Photo highlights:
Dubai (City Centre/Tourist Trap)
- Burj Khalifa/At The Top (123rd floor)
- Dubai Fountains
- Sheikh Zayed Road - try to get up on to the roof bar of Four Points by Sheraton in the evening
- Burj Al Arab - golden hour
- The Palm - head all the way around the right hand frond and you can get some different shots of the Burj Al Arab and Dubai Skyline. Head to the left, you can get Dubai Marina
- Skydive Dubai - just generally a cool place to chill out at Zero Gravity bar too.
Dubai (the alternative side - old Dubai)
- Satwa - as mentioned by Adam, Ravi's is a very popular Pakistani restaurant. Epxect to pay a couple of quid for a curry and roti. Try the chai too.
- Bur Dubai/Naif - the old trading parts of Dubai. Some old buildings recreated in to art space - used to be called Bastikiya but not sure what it's called now. Also has fabric souks.
- Deira - opposite side of the creek to Bur Dubai. Similar to Bur Dubai but without some of the older buildings - has the spice souks and fish markets
N.B. it's work spending 1AED (about 18p) to cross the creek from Bur Dubai to Deira on a traditional Abra - it's the way most of the Indian/Pakistani residents get around that part of Dubai
Outside Dubai
- Abu Dhabi has some great sights. I've lived here for 5 years and still not properly explored but the highlight of the city has to be Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - ladies need to cover up.
- Big Red is a large dune on the Dubai-Hatta road - it's where most of the desert tour companies start their dune bashing experiences from.
- Lusaili Camel Race Track - although not sure how much camel racing on at that time of the year - normally it's at 7am and 2pm on week days.
- Hatta Dam/Hatta - another side to DUbai (still in the Emirate, but over an hour out of the city) are the mountains, and Dam, bordering with Oman
- Ras Al Khaimah - Another Emirate - see the red dunes transition to Haajar mountains, some great roads too, especially up Jebel Jais, which is the tallest mountain in the UAE.
- Al Ain - officially within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain City is also known as the Garden City. It's got plenty of green area's (by UAE standards), another mountain you can drive up called Jebel Hafeet, plus a zoo.
Empty Quarter/Liwa - a long drive out - at least 4-5 hours from Dubai - you come to a large Oasis known as the Liwa Oasis. Head off the main road (still on tarmac) for about 25km out in to the desert to a dune called Tal Moreeb (loosely translates in to The Horrible) which is the tallest dune in the Middle East. During December/January they hold a festival out there which includes camel and saluki racing, falcon hunting, horse racing and most importantly the sand drag racing, where 1,500HP racers run up the steepest part of the dune! Also a motor museum on the drive out, but not much else to see.
Hope that helps. Feel free to drop me a message if you want more info on anything. Plenty more 'hidden gems' within the region, but as you're coming on holiday, I guess you don't (or at least your SO) want to fill your time with just photography.