Must-see attractions in Middle East

The largest of the domed Qazvin water cisterns.

Former bathhouse, now in ruins.

This little-visited archaeological site, believed to be the birthplace of the prophet Elijah, gives you just the excuse you need to explore the…

The most convenient Old City gate for access to the Western Wall. The popular theory as to how this unflattering appellation came about is that at one…

If you have a car and are intrigued to know why all roads out of Irbid seem to lead to Yarmouk battleground, follow the signs northeast towards the…

Previously used as both a prison and as an ethnographic museum, this fort was built during the 19th-century Turkish occupation but lost many of its…

The grand white building of Qatar's national parliament marks the official workplace of the Emir of the State of Qatar, and is recognisable by the Qatari…

Straddling the road between the Corniche and the old walled city, this museum, with the original gates used until the 1970s to keep land-bound marauders…

The restored Portuguese watchtower on a promontory out to sea, halfway along Mutrah Corniche, affords a view of the ocean and the grand sweep of Mutrah's…

Kalbuh Bay Park juts into a sea that's boiling with sardines. Located at the end of the Corniche, it makes a good pausing place on a hike between Mutrah…

This modern clock tower, opposite Muscat's Chamber of Commerce, has become one of the landmarks of Ruwi. It presides over a pleasant park that attracts…

Set inside the attractively landscaped Qurm Park, this funfair (with Ferris wheel and an ever-growing number of rides) is a local favourite. Restaurants,…

Compared to its cloud-touching cousins, the 149m-high World Trade Centre seems small today, but when completed in 1979 was actually Dubai's first…

Protecting a rare stretch of mangrove, this reserve is closed to visitors. That said, it's possible to sit in adjacent coffee shops and do some…

Pop over here from the Corniche for a photo op with a grazing camel. The animals are in their pen here most of the day and into the early evening.

Amateur archaeologists will like Tell Hesban, 9km north of Madaba. Over the centuries this strategic hill has been a Bronze Age settlement, a Hellenistic…

Just beyond Gorgan's southern city limits, Nahor Khoran is an area of woodlands and gurgling streams offering an easy, clean-air escape from the city…

During Roman times, a series of natural springs filled three mammoth rectangular reservoirs supplying water via aqueducts to Jerusalem and Herodium. King…

Dominated by the green domes of its Church of the Holy Trinity, this compound was acquired by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1860 to strengthen the…

The minimal ruins of this Roman temple date from the end of the 3rd century AD (two niches contained statues of the Roman emperors Diocletian and…