The view
Palms, mountains and sea.
Fatima Alzaabi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ansari M Joshi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ansari M Joshi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jeffkingma — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ansari M Joshi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ansari M Joshi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Anum Chishti — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ansari M Joshi — CC BY-SA 4.0
An eighteenth-century fort on a rocky hilltop at Dhayah, north of Ras Al Khaimah city, and the highest hilltop fort in the UAE. It looks out over palm groves on the plain, the mountains behind and the Gulf on the horizon. In 1819 it saw the last fighting of the British campaign on the Ras Al Khaimah coast: some 400 people held out here for three days under bombardment before it fell on 22 December. This paved the way for the General Maritime Treaty of 1820, the first of the treaties between the British government and the sheikhs of what became the Trucial Coast. The fort is a small square building of stone and mud with crenellated walls, ringed by a low wall at the edge of the hill. Visitors reach it by a steep stone stairway and are rewarded with a wide view, best at sunset. Check visiting times locally. The climb is exposed and hard work in the heat, so winter or the hour before sunset is best, with good shoes and water.
Palms, mountains and sea.
A steep climb.
The best time to go.
Dhayah, north of Ras Al Khaimah city
It saw the last fighting of the 1819 British campaign on the Ras Al Khaimah coast, and its fall paved the way for the General Maritime Treaty of 1820.