Visit Fujairah City

With a population of 54,000, Fujairah City could only be a big, peaceful village. But the area of the city is contained in the South by the airport, in the North by the free zone and its oil storage centers for export, in the East by the Al Hajar mountains, and in the West by Indian Ocean. Thus road traffic and infrastructure are focused on two axes: the coastal road (Corniche road) and Hamed Bin Abdulla road, surrounded by alignments of large towers and hotels.

The Fujairah International Airport offers virtually no commercial flights and is primarily geared towards freight. Along the fence we can see in the parking lot many aircraft that have not flown for a long time.

Apart from the sites of interest presented in this article, the city of Fujairah should not keep you very long. The restaurants with friendly surroundings are mainly around the hotels (Hilton Hotel on Corniche Road to be by the sea). Similarly for bars and nightclubs, mostly frequented by men. A modern shopping center opened outside the city, eastward after the airport on the road to Fort Hail. This recent mall offers a food court of good quality, a Carrefour hypermarket and a shopping mall. In the city center there are also Carrefour and Lulu supermarkets.

Fort Fujairah is a fortress with large dimensions in view of forts that can be visited in the UAE. The story of his creation is not very clear, but what is more certain is that he stood up to the British navy in the early twentieth century. Near the fort, we can see old houses, currently under restoration, belonging to the Historical Village of Fujairah.

The Fujairah Museum (Fujairah Museum) is located not far from the Fort and Heritage Village, in the continuity of the date plantations. He visits quickly and dedicates his exhibition halls to an archaeological, historical, cultural and ethnic overview of the emirate of Fujairah.

Inaugurated very recently, the new Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Fujairah is the second largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates, the largest being the Abu Dhabi Mosque, which also took the name of the founding father of the country, Sheikh Zayed. 32,000 workers worked for almost three years to build the building of 22,412m² (the size of three football fields) and can accommodate 13,500 faithful in the great prayer room, and 12,000 more in its large courtyard paving in marble.

With 6 minarets 100 meters high and 65 domes of different diameters, the Fujairah mosque can be seen from afar. It does not seem to be open to tourists so you will have to settle for an outside view. To admire it all, go to the top floor of the Rotana Hotel.

Every Friday night around 4.30pm, except during the hot season (June to September), the emiratis of the region come with their zebus. Animals fight each other according to hard-to-understand rules, but do not worry, there is no violence or bloodshed. At sunset is a very nice show popular. All around the dirt ground, the locals park their big vehicles and stay inside to watch the show, engine turned on to enjoy the air conditioning. Others stand on the balustrades: we recommend that you mingle with them. At sunset, will be the opportunity to very beautiful photos.

Admission is free and the show lasts until nightfall. You will easily find the exact location down the coast road to the south, you will see on your right a crowd of vehicles and zebus.

In the city of Fujairah, apart from the private beach of the Hilton, it is not very nice to put your towel on the beach and sunbathe in two-piece swimsuit. For this, you have to leave the city and go to the North of the Emirate, where there is a beach for families (rather conservative place) and many hotels with private beaches that can charge beach and pool access.

On the other hand, the beaches of the city of Fujairah will offer you very nice walks, especially in the evening when the fishermen repair their nets on the beach near old pick-up, in the middle of young boys playing football. Near the bullfighting in particular.

The city of Fujairah has a moderately important hotel offering, located on the two main roads. For a city in the provinces, the quality of the hotels is rather good and allows to make a comfortable stop there, although we can regret the absence of a five-star establishment of high level.

We liked the hotel Nour Arjaan by Rotana where we spent one night in the suite of the last floor (which offers the advantage of having several rooms and a stay for a price per person interesting) . The higher the room, the more interesting the view, be it on the mosque, the main street or the airport. The hotel has a swimming pool and spa, with a classic breakfast buffet. In the same style the Millenium.

Some recent hotels also: the Novotel of Fujairah, which is the image of the chain, comfortable without particular charm. Same thing for the aparthotel hotel Adagio or the Ibis hotel.

With less contemporary decor but still correct, One to one Concorde.

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