There’s a version of the UAE that never shows up in the postcard shots, and you only find it from behind a wheel. Skip the metro, forget the tour bus — this really is road-trip territory, with mountains, desert, and coastline packed close enough together that hitting all of them in one trip isn’t some crazy stretch. Treat it like a bit of a scavenger hunt: seven emirates, open roads, and ten stops worth chasing down before you head home. For the week, start with a rent Mercedes G63 Dubai booking and half the fun becomes just getting there.
1. Hatta
Hatta feels like a completely different country tucked inside Dubai’s own borders, mountains instead of skyline, cool dam water instead of desert heat. It’s about 90 minutes from the city, and honestly, the drive there is half the appeal, winding through the Hajar Mountains as the landscape shifts from sand to rock. Any decent car rental service will point you here first if you ask about day trips outside Dubai, kayak or paddleboard on Hatta Dam, tackle the mountain biking trails, or just sit somewhere quiet with a view that doesn’t look like it belongs in the same country as Downtown Dubai.
2. Jebel Jais
The highest point in the UAE, and it looks like it! Switchback roads climbing through bare mountains the whole way up, with the temperature dropping noticeably as you go. People hire a vehicle specifically for this drive alone, since it’s one of the few roads in the country where the scenery actually changes the higher you climb. At the top: the world’s longest zipline, if you’re up for it, or just the view and the quiet, worth the climb on its own.
3. Al Ain
Al Ain earns the nickname “Garden City” the moment you arrive with palm groves and oases where the rest of the UAE gives you desert. The real draw is the road up Jebel Hafeet, a mountain drive with sharp curves stacked on top of each other, popular enough with luxury car rental crowds that it’s become something of a weekend ritual. At the summit, the whole city spreads out below, and on a clear day you can see straight into Oman.
4. Liwa Oasis
This is the UAE most people never see, the edge of the Empty Quarter, dunes rising higher than buildings, quiet enough to hear the wind move the sand. It’s a solid few hours from Abu Dhabi, deep enough into the desert that anyone starting to find a car rental service in the UAE for this route should factor in fuel stops well ahead of time. Come for sunset, when the dunes turn gold and shadows stretch for miles.
5. Khor Fakkan
The East Coast feels like a different sea entirely, Khor Fakkan sits against the Hajar Mountains with water clear enough for real snorkeling, none of the built-up feel of the Gulf side beaches. The mountain crossing to get there is reason enough on its own to get a rental car for the weekend, winding roads with the sea appearing and disappearing between peaks. Quiet beaches, fresh catch at the harbor, and a pace that’s noticeably slower than anywhere on the west coast.
6. Al Qudra Lakes
A cluster of man-made lakes right in the middle of the desert, and somehow they work, flamingos show up seasonally, cyclists loop the trails at sunrise, and the contrast of blue water against dunes never quite stops looking strange. No entry fee, no crowds most days. Bring a picnic, park wherever there’s shade, and just sit with how unlikely the whole scene is.
7. Sharjah’s Al Noor Island
A short walk-in bridge off Sharjah’s Corniche and you’re in a garden full of butterflies, calligraphy sculptures, and quiet reading corners, a strange, peaceful pocket that doesn’t feel like it belongs this close to the city center. Perfect as a half-day stop if you’ve got a rented car already circling the Gulf side. The butterfly house alone holds hundreds of species, and somehow it’s one of the least crowded spots on this whole list.
8. Abu Dhabi Corniche & Louvre Abu Dhabi
The capital’s answer to a beach day and a museum day rolled into one long stretch, eight kilometers of promenade running straight into the Louvre’s dome, where light filters through in patterns that shift as you walk beneath it. Half the cars parked along the Corniche on any given weekend belong to some car rental company or another, out for the same drive. Modern architecture meeting genuinely ancient artifacts, side by side.
9. Al Jazirah Al Hamra
A pearling village left standing since the 1960s, coral-stone houses slowly sinking back into the sand along Ras Al Khaimah’s coast. Empty most days, which is exactly the point, nobody’s come to rent a vehicle just for a photo op here. Wander the alleys at your own pace, no crowds, no fences.
10. Snoopy Island
A rock formation off Fujairah’s coast that genuinely looks like a cartoon beagle from certain angles, surrounded by some of the UAE’s best shore snorkeling. Reason enough to rent a car for one last coastal stretch before heading back. Turtles, reef fish, and a beach quiet enough to have mostly to yourself.
Ten stops, seven emirates, one very full tank of gas, consider the scavenger hunt officially complete. Whichever ones make your list, the UAE rewards anyone willing to take the long way round.
- More of my UAE posts:
- 20 BEST Places To Visit in the UAE! Alternative Destinations!
- PERFECT 5 Day Dubai Itinerary! See the BEST of Dubai 5 Days!
- What To Wear in Dubai! PRACTICAL & HONEST Advice for Tourists to Dubai!
- A GUIDE To Where To Stay In Dubai! BEST Areas & Hotels in Dubai!
- 40 AMAZING Things To Do in Abu Dhabi!