Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

Walk the sikka and you feel the old Creek town: shaded lanes, towers catching the breeze, and a working quarter of museums, studios and cafés.

Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood sits on Dubai Creek and still shows how the city lived from the mid-nineteenth century into the 1970s. Houses with high wind towers (barajeel) stand in rows, built from stone, gypsum, teak, sandalwood, palm fronds and palm wood, and split by winding alleys, pathways and small squares. The district lies beside the Ruler's Diwan and once helped organise Dubai's overseas trade from the Creek. Restored houses now hold galleries, specialist museums and cultural centres, including the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, and the neighbourhood hosts seasonal programmes such as the Sikka Art Festival.