Fujairah: The UAE's Other Coast

We left Dubai after breakfast and within an hour the city had given way to open desert, then to the jagged, ochre peaks of the Hajar Mountains. The new highway threads through them in a series of tunnels and valleys, and when it emerges on the other side, the light is softer and the air smells of the sea. This is the east coast, the only part of the UAE that faces the open water of the Gulf of Oman, and for many residents of Dubai and Abu Dhabi it is the weekend escape of choice.

Fujairah is one of the seven emirates, and the most mountainous. It has its own character: fishing villages and date gardens, forts on rocky outcrops, and wadis that fill with water after the winter rains. Our Fujairah guide has the full list of hotels and things to do.

The east coast is the best place in the UAE to dive and snorkel, and the most famous spot is Snoopy Island, a small rocky islet just off the beach at Al Aqah, named for its resemblance, from a certain angle, to the cartoon dog asleep on his kennel. We swam out with a guide from the resort's dive center on a calm morning and found coral gardens, schools of reef fish, turtles grazing on the seabed and, to our delight, a pair of blacktip reef sharks, small and shy.

Divers will find more ambitious sites a short boat ride away, and the waters off Dibba lead north toward the fjords of Musandam in Oman, a spectacular extension if you have another day or two. For the region's best dive sites, see our Red Sea and Oman diving guide.

Driving south along the coast toward the city, we could see dozens of great ships riding at anchor offshore, waiting their turn at one of the most important harbors in the world. The Port of Fujairah is the only multi-purpose seaport on the UAE's east coast, and one of the world's leading centers for bunkering, the supplying of fuel to ships. Its position, outside the narrow waters of the inner Gulf and facing the open sea, has made it a vital link in global trade.

The port is part of a wider plan to grow the emirate's economy, tourism and quality of life, set out in Fujairah 2040. For anyone interested in how the region connects to the world, the sight of all those ships on the horizon is a reminder that this quiet coast is also a place of great consequence.