Just behind the Textile Souk lie old Dubai’s seats of both temporal and spiritual power. The Grand Mosque (entrance restricted to Muslims only) is a big as its name implies: a sprawling ochre building, topped with dozens of tiny domes and the tallest minaret in the city. Despite its traditional appearance, however, it dates from as recently as 1990. Next...

Hidden away at the far end of the Textile Souk is one of Dubai’s most unlikely but appealing attractions. Popularly known as “Hindi Lane”, this little ethnic enclave is probably as close to India as you can get without actually going there: a tiny alleyway lined with dozens of microscopic shops and stalls selling all manner of traditional Hindu religious...

Close to the Textile Souk – and just off Al Fahidi Street – the eye-popping Iranian Shia Mosque (entrance restricted to Muslims only) is far and away the most colourful in Dubai, covered in dazzling kaleidoscope of colourful Iranian-style tilework, with delicate floral curlicues and geometrical patterns picked out in shades of red, green, yellow and blue.

Standing proud at the north end of the Jumeirah Road, the Jumeirah Mosque is one of the finest in Dubai, built in 1979 in quasi-Fatimid (Egyptian) style, and with a pair of soaring minarets rising high above the surrounding suburban sprawl. It’s also the only mosque in Dubai which is open to non-Muslims, thanks to the popular one-hour tours run...