Getting there

Planes

Dubai airport is a major international hub | and a popular stopover en route to Australasia and Indian Ocean destinations such as the Maldives. From the UK | travel with Emirates Airlines | BA or Virgin | or fly into quieter Abu Dhabi airport (www.abudhabiairport.ae); it’s an hour away | and if you fly with Etihad (www.etihadairways.com) | transfers to Dubai are free. Emirates also has regular flights from New York | Houston and São Paolo.

Boats

Traditional wooden abras will ferry you across (or along) Dubai Creek for just AED1; there are abra stations by the souks on both sides. A private abra will cost from AED100 an hour. There’s also a waterbus that runs between Al Sabkha and Bur Dubai every 30 minutes from 6am–10.30pm.

Trains

Public transport is currently almost non-existent, but a four-line Metro system (similar to Bangkok’s Skytrain) is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2009 (www.dubaimetro.eu).

Automobiles

Dubai’s congested roads and high-speed highways are notoriously dangerous (largely due to residents’ pathological determination to ignore speed limits or road etiquette) | so we don’t recommend renting a car unless you’ve the patience of a saint and the reactions of Lewis Hamilton. However | it’s worth hiring some wheels to explore the Hajar Mountains and east coast.