Ras Al Khaimah pairs golden beaches with mountains on the horizon: a free family beach with flamingo statues and real

Umm Al Quwain is the UAE’s undeveloped coast: a long, quiet stretch of sand an hour from Dubai, where the

Ajman is the smallest of the seven emirates, and its beaches feel it in the best way: a short drive

Fujairah is a different sea from Dubai’s. The emirate faces the Gulf of Oman, where the Hajar Mountains fall straight

Sharjah’s beaches do not try to out-glitz Dubai’s — they out-calm them. This is the emirate of the family beach

Khorfakkan Beach is the east coast doing what Dubai’s beaches cannot: a free, three-kilometre crescent of sand on the Gulf

Umm Suqeim Beach — known to everyone as Sunset Beach — is Dubai’s quiet answer to its busier beaches: a

Al Bateen Beach is the beach Abu Dhabi residents actually return to: an 800-metre, Blue Flag stretch on the western

Corniche Beach is Abu Dhabi’s front garden: an eight-kilometre waterfront promenade with a two-kilometre beach at its heart, Blue Flag

Saadiyat Beach is Abu Dhabi’s answer to the question of where the city’s best natural sand actually is: a long,