Most visitors never leave Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which means the mountains stay quiet. An hour and a half north of Dubai the flat coast gives way to the Hajar Mountains, a bare, folded range running down into Oman.
Geologists come here for a specific reason: the Hajar is one of the world's best exposures of ophiolite — oceanic crust and upper mantle thrust up onto the continent. Rock that formed kilometres beneath the sea floor now sits in the open air where you can put your hand on it.
Jebel Jais
At 1,934 metres, Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah is the highest point in the UAE. The road up is a piece of engineering worth driving for its own sake, and the temperature at the top runs about ten degrees below the coast — in winter it can drop below freezing, and on rare occasions it has snowed.
The Jebel Jais Flight is the longest zipline in the world at 2.83 kilometres, certified by Guinness in 2018. Riders travel head-first, lying flat, at up to 150 km/h. Alongside it are a via ferrata, a mountain sledge run and viewing platforms that cost nothing.
Ras Al Khaimah
- Al Jazirah Al Hamra — a pearling town abandoned in the 1960s and left standing: coral-block houses, a mosque, wind towers, all slowly eroding. It is the most complete pre-oil settlement left in the country and can be walked through freely.
- Dhayah Fort — the only hilltop fort in the UAE, reached by a short steep climb, with date plantations and the sea on one side and mountains on the other.
- Suwaidi Pearl Farm — a working farm where a family that once dived for pearls now cultivates them, and explains how the old trade actually worked.
- Khatt Springs — hot sulphur pools at the foot of the mountains.
Fujairah
On the Gulf of Oman side, Al Bidyah Mosque is the oldest known mosque in the UAE, built of stone and mud brick around 1446. It is tiny — four domes over a single room supported by one central pillar — and still in use. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times; dress and behave accordingly.
Fujairah Fort, from the sixteenth century, sits above the old town and the date groves.
Wadis and Hatta
Wadi Wurayah became the first national park in the country in 2009, protecting waterfalls, pools and the Arabian tahr. Wadi Shawka is the easier hiking option, with marked trails.
Hatta — an enclave of Dubai in the mountains — has a turquoise dam reservoir with kayak hire, mountain-bike trails and a heritage village. It is the standard day trip from the city and busy at weekends.
Practical notes
- A 4×4 is needed for wadis, though Jebel Jais and Hatta are reachable in any car on sealed roads.
- Never enter a wadi when rain is forecast. Flash floods arrive fast and have killed people; the water can rise metres in minutes.
- Carry more water than you think, and tell someone your route — phone signal fails between ridges.
- The mountains are best from November to March; in summer even the summit is uncomfortably hot.