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'Hindi Lane'
If you venture behind the Grand Mosque in Bur Dubai, you'll find evidence of two places of worship behind very modest exteriors - rows of shoes in shelves at the bottom of a couple of sets of stairs. One staircase leads to the Shri Nathje Jayate Temple, also known as the Krishna Mandir ( mandir is Hindi for temple). Shri Nathji is the main deity of Pushtimarg, a Hindu devotional sect, with its main temple near Udaipur in Rajasthan, India.
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1x1 Art Space
Expats from the Indian subcontinent make up a huge chunk of Dubai's population, yet they're under-represented in the city's galleries. 1x1 Art Space aims to redress the imbalance by exhibiting Indian and Pakistani contemporary art in its elegant gallery.
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Al-Ahmadiya School
Sheikh Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Dalmouk established Al-Ahmadiya, Dubai's first school, in 1912, and his father Sheikh Ahmed owned the traditional house adjoining it. Semiformal schools such as these were set up by sheikhs and wealthy merchants to teach the Holy Quran, grammar, Arabic calligraphy, mathematics, literature and astronomy, and while most students paid a couple of rupees to attend, the sheikhs paid for the poor students. We love the simplicity of the architecture and the exquisite detail - check out the intricate carving within the arches of the courtyard inside and the decorative gypsum panels near the entrance outside.
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Al-Mamzar Park
This lush landscaped park is one of Dubai's hidden gems. It stretches across a couple of very pleasant kilometres on a small headland at the mouth of Khor al-Mamzar. Situated on an attractive inlet, just across from Sharjah, there are lovely white sandy beaches, a swimming pool, barbecues, and kiosks. For kids there are also plenty of open spaces and play areas and a wooden castle. Lifeguards are on duty between and on at least one of the small beaches. Friday is busy, but during the week you can have the place to yourself.
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Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque
This simple yet striking mosque in the textile area of Bur Dubai Souq is notable for its sensuous, bulbous domes and gently tapering minaret. Its outline is best appreciated at night from Baniyas Rd in Deira, on the opposite side of the Creek, when the mosque and neighbouring wind-towers are beautifully lit up - it makes a postcard-perfect shot.
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Art Space
There's always something interesting to see at this refreshing commercial gallery with a focus on contemporary art and a mission to promote local artists, develop an appreciation for art and grow the local scene.
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B21 Gallery
In this warehouse space, Palestinian artist Jeffar Khaldi shows his own vibrant work, as well as rotating exhibitions of locally produced and regional art, such as Ramin Haerizadeh's distorted photography. It's worth a look if you're in this developing arts neighbourhood, but call first if you're not, as they could be in-between exhibitions.
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Bastakiya Quarter
With its labyrinthine lanes lined with traditional wind-tower architecture, the old Bastakiya quarter on the waterfront east of Bur Dubai Souq is a magical place to explore.
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Bur Dubai Souq
While not as old as the Deira souqs - in the old days Bur Dubai and Bastakia residents had to take a boat across to Deira to go shopping - this breezy renovated souq can be just as atmospheric and lively a place to visit. On a summer's evening it can also be cooler, as the breeze blows through the wooden-latticed arcades. The buzziest time to visit is a Friday evening when it's crowded with expat workers shopping on their day off.
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Children's City
Children's City is situated in a colourful building in Creekside Park (off Riyadh St, btwn Al-Garhoud & Al-Maktoum Bridges). Popular with local and expat kids, it's home to a creative, educational and entertaining kids' activities centre.
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Courtyard
The Courtyard is home to several galleries that hold changing exhibitions of painting, calligraphy, mixed media, miniatures, rare Persian carpets and sculptures by local, Middle Eastern and international artists, along with interior design and handicrafts stores, and a few media/design businesses. Highlights here are Iranian expat artist, Dariush Zandi's Total Arts at The Courtyard and locally-owned Courtyard Gallery & Café.
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Creekside Park
This lovely, lush waterfront park is one of the city's largest - running from Al-Garhoud Bridge to Al-Maktoum Bridge - and is one of our favourites. It's very peaceful and has gorgeous views across the Creek. It also offers children's play areas, abra rides and dhow cruises, kiosks, restaurants, an amphitheatre and beaches (though it's not advisable to swim). On weekends it's like a huge sheesha café, with families spread out on blankets, puffing away. There's also a 2.5km cable-car ride (tickets adult/child around Dh25 /around Dh15 ) 30m above the shore of the Creek, with fabulous vistas.
