Ajman - City Tour

Driving into Ajman city from Sharjah brings you into the Corniche, with a fine sandy beach on one side and the city spread out on the other. Within Ajman city the gleaming new Etisalat Tower is an instant landmark to navigate by.

Note the broad new avenues, particularly the one from the Sheikh Khalifa Hospital to the Al Humaidiyah Road: these are recent and speak of the economic well-being of the city. Not far from the old waterfront are the Ajman Centre -- a trade fair and exposition favourite -- and the Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tower. Not to be missed is the dhow building yard, the biggest in the Emirates.

From building traditional dhows to the larger trading boums, the yard also crafts the speedsters that take part in the Dubai Powerboat meets. The mosque built for the Late Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi by his son and the current Ruler of Ajman, H.H. Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, is another landmark, as is the Ajman museum, housed in the old fort.

The emirate's mountain villages are Manama near Dhaid -- which is the nearer -- and Masfut which is next to Hatta, a part of the Dubai emirate. Manama, which literally means the "sleeping place", also has a small old fort worth visiting while Masfut is known for its colourful marble.