Old Dubai: Al Fahidi, Abra Crossing, Gold & Spice Souks Food Walk

Most visitors never see it, and it's the best half-day in the city. We start in Al Fahidi, the restored 19th-century quarter of coral-stone houses and wind towers, with a stop at a heritage café for karak tea and luqaimat (honey dumplings). Then we cross Dubai Creek the way locals have for a century — on a wooden abra, for one dirham.

On the Deira side your guide leads you through the Spice Souk (Iranian saffron, frankincense, dried limes) and the Gold Souk (where the world's largest ring sits in a window), explaining how to bargain and what a fair price looks like. We eat as we walk: Emirati machboos, Iranian kebab, a Keralan parotta, fresh dates, camel-milk ice cream. You'll finish full, and with a completely different picture of Dubai.