Al Fahidi Historical District

Before the towers there was this: coral-stone merchant houses cooled by barjeel wind towers, packed along lanes wide enough for a laden donkey. The restored quarter is compact and genuinely atmospheric — duck into the Coffee Museum, the tiny galleries, and XVA's art-café courtyard.

The Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding runs its 'open doors, open minds' Emirati breakfasts and lunches here — the single best cultural hour available to a visitor, and one of the few places to ask anything about local life and get a straight, warm answer.

Walk out of the district straight onto the creek, cross by 1-dirham abra, and you're in the spice and gold souks — the classic old-Dubai half day, best started around 9 AM or after 4 PM.