The Al Wathba Fossil Dunes lie about 45 km south-east of Abu Dhabi city. Wind and ancient groundwater hardened the sand into strange sculpted ridges and towers thousands of years ago. The site is now a protected reserve with a marked trail, benches and lighting after dark. Late afternoon gives the best colours.

Liwa is a crescent of oasis villages on the northern edge of the Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter, and the ancestral home of the Al Nahyan family who rule Abu Dhabi. Date palms have been cultivated here for centuries, and the annual Liwa Date Festival still draws growers from across the region. South of the villages the sand rises into some of the tallest dunes in the world, including Moreeb Dune, about 300 metres high with a steep face used for hill-climb motorsport events each winter. Desert camps, dune drives and clear night skies are the main attractions. Winter is the season; summer temperatures here are extreme.

Sir Bani Yas is an island off the western coast of Abu Dhabi emirate, about 250 km from the capital. Sheikh Zayed made it a nature reserve in the 1970s, and its Arabian Wildlife Park now holds thousands of free-roaming animals, including Arabian oryx, gazelles, giraffes and cheetahs. The remains of a Christian monastery from about the 7th century are also here.