Al Ain Garden city of the Gulf

Dubai (population 1.1 million) is widely popular among Indian's as an ideal shopping and holiday destination which offers white sandy beaches, ultra-luxury hotels, Ali Baba's cave style shopping malls and adventure sports activities such as indoor artificial snow-skiing, desert safari, camel and ostrich racing, dune and wadi bashing, etc, But contrary to popular opinion, Dubai is not an independent country but a small self-administered unit of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven sheikhdoms which comprise Abu Dhabi (Abu Zaby), Ajman, Dubai, Al Fujayrah, Ra's al Khaymah, Ash Shariqah aka Sharjah, and Umm al Qaywayn.

Al Ain sited close to the UAE-Oman border about 135 km from Dubai is attracting a large and growing number of leisure tourists who wish to take a break after a hectic shopping spree. Al Ain offers a plethora of rest and recreation opportunities, historical monuments, sports facilities and lots and lots of greenery. Naturally endowed with several large oasis' Al Ain (pop. 500,000) is a green low-rise city sited in the shade of the Jebel Hafit mountains. Surrounded by awesome red sand dunes and the rugged craggy mountains, Al Ain is linked by excellent roads to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Blessed with generous groundwater resources and self-renewing aquifers, Al Ain is one of the most fertile agricultural areas of the UAE, often described as the garden city of the Gulf'. Indeed Al Ain' in Arabic means spring' and the region with its ancient but efficient non-mechanised falaj irrigation system boasts sprawling date and fruit plantations.

The history of Al Ain can be traced back over four millennia as evidenced by numerous archaeological excavation sites which date settlements to around 3,000 BC. Its more recent history is centered around seven restored plantations and 42 carefully preserved forts. A tour of the city offers its visitors contrasts of old and new, turrets and watch towers of old forts jostling for space with modern steel and glass skyscrapers. Paradoxically and delightfully, the UAE's sole camel trading market is also located in a suburb of the city.

Attractions in Al Ain
The most popular tourist attraction here is the Al Ain Oasis. Sited in the epicentre of a cool date plantation and divided into numerous well-maintained date farms, the oasis is thronged by tourists who walk in quiet shades in lush greenery.

Another equally popular locale in the city is the Al Ain

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