As I said in my previous post about Dubai, I received a job offer and moved from Edinburgh to Abu Dhabi. This was in June 2013. The start of the year I didn’t travel much and since it took me a long time to settle into Abu Dhabi life, I didn’t travel much at the end either.
I did manage to make a short trip to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. It’s not a big feat because it’s only two hours by car, but since it’s my only trip that year: let’s call it impressive! My colleagues and I organized a bus tour to Al Ain in August 2013. It would just take a day and this would take us to a few of the UNESCO sights and some nice museums.
Al Jahili Fort
Our first stop in Al Ain was Al Jahili Fort. The fort was built in the 1800s to protect the city and more importantly the precious palm groves. The fort also served as a residence. The fort now houses a permanent exhibition of the work of British adventurer Sir Wilfred Thesiger (this reminds me, I wanted to read one of his books!) and his journey into The Empty Quarter desert. The fort itself is not very remarkable, there are a lot like these in the rest of the UAE. The art exhibition is well worth the trip though.
Al Ain National Museum
The second stop brought us to the first museum, the Al Ain National Museum. This museum is mainly an archaeological museum, displaying a lot of artifacts and collections of Bedouin jewelry, musical instruments, daggers and cutlery. These items have been dug up from tombs near Hili (UNESCO sight which I did not visit) and date as far back as the 3rd millennium BC.
The collections is special if you’re interested in archaeology. If this is of no interest to you, you could skip it but you’d be missing out on some special items from this regions which you might not see anywhere else.
I didn’t take any pictures here.
Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum (aka Al Ain Palace Museum)
The third stop and second and final museum on the tour was the Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum. The museum is based in the palace of the former UAE President, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his family. It was built at the start of the 1900s. In this museum, you can see the set up of the room including the meeting rooms of the old residence. There are some artifacts, such as an old Land Rover which is apparently similar as the one driven by the Sheikh to visit the various Bedouin families in the region.
This museum is genuinely nice, and should certainly be visited if you’re in the area.
Al Ain Oasis
The fourth stop was Al Ain Oasis, conveniently located right next to Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum. All the aforementioned sights are very close to each other by the way. A bus taking us from sight to sight would not have been necessary if it wouldn’t have been August and therefore incredibly hot.
Al Ain Oasis is the biggest oasis in Al Ain. The oasis houses an underground falaj, which is an irrigation system. It’s special because it’s an ancient system which was used thousands of years ago in countries like: Iran, China, Oman and UAE of course.
The oasis is one of the best stops in a tour of Al Ain and should definitely not be missed.I would even go as far as saying that the oasis is one of the main reasons to even visit Al Ain, if you do nothing else just visit the oasis.
Camel Market
We went from the best to the worst. The camel market is something that should be scrapped from any tour. I can’t understand who would find this an interesting stop. Basically, you’re taken to a livestock market, which camels and other animals and you get to look at the animals in dirty cages standing around in chains all day waiting to be bought.
A market is a market, I understand the function and that that’s where you buy and sell animals, but it’s not fit for tourists.
Jebel Hafeet
The last trip of the day was a bit more on the outskirts of the city. We travelled up onto Jebel Hafeet mountain, which can be easily done by any type of car. It’s just a normal road. The views over the snaking road and Al Ain are spectacular.
This was my second favourite part of the day. Just look at how green Al Ain is!
There is a Mercure Grand Hotel on the top of the mountain, imagine staying here and enjoying the view every morning. The sunrises and sunsets must be pretty nice here.
Conclusion
Al Ain lends itself perfectly for a one day tour. Most people who live in Abu Dhabi and Dubai must have done it at least once while they were living there. Tourists probably don’t make it this way. They should, because not only is Al Ain home to the only UNESCO noted sites in the UAE, it’s also a great place to enjoy some greenery and beautiful mountain views. We booked the Al Ain Oasis day tour with Transpire, and it was a very well arranged day.
Please note, this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission for purchased goods/services at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my writing!
