Five UAE Tourist Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Clients who fly in to view property usually spend a few days as tourists first. Over the years I have noticed the same five misunderstandings come up again and again. None of them is complicated once you know the reasoning.

1. Photographing or filming strangers

Privacy is taken seriously in the UAE. Photographing people — especially women, children and families — without permission, and above all posting those images online, can lead to a complaint and legal consequences under privacy and cybercrime laws.

What is fine: photographing landmarks, views, your own group, and crowds in a general way at public events.

What to avoid: close-ups of strangers, filming someone in an argument or an accident, and sharing images of identifiable people without consent. Government buildings, military sites and some security areas should not be photographed at all.

2. Public insults and rude gestures

Insulting someone, swearing at them or making obscene gestures — in person, in traffic or online — can be treated as an offence, not just bad manners, if the other person complains. Road rage is the classic case: a gesture at another driver can turn into a police matter.

What to do instead: stay calm, step away, and if there is a real problem, report it through official channels. Our guide to WhatsApp messages, reviews and the law covers the online side.

3. Dress in malls and public places

There is no rule that you must cover from head to toe, and you will see every style of clothing on the beach and in hotels. But in malls, souks, government buildings and especially mosques, modest dress is expected. A practical rule: in public indoor spaces, keep shoulders and knees covered. Swimwear belongs on the beach and at the pool, not in the mall.

Mosques that welcome visitors, such as Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, have their own dress codes and will provide or require appropriate clothing.

4. Alcohol in public

Alcohol is available in licensed hotels, restaurants and bars, and residents can buy it from licensed stores. What is not allowed is drinking in public places — on the street, on a public beach, in a park — or being drunk and disorderly in public. Driving with any alcohol in the blood is a serious offence; zero is the only safe number.

5. Medicines in your luggage

This is the one that surprises people most. Some medicines that are routine elsewhere — certain painkillers, sleeping pills, ADHD and anxiety medication — are controlled in the UAE. Bringing them in may require prior approval and documentation.

Before you travel: check the Ministry of Health and Prevention's current guidance on controlled medicines, carry the prescription and a doctor's letter, keep medicines in their original packaging, and bring only the quantity you need for the trip.

My take

The visitors who have the best time here are the ones who treat it as someone else's home: they ask before photographing, dress for the place they are in, and keep disagreements calm. Those are habits worth bringing anywhere. If you move here later, the same habits make daily life very easy.