Culture, design & architecture

Jean Nouvel’s museum beneath a floating dome of 7,850 aluminium stars that filters the sunlight. Adults AED 70; under-18s free. Galleries open 10am–6.30pm Monday–Thursday and until 8.30pm Friday–Sunday.

Foster + Partners’ falcon-wing towers, opened in December 2025, tell the UAE’s story from 300,000 years ago to Sheikh Zayed. Start in the 600-metre Al Masar Garden. Adults AED 70; under-18s free; daily 10am–8pm.

Mecanoo’s rock-like museum, opened in November 2025: a pair of T. rex skeletons including “Stan”, sauropods in the atrium, a blue whale and meteorites.

Frank Gehry’s cluster of cones and galleries for art since 1960, due to open on 11 December 2026.

An immersive digital-art space in the cultural district; book tickets online.

The city’s oldest stone building, begun as a watchtower in 1761. The ticket includes the House of Artisans and the Cultural Foundation; under-18s free. Saturday–Thursday 9am–8pm, Friday 2–8pm.

A working presidential palace opened to visitors in 2019: a 37-metre dome, a library of more than 50,000 books and the evening “Palace in Motion” show, included in the ticket. Cover knees and shoulders.

Traditional Emirati handicrafts explained and demonstrated beside Qasr Al Hosn; entry is included with the fort.

A mosque, a church and a synagogue designed as three separate buildings on one shared garden.

The domed palace-hotel at the end of the Corniche, opened in 2005.