The Gulf's most serious art city: a biennial since 1993 and a foundation that restores old buildings instead of building new ones.
The foundation's galleries are spread around restored traditional houses and new white courtyards in the old town.
A 1970s concrete UFO of a building, once a supermarket, restored by the foundation as an art space.
Islamic art and science in a former souk, under a dome with a mosaic of the zodiac.
A disused ice factory on the Indian Ocean coast, converted by the foundation into a vast biennial venue.
Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.
Bronze Age tombs, Iron Age falaj channels and fossil rocks in the desert.
The ruling family's restored 1820 fort, with photographs of the old town.
A decommissioned state school of the 1970s, restored by the architect Mona El Mousfy as the home of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. It is a calm piece of Gulf modernism around shaded, planted courtyards.
The Alserkal Avenue galleries, about 30 minutes away (traffic permitting).
Al Hisn Fort → Al Mureijah and the foundation's courtyards → lunch → the Museum of Islamic Civilization → the Flying Saucer at dusk.