7 places
The UAE's highest hilltop fort, rebuilt after 1819, looks over palm groves and the sea from the top of a steep stair.
A public garden built around the Hili Grand Tomb, a 4,000-year-old ring of carved stone 12 metres across.
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.
The square fort where Sheikh Khalifa was born, with a glass exhibition hall inside the courtyard and a 21,000-palm oasis behind it.
An 1890s mud-brick fort with a room of Wilfred Thesiger's Empty Quarter photographs, set in a park you can picnic in.
The country's oldest museum reopened in October 2025 around the 1910 Sultan Fort, with Bronze Age gold from the Qattara tomb inside.
The watchtower inside goes back to the late 18th century, making it the oldest stone building in the city.