The half day trip to Sharjah was fantastic! Our driver, Mahir, picked us up on time from our hotel in downtown Dubai. We were given ample time, between 30 minutes to hour, to visit each of the highlighted stops in Sharjah. Our first stop was the immense and beautiful King Faisal mosque. The highlight of the trip was without a doubt the Heritage museum, which holds truly remarkable exhibits of the ancient Islamic world including the history, science, technology, commerce, and “Silk Road” trade from Islamic antiquity. One of our last stops was Al Arsa souk where we found numerous shops selling heavily discounted gold (bargaining is a must). We even had time to relax at one of the souk’s cafés to enjoy delicious karak tea (try it once)!! This excursion is definitely worth doing and provides a unique perspective of an entirely different emirate (Sharjah being one of 7 distinct Emirates) in contrast to the bustling and touristy areas of old/new Dubai and Jumeirah.

Loved the place- a nice getaway towards more cultural/ heritage aspects of UAE. But given our half day schedule, we felt time constrained at most places. That being said, arrangements were good. We had multilingual audio guides to brief us throughout the route. Even our driver cum guide Shanaka was a very warm and pleasant person.

Traveling to Dubai is fascinating, but while there, do not miss the opportunity to meet other emirates such as Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. There are tours with pick up from the hotel. Also take a tour to explore the city. The desert tour was a nice experience. The metro helped us a lot since we arrived at the airport and made transfers. We took the Sharjah tour with this agency and we are really very pleased.