Courtyard

Downtown Dubai


Housing an eclectic combo that includes a community theatre, edgy concept stores and galleries, this enticing cobblestoned complex wraps around its eponymous courtyard, flanked by an eccentric hodgepodge of buildings that makes it look like a miniature movie-studio backdrop: here an Arab fort, there a Moorish facade or an Egyptian tomb. Hours vary between venues.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Downtown Dubai attractions

1. Chi-Ka

0.05 MILES

Escape the heat and bustle by stepping into this cool Japanese art space with changing exhibitions that range from exquisite silk kimonos to photography…

2. Third Line

0.06 MILES

A pioneer on Dubai's gallery scene and one of the city's most exciting spaces for contemporary Middle Eastern art, the Third Line represents around 30…

3. Custot Gallery

0.08 MILES

This fabulous, vast 700-sq-metre space is associated with the prestigious Waddington Custot gallery in London. The exhibitions promote such major masters…

4. Ayyam Gallery

0.09 MILES

With branches at Gate Village and well as here, on the Alserkal Avenue gallery campus in Al Quoz, this top gallery's main mission is to promote emerging…

5. Leila Heller Gallery

0.11 MILES

This prestigious New York import presents cutting-edge art from emerging and mid-career artists from the Middle East, Central Asia, southeast Asia and…

6. Cartoon Art Gallery

0.11 MILES

This bi-level space is the first gallery in the Middle East dedicated to cartoon and animation art from across the entire spectrum of media, from paint to…

7. Carbon 12

0.15 MILES

This minimalist white-cube space serves as a gateway to the UAE art scene for accomplished artists from around the world, and vice-versa. Some of them…

8. Green Art Gallery

0.17 MILES

Green Art has been around for more than four decades and played a key role in championing modern Middle Eastern art, including such masters as Fateh…