on the Dubai licence's approved list, away from the tourist beaches and close to Sharjah residents.
A small, clean beach break on the Dubai-Sharjah border that works for beginners on swell days and is calm for paddling otherwise.
Sharjah's longest free running route: about 5 km of flat, fully lit lagoon promenade with water fountains, linking to the 3 km Al Majaz loop.
Built for Sheikh Zayed the First in the 1890s, it now holds a permanent exhibition of Wilfred Thesiger's Empty Quarter photographs.
An 1890s mud-brick fort with a room of Wilfred Thesiger's Empty Quarter photographs, set in a park you can picnic in.
Over 600 shops on two floors, with carpets, kilims and handwoven textiles upstairs and Bedouin silver and gold along the lagoon side.
One of the oldest souks in the country, covered and air-conditioned, with copper coffee pots, pearl chests, oud and a halwa shop.
The restored old town, with Souq Al Arsah, Bait Al Naboodah and the Sharjah Heritage Museum in coral-stone houses, free to walk and about AED 10 per museum.
A heritage quarter restored to its 1950s look, with Souq Al Arsah, Souq Al Shanasiyah, merchant houses like Bait Al Naboodah and the rebuilt Sharjah Fort.
Shaded lanes run through date palms still watered by the falaj channels that made Al Ain a UNESCO site, right in the middle of town.
Shaded lanes run through 1,200 hectares of date palms watered by falaj channels that still work after 3,000 years.
The palm canopy and running falaj water draw garden birds that never visit the desert outside, and the shade lets you birdwatch in comfort.
Shaded lanes run for kilometres between 147,000 date palms and 3,000-year-old falaj channels, which makes it the one walk in Al Ain you can do in the warmer months.
A one-kilometre canal lined with cafés and apartments between Khalid Lagoon and Al Khan, busy with families in the evening.
Contemporary art spread through restored coral-stone houses and courtyards in the old town, free, plus the Rain Room and the Flying Saucer nearby.
An open-plan glass library with study zones and shared workspaces that stays open until 11pm or midnight, free, with no membership needed to sit and work.
A 3 km lit beachfront promenade with outdoor exercise stations along it and the sea right beside you.
A long green promenade along the creek where RAK families picnic, jog and cycle at weekends.