SHARJAH

Known as “The Cultural Capital’, Sharjah is a dynamic leisure and commercial destination that also retains a unique sense of character and tradition. This emirate has an excellent reputation as the cultural, heritage and family tourist destination offering visitors the ideal getaway, all year round. Modern hotels, superb facilities and an excellent choice of activities from visiting museums, souqs and shopping malls, to desert safaris and scuba diving, await you. THE PAST Historically, Sharjah was one of the wealthiest towns in the region with a settlement in existence for over 5,000 years. It was the most important port on the lower Arabian Gulf from the time of che early trading with the East into the first half of the 19″‘ century. The first international airport in the country was established in Sharjah in 1932 and the first school in 1935. Alongside fishing and trading, pearling was a primary income generating industry that lasted into the late 1940s. The flow of oil into the UAE and the revenue from gas has sustained Sharjah’s development creating a prosperous and modern emirate whilst retaining the charms and traditional values of an Islamic culture.