Top 10 Things to Do in Sharjah in 2026

The Sharjah Art Foundation operates across 17 venues in the Heritage Area and has hosted the Sharjah Biennial — one of the most respected art biennials in the world — since 1993, giving contemporary Arab and international artists a platform that predates most of the region's art market attention.

The Heart of Sharjah restoration project is the UAE's most ambitious historic preservation effort, rebuilding an entire 1950s-era neighbourhood of traditional courtyard houses, coral-wall architecture, and covered souks that collectively constitute the most authentic urban heritage district in the emirate.

Built inside the former ruler's fort, the Sharjah National Museum displays a collection of Bronze Age artefacts, traditional Emirati costumes, pearl-diving equipment, and manuscripts that contextualise the UAE's pre-oil society more thoroughly than any Dubai exhibition.

Al Noor Island in the Khalid Lagoon hosts the UAE's only butterfly house — a glass-and-steel biodome containing 500 live tropical butterflies, a library pavilion with moonstone architecture, and a light installation that changes the island's colour temperature every 90 minutes.

The Sharjah Aquarium's 250 species of Gulf and Indian Ocean marine life are housed in tanks beside a Maritime Museum that documents the UAE's pearl-diving, fishing, and dhow-building heritage with equipment recovered from actual working boats rather than commissioned replicas.

Sharjah's Blue Souk — named for its blue-tiled exterior — is a two-building 600-shop traditional souk selling Persian carpets, Arabic antiques, gold, and spices in a space that has operated since 1978 and remains the best souk shopping in the UAE for quality and price.

Al Majaz Waterfront on Khalid Lagoon is Sharjah's most pleasant public space — 2.5 kilometres of landscaped promenade, a fountain show running Friday and Saturday evenings, an outdoor amphitheatre, and a Sharjah Eye observation wheel now providing aerial views across both banks.

The Mleiha site 60 kilometres from Sharjah city contains human remains 125,000 years old and a museum that places the UAE within the out-of-Africa migration story — complemented by a desert adventure park offering dune safari, stargazing, and a bronze-age tomb walk.

The Khor Kalba mangrove on Sharjah's Indian Ocean enclave hosts the world's most northerly mangrove forest and the only breeding site of the collared kingfisher in the UAE — a kayak tour through the tidal channels at high tide is one of the most biodiverse experiences in the Emirates.

The Sharjah Art Foundation operates across 17 venues in the Heritage Area and has hosted the Sharjah Biennial — one of the most respected art biennials in the world — since 1993, giving contemporary Arab and international artists a platform that predates most of the region's art market attention.

The Heart of Sharjah restoration project is the UAE's most ambitious historic preservation effort, rebuilding an entire 1950s-era neighbourhood of traditional courtyard houses, coral-wall architecture, and covered souks that collectively constitute the most authentic urban heritage district in the emirate.

Built inside the former ruler's fort, the Sharjah National Museum displays a collection of Bronze Age artefacts, traditional Emirati costumes, pearl-diving equipment, and manuscripts that contextualise the UAE's pre-oil society more thoroughly than any Dubai exhibition.

Al Noor Island in the Khalid Lagoon hosts the UAE's only butterfly house — a glass-and-steel biodome containing 500 live tropical butterflies, a library pavilion with moonstone architecture, and a light installation that changes the island's colour temperature every 90 minutes.

The Sharjah Aquarium's 250 species of Gulf and Indian Ocean marine life are housed in tanks beside a Maritime Museum that documents the UAE's pearl-diving, fishing, and dhow-building heritage with equipment recovered from actual working boats rather than commissioned replicas.

Sharjah's Blue Souk — named for its blue-tiled exterior — is a two-building 600-shop traditional souk selling Persian carpets, Arabic antiques, gold, and spices in a space that has operated since 1978 and remains the best souk shopping in the UAE for quality and price.

Al Majaz Waterfront on Khalid Lagoon is Sharjah's most pleasant public space — 2.5 kilometres of landscaped promenade, a fountain show running Friday and Saturday evenings, an outdoor amphitheatre, and a Sharjah Eye observation wheel now providing aerial views across both banks.

The Mleiha site 60 kilometres from Sharjah city contains human remains 125,000 years old and a museum that places the UAE within the out-of-Africa migration story — complemented by a desert adventure park offering dune safari, stargazing, and a bronze-age tomb walk.

The Khor Kalba mangrove on Sharjah's Indian Ocean enclave hosts the world's most northerly mangrove forest and the only breeding site of the collared kingfisher in the UAE — a kayak tour through the tidal channels at high tide is one of the most biodiverse experiences in the Emirates.