11 Places Worth Visiting in Fujairah

Our recent trip to Fujairah, the fifth largest Emirate of UAE saw us visiting historical sites and heritage areas. Watched some bullfighting in Gurfah, checked out a new mall, and paid homage to the city's Catholic church.

If you haven't seen rock mountains before, you will be in awe to see them on your way to the city.

Our first stop was the Fujairah City Center (1). It is located just before entering the city proper. Just like other City Centers, it is a one-stop shop for everything, thus giving locals and ex-pats alike a new shopping experience.

We got hungry on the way so we stop there for a quick lunch before setting off on our city adventure.

Using the map that the hotel gave us, we drove all the way to Al Hayl Fort (2).

The road gets a little bumpy but the view was great.

My photos couldn't give enough justice to the natural beauty of this place that's why you have to see it for yourself. In the meantime, you can enjoy armchair travel.

After the fourth turn and several rocky mountains

we started thinking we'd reached a dead end but after driving a few meters more, Al Hayl Fort appeared. It feels like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert.

Al Hayl Fort is located southwest of the city of Fujairah about 13 km, the fort was built on the west bank of the valley of Al Hayl in the 1930s rising about 40 meters on top of it. Even the little guy was up for the climb, I was catching my breath on the way up.





Below the fortress,  Fujairah's late ruler HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamdan Al Sharqi had his home built. A pretty impressive dwelling consisting of a large square of two floors, a store room for harvested dates, bedrooms, a separate kitchen, and internal Majlis. There was also a special mosque for the village and the house is surrounded by a fence with opening archers.

mosque

standing at the watch tower

This was the view from the watch tower of the ruler's house from where we were standing.

and this was the view from Al Hayl Square. The square is uniquely situated with a clear view overseeing the area.

From Al Hayl Fort on the way back to our hotel, we passed by Fujairah Heritage Village (4) it is also a museum established in 1996 housing models of traditional homes, handheld implements, tools, and household instruments used in ancient times by the people of Fujairah.

Madhab Spring Park (6)

There was also the Sheikh Zayed Mosque (7), a mosque that looks like the one in Abu Dhabi but smaller.

It looks beautiful as seen from Nour Arjaan by Rotana pool terrace.

View from our hotel-Nour Arjaan by Rotana

Day 2

Being a Catholic family, it is a joy to pay a visit to any Christian church we have never been to before (and make a wish :D). I don't want to miss this opportunity because the patron of Fujaira's church is Our Lady of Perpetual Help (8), my late dad's favorite patron-Mother Mary and Child Jesus.

I remember having the same frame of Mama Mary and Baby Jesus back home at our house in Bulacan.

Fujairah Museum (9) is considered one of the most important museums in UAE as it records the ancestral history and heritage through the antiques found by the excavation missions of archaeologists.

The current museum started as a small part of Khalid IBN Walid General Library in 1969 until a bigger museum was inaugurated in 1991. Now it has two large halls for antiques and three halls for heritage, it also started a section for renovations, a laboratory, and a section for archaeological finds.

Let's take a tour, shall we?

My ever-curious son was with his dad all throughout the tour and asked questions about the things he sees in the museum. I just love how he attentively listens to his answers.

Open every day except Saturday from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm & 4:30 to 6:30 pm Fridays from 2:00 to 6:30 pm

Fujairah Fort (10) is another area worth visiting.

The design of this fort is completely different from the rest of the forts constructed in the UAE. It has three circular towers and a fourth square tower and a tall unit that looks like a tower, these were linked by a wall between the towers to form a central hall in the middle. The irregular design was due to the shape of the hill in the old Fujairah where it was built.

The last leg of our tour was the Bull Fighting in Gurfah (11). 

Something I thought would be very interesting for the kids to see, well not the fighting but the animals themselves.

Not often they see bulls in Dubai, well actually you know what, we've never seen one in Dubai nor in Sharjah before. Mostly, there are camels and donkeys and zoo animals but no bulls not even cows. Mica has seen cows before in the Philippines but Prince was too small back then to know what they are.

Bullfighting in Gurfah is a weekly Friday happening and if you are in the area it is worth a visit.

We went near the area where the bulls are tied in trees but they seem agitated somewhat like ready to charge any minute so we went a little bit far where there is a strong fence to protect us. (you know mommy instincts)

There was nothing obscene nor bloody, just two bulls fighting for not more than five minutes, and the stronger bull wins.

That concludes our Fujairah tour.

When you visit Fujairah, consider visiting these areas and you will never regret it.

For more places worth seeing in Fujairah like natural waterfalls and the oldest mosque in UAE, click here.