Handpicked UAE

Before the UAE was the cityscape that it is today, it was a culture deeply rooted in Bedouin traditions and customs. These remain to this day, with a strong link to both Arab and Islamic heritage. Throw into the mix a significant expat population and there’s something for everyone in this cosmopolitan atmosphere.

The official language is Arabic and the dominant religion of Islam shapes much of daily life. Visitors to the UAE will see mosques wherever they go and hear the call to prayer ringing around the cities every day. For those lucky enough to visit during Islamic festivals, they’ll get an authentic taste of the country’s religious experience.

Emirati cuisine is a fusion of Arab, Persian and Indian flavours and draws heavily on spiced rice, meats and sweet treats. If there’s a second religion here, it’s coffee, with traditional Arabic variants served everywhere as a symbol of the country’s hospitality.

We’ve written about how the UAE is a place where the old meets the new; nowhere is this more prevalent than in its art. We saw traditional arts and crafts aplenty when we visited, alongside cultural behemoths like the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Activities, too, draw on the ancient and modern. Spend the morning honing your falconry skills, the afternoon navigating the dunes in a desert buggy. Whatever piques your interest, the UAE is bound to have you covered – young and old alike.

It wouldn’t be a trip to the UAE without an excursion to its vast surrounding desert. It’s scarcely believable when you’re out there that this is a place home to millions of people, but the desert has for so long been central in this region’s way of life.

Today, things are no different, with a whole host of activities available for thrill-seekers and relaxers alike. For the former, there’s the excellently named dune bashing, where hyper-skilled drivers take you up, over, even through the towering sand dunes in the desert. If that produces too small an adrenaline hit, why not give sandboarding or quad biking a go, where you can approach the dunes from all angles – just be prepared to swallow a bit of sand.

For the slower movers, camel treks are available throughout the UAE with the gentle giants providing a perfect viewing point from which to take in the endless views. There’s hot air balloon rides, too, as well as falconry, an ancient sport beloved by people from this region from centuries. The bond between falcon and falconer is a special one to see close up and we loved the sense of connection it gave us between ancient and modern, person and animal.

The desert in the UAE is a place of raw beauty, unlike anywhere else we’ve visited. However you want to experience it, Love to Explore’s got you covered.

A hasty Internet search of the UAE makes one thing very clear: the icons of architecture come thick and fast in this part of the world. The Burj Khalifa can lay claim to be one of the world’s most famous buildings and, at 828 metres high, certainly the tallest.

Scale is also one of the most breath-taking aspects to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. A visual feast of white marble, intricate floral designs and endless domes and minarets, at capacity the mosque can hold more than 40,000 worshippers.

The icons keep coming, with the Louvre Abu Dhabi standing testament to the cultural collaboration between France and the UAE, as well as to the ingenuity of contemporary design. Its dome looks like something from another planet, drawing on classical Arabic tradition and producing a natural light and shadow show that looks as though it’s been art directed by a higher being. And then there’s the Palm Jumeirah, the manmade Dubai island that fans out as a tree, each brand playing host to hotels, homes and buzzy waterfronts.

We could go on. Everywhere you look in the UAE there’s something new, something surprising. The country is at the forefront of forward-thinking, innovative design and, when mixed with the cultural heritage of the region, it makes for a heady cocktail.

We were a little surprised to be told that, when visiting the UAE, we had to visit its theme parks. What a nice surprise it was, though, because Dubai and Abu Dhabi are home to some of the most creative, immersive theme parks you could imagine, for visitors both old and young.

In Dubai, IMG World of Adventure is the largest indoor theme park featuring Marvel and Cartoon Network zones in the world. In fact, it doesn’t feel as though you’re stepping into a theme park when you cross the threshold; more like you’re stepping into another world. It’s perfect for younger visitors, as are Warner Bros. World in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Parks and Resorts, which is made up of 3 separate sites – and 3 separate adventures.

Our founder, Ludo, who sticks religiously to the speed limit, Abu Dhabi’s Ferrari World came as a bit of a shock. This is a place for speed-merchants, with high-speed rides aplenty and the world’s fastest rollercoaster. He sat that one out. And for those who prefer their adventures on the water, Yas Waterworld thrills with slides and attractions galore.

Both parents and children will find something for them in the UAE’s theme parks, where cutting-edge technology, old school thrills and immersive storytelling combine to create the unforgettable.