Al Fahidi Historic District

Before the towers, Dubai was a creekside trading town of low houses built from coral rock and gypsum, and Al Fahidi, still often called Bastakiya after the Persian traders who settled it, is the piece of that town that survived. Its lanes are deliberately narrow and crooked to hold shade, and above the houses rise barjeel, the square wind towers that catch any breeze and funnel it down into the rooms below, the region's air conditioning for centuries. Restored rather than rebuilt, the quarter now holds small museums, galleries, courtyard cafés and a cultural centre that runs meals where visitors can ask Emiratis anything they like about local life. At its edge stands Al Fahidi Fort, the oldest building in the city, and the creek is a few steps away, where wooden abras still ferry people across for a coin.

What you actually see

• The wind towers - the barjeel above the houses that cooled them before electricity.
• The shaded lanes - the deliberately narrow alleys of the old quarter.
• Al Fahidi Fort - the oldest building in Dubai, housing the city museum.
• The abra crossing - the wooden ferries across the creek to Deira's souks.

When to go

November to March is the only comfortable season for walking outdoors in Dubai; from May to September the heat makes it punishing even in the shade. Early morning and evening are best. The quarter is quietest before the tour groups arrive mid-morning.

Honest expectations

Almost everything here is restored or reconstructed, and purists point out that the quarter is a careful recreation of the old town rather than a survival of it. It is small, an hour or two, and increasingly given over to galleries and cafés aimed at visitors. Summer heat rules out a daytime visit entirely. It is still the only place in Dubai that shows what the city was before oil.

Nearby

The gold and spice souks are across the creek in Deira; the textile souk is next door in Bur Dubai.