9 of 12 places fit
A museum built around a Bronze Age tomb, with guided routes out to ancient burial sites and Fossil Rock in the desert around it.
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.
The first traditional carved-stone Hindu temple in the region, and the evening Ganga Aarti at 7:30pm is worth timing your visit around.
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.
Sheikh Khalifa's birthplace, with a glass exhibition hall in the courtyard telling the fort's story next to Al Ain's smallest oasis.
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.
About 30 restored mud and palm-frond buildings, an 1896 fort with a weapons display in its tower, and a date-syrup press, free.
Built for Sheikh Zayed the First in the 1890s, it now holds a permanent exhibition of Wilfred Thesiger's Empty Quarter photographs.
The watchtower inside is the oldest building in the city, and the fort's rooms trace Abu Dhabi from a pearling village to a capital.