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Deira Covered Souq
Unfortunately not much of the old covered souqs that existed around 30 years ago remain now - the Deira Spice Souq is all that's left of the Old Souq, once the largest in the Gulf. Naif Souq is covered, like traditional bazaars, while nearby Deira Covered Souq is covered only in parts and is more a warren of small shops on narrow lanes spreading across a number of old Deira blocks.
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Deira Gold Souq
Even to people not interested in buying gold or jewellery, the Gold Souq is impressive for both its size - there are hundreds of shops here - and variety.
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Deira Spice Souq
The small but atmospheric covered Spice Souq, once known as the Old Souq, was the largest in the region at the beginning of the 20th century, with over 300 little shops trading their wares.
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Dhow Wharfage
Dhows are long, flat, wooden sailing vessels used in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, and they've docked at the Creek since the 1830s when the Maktoums established a free-trade port, luring merchants away from Persia.
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Dhow-Building Yard
The gorgeous, traditional old dhows you see on Dubai Creek are still built by hand in the traditional style on the Creek waterfront, in Jaddaf, about 1km south of Al-Garhoud Bridge. Here, craftsmen use basic tools (a hammer, saw, chisel, drill and plane) to curve and fit sturdy teak planks, one on top of the other, before fitting the frame on the inside of the boat.
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Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre
With a 543-seat theatre and studio theatre, art gallery, rehearsal rooms and pottery workshop, DUCTAC, as it's known, is the best-equipped arts centre in the country. As well as arts classes for residents, it puts on a diverse range of productions ranging from the memorable (Henry Rollins) to those we'd rather forget (Flying Superkids).
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Dubai Museum
Some tourists mock the very notion of Dubai having a museum: 'Historical Dubai? What, they have exhibits about the year 1995?' But Dubai does have an interesting history, and this is a surprisingly nifty little museum. Rather than bewilder guests with unnecessary detail, this is an accessible and entertaining introduction to Dubai and its history, culture and traditions.
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Dubai Wildlife & Waterbird Sanctuary
Pretty pink flamingos flock to the inland end of the Dubai Creek during the winter months. Also known as Al-Khor Nature Reserve, this sanctuary has platforms that allow visitors to get a close-up view of the birds (with fantastically sharp binoculars) without disturbing them, and the juxtaposition of these elegant birds with the Dubai metropolis is dramatic. Kids love it, and it's a decent outside bet for a quirky date too.
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Grand Mosque
This mosque, with the tallest minaret in town, might appear to be as old as the Dubai Museum, but it was actually built in the 1990s. The multi-domed mosque maintains the style of the original Grand Mosque, which dated from 1900 and was knocked down to make way for another mosque in 1960, and its sand-coloured walls and wooden shutters blend in perfectly with the surrounding old quarter of Bur Dubai.
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Green Art Gallery
With regular temporary exhibitions and a growing permanent collection concentrating on the work of artists living in the UAE, this small, altruistic commercial gallery is committed to nurturing local talent and developing the art scene. It also helps educate artists about international art distribution and promotion, and the website features selections from upcoming and past exhibitions.
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Heritage & Diving Villages
During the Dubai Shopping Festival, the Heritage and Diving Villages bloom with burqa-clad Emirati women making hot dosa (flat, grilled bread made of flour and water), Bedu men offering short-haul camel rides to children, and unusual traditional activities such as rifle-throwing competitions. Unfortunately, for the rest of the year the villages are lifeless, devoid of both tourists and staff, with empty souqs and only a few dreary displays to keep visitors interested.
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Heritage House
Feeling peckish? At this renovated 1890 courtyard house, visitors are treated to cups of tea and little bowls of chick peas, a traditional Emirati snack. Don't race off the moment you've finished your free food, because this is a rare opportunity to see inside a wealthy pearl merchant's residence.
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Iranian Mosque
Shiite mosques are noteworthy for their exquisite faïence (green-and-blue-coloured and glazed) tile work covering the façade and main dome. A stunning Dubai example is the Iranian Mosque in Satwa - and the Iranian Hospital, adjacent and opposite, carries this same type of tile work.
