Deira Gold Souq

Lonely Planet review

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.

Every kind of jewellery imaginable is available, from gold, diamonds and pearls to elaborate Arabian and Indian wedding necklaces, bangles and headdresses, to more contemporary styles. Some of it is beautiful, lots of it is incredibly tacky. It's the largest gold market in the region, and one of the largest in the world (with ambitions to rival Antwerp in diamonds). The passing people parade is almost as fascinating as the sheer amount of jewellery. Once you're done with gawking at the blingtastic jewellery displays, take a seat on one of the wooden benches on the main thoroughfare and note how many different types of people circulate among the atmospheric wooden-latticed arcades: sun-bothered Europeans shopping for gold, blokes from the Indian subcontinent selling copy watches and fake DVDs, sweaty Afghan guys dragging heavy carts of goods here and there, East African women in colourful caftans trading something… It's all rather extraordinary.