The Three-Hour Tour
Take a taxi to the Dubai Museum in the eighteenth-century Al Fahidi Fort, a former ruler's residence with exhibits on Dubai's transformation from a sleepy pearl-fishing port. Walk through the adjacent Bastakiya Quarter, the original expat enclave of Iranian traders, whose restored wind towers house a growing arts colony, then board an abra water taxi across Dubai Creek to the gold souk, whose covered alleys showcase dowry ensembles. Continue on foot to the dhow port to watch all manner of goods loaded onto Iran-bound wooden vessels and to pick up mosque-shaped alarm clocks at the nearby wholesale souk. Alternatively, hotel concierges can arrange half-days of sand skiing, camel rides, falconry lessons (a popular local pastime), deep-sea fishing, and snow skiing and snowboarding inside one of the world's largest refrigerators, a.k.a. Ski Dubai.