Khor Fakkan & Sharjah East Coast

There is a side of the Emirates that the city rarely shows you, and it lives on the far shore, where the Hajar Mountains fall straight into the Gulf of Oman. This private day takes you there, to Sharjah's Khor Fakkan enclave, and keeps the whole route yours. You leave Dubai in the morning and climb into the mountains, threading the long road tunnel that cuts clean through the rock to the coast on the other side. Khor Fakkan opens up green and unhurried, its curved amphitheatre facing the water and a man-made waterfall spilling down the hillside behind it. The bay itself is the reward: clear, calm and warmer in feel than the Arabian Gulf, with a clean sweep of beach for swimming and time in the water. Off the coast the reef around Snoopy Island draws snorkellers to its shallow coral and darting fish, and your guide helps you make the most of it at your own pace. Between the swims there is the corniche to walk, the mountain viewpoints to stop for and the simple pleasure of an ocean that most visitors never reach. Your driver-guide handles the roads and the timing, and the day stays as active or as easy as you want it.