Souvenirs from Dubai

Dates are the fruit of the region and are offered to guests in every Emirati home. Shops sell dozens of varieties, from soft Medjool and Khalas to dry Sukkari, plain or filled with almonds, orange peel or chocolate. Buy sealed boxes: they travel better than loose dates from an open tray.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Bateel boutiques (The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Hills Mall) and the date counters of supermarkets.

A Dubai speciality: chocolate made with camel's milk, which tastes slightly salty and less sweet. Al Nassma started it here and makes bars, pralines and gold-wrapped chocolate camels, with flavours such as dates, macadamia and Arabian spices. Check that the label says camel milk, not just a camel on the wrapper.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Al Nassma's shop in the Gold Souk in Deira, and the gift shops of Dubai Duty Free at the airport.

Emiratis wear heavy, oil-based scents: oud from agarwood resin, rose, musk and amber, sold in small cut-glass bottles. Attar contains no alcohol, so a drop lasts all day, and many shops will blend a scent for you while you wait. Pure oud is very expensive; cheap "oud" is usually a synthetic blend, so ask what is in it.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Perfume Souk on Sikkat Al Khail Street in Deira, and the Ajmal and Arabