Things to Do in Cairns & The Tropical North

Towering skyscrapers, modern high rises and brilliant flashing lights greet travelers who dock at this urban port. Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest of the emirates, is ripe with ornate royal palaces, high-end shopping and even a Ferrari World theme park, but travelers looking to experience old-world wonder can get it by going beyond city limits.

How to Get to Abu Dhabi
These streets aren’t made for walking and public buses, though readily available and inexpensive, can be somewhat uncomfortable. Visitors can hire taxis for cheap, including pink cars that signal to tourists they are for females only. It’s also possible to rent a car in the cruise terminal. Signs in English and Arabic make roads easy to navigate, although parking can be a headache.

One Day in Abu Dhabi
Get a taste of Abu Dhabi’s unmatched wealth with a trip to some of its most impressive architectural wonders.  Start with a visit to Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque—the largest of its kind in the U.A.E. Opened in 2007, this place of prayer can accommodate up to 40,000 people. Its interior is decorated with crystal chandeliers, Murano glass, polished marble and the world’s largest hand-woven carpet. Then continue on to the Emirates Palace—a five-story luxury hotel that cost approximately $3 billion to build. Enjoy afternoon tea before wandering the impressive halls lined with Persian carpets and more than one thousand chandeliers. The hotel even has an ATM that vends gold at the going rate.

The Abu Dhabi Corniche stretches along the northwestern shore of the island city, a popular spot for beachside recreation. The 5-mile (8-kilometer) stretch of attractive waterfront includes walking paths, cafes, playgrounds and bicycle rentals, and no matter what you decide to do along the coast, you’ll have an excellent view of Abu Dhabi’s skyline. In the evenings, the promenade is the perfect place for a stroll.

The Corniche’s crowning jewel is its public white sand beach. With numerous lifeguards on duty during swimming hours and floating fences keeping swimmers within 130 feet (40 meters), the Corniche Beach is great for families traveling with children. Come on a weekday, and you’ll usually find an umbrella.

Aberdare National Park is in a cloud forest in some of the higher areas of Kenya's central highlands marked by deep ravines and forested mountain slopes. Because of its altitude -- mostly above 10,000 feet -- it's often shrouded in mist.

Animals often observed in the park include the black rhino, leopard, baboon, black and white colobus monkey and Sykes' monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis). Rarer are lions and the bongo, an elusive forest antelope that lives in the bamboo forest. Animals like the eland (a type of antelope) and serval cat (a solitary, nocturnal feline) can be found higher up in the moorlands.

Birders will note that there are more than 250 species of birds in the park, including the Jackson's Francolin (Pternistis jacksoni), sparrowhawk, goshawk, eagle, sunbird and plover.

Located on the North Calotte Trail in Sweden’s Lapland, Abisko National Park covers 77 square km (30 square miles) of sparkling fjords, stumpy mountains, birch forest, cave complexes carved into the rock, and spectacular waterfalls crashing through canyons. Elk and reindeer populate the landscape and the 440-km (275-mile) national hiking and Nordic skiing route of Kungsleden (King’s Trail) starts within the park.

Usually, it’s bad news when your vacation includes a trip to the hospital, but that’s not always the case in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital is one of the city’s more bizarre yet fascinating attractions. The world’s first and largest hospital dedicated to the predatory bird opened in 1999 under the direction of a prominent German veterinary surgeon.

About 6,000 birds pass through each year, occupying the 200 air-conditioned treatment rooms. This might seem strange until you understand that the sport of falconry has deep roots in the city. The sport is so popular that falcons are even issued passports and the prized animals can cost tens of thousands of dollars. If a falcon loses even one strand of feather, they can experience balance issues in flight so their owners bring them to the hospital for checkups, treatments and feather substitutions regularly.

Guided tours of the facility provide insight into the history of the sport and the physiology of this graceful bird. You’ll be able to see the birds swoop through a free-flight aviary, witness a falcon pedicure and feel the weight of one as it perches on your arm.

Located on the Corniche Breakwater, the Emirates Heritage Club runs a reconstructed traditional village demonstrating the lifestyles and traditions of the cultures native to the Arabian Peninsula. If you’ve ever wondered what Abu Dhabi was like before the discovery of oil transformed it into a pocket of extreme wealth, you’ll get a glimpse here.

Come in the morning before it gets too hot to explore the open-air museum. Enter a traditional goats’ hair tent and learn about the ancient falaj irrigation system that allowed desert dwellers to begin cultivating crops. Local craftsworkers conduct workshops in traditional metalwork, pottery, spinning and weaving. The traditional mosque is a far cry from the palatial white marble Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, demonstrating just how far the United Arab Emirates have come.

Be sure to stop by the gift shop during your visit. You’ll be able to pick up local herbs and spices as well as items made by the local artisans working in the village.