Insider Edge: Insider Escapes

Don’t. Stay there and go to the Mall!
If you must escape….

Take a day trip to Hatta in the nearby mountains, about 65 miles from Dubai. See the Hatta Pools, a miniature canyon of rock pools and waterfalls (actually located in Oman but accessed from Hatta itself). Overnight there if you wish in the Hatta Fort Hotel, with the Hatta Pools. Visit “Big Red”, the large sand dune that is crawling with 4x4s on weekends (definitely to be avoided) – or simply go with the flow and hire yourself a quad bike. Expect to get stuck.

Or go to the Buraimi Oasis, probably the longest-inhabited part of the UAE, in Al Ain, between Abu Dhabi and Oman, about two hours drive from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

An interesting new, out of the way venue is a trip to the marine life “fijords” of Khassab, where you can see three types of dolphin, including the humpbacked and bottlenosed, near Telegraph Island, where the Brits installed the first telecommunications cable in the Gulf in 1854. Located near the Straits of Hormuz, linguistic influences cover Arabic, Hindi, Persian and Portuguese. Take a 15 minute drive to the 2000 metre high Ajar mountain range, with views over the Arabian peninsula. Popular with Emiratis, the place is just begging to be discovered by ChInsiders!

Image courtesy of whatsonwhen.com