Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum's House, Dubai

Standing on the Bur side of Dubai Creek is a house that once belonged to one of Dubai’s most admired rulers—so yes, it’s worth slowing down and stepping inside. Built in 1894, this home is a showcase of traditional Islamic design, complete with vaulted ceilings, teakwood doors, carved archways, and four elegant wind towers doing the ancient version of air-conditioning. Everything here revolves around a central courtyard, where life once unfolded between meeting rooms, storerooms, kitchens, and upper-floor bedrooms overlooking the creek and the open sea beyond.

Today, the house has traded family life for museum life, but it hasn’t lost its charm. The walls tell stories through photographs and lithographs of Dubai between the 1940s and 1960s, when the Creek was the city’s beating heart. You’ll also find a fascinating coin collection and an engrossing exhibit on pearl-diving—once the backbone of Dubai’s economy.

And speaking of pearls, it’s hard to imagine now, but the industry collapsed in the 1930s. Two global shocks did the damage: the Great Depression and Japan's entering the market with cheaper and higher-quality cultured pearls. But Sheik Saeed wasn’t the sort to sit and worry. Instead, he expanded the port, encouraged new trade from India and Iran, and helped shape Dubai into the commercial powerhouse it would soon become, souk by souk, shipment by shipment...

Here’s a small insider tip before you go: seek out the room showing photographs of the house before restoration. It’s a striking reminder of how much history nearly crumbled—and how much care went into preserving it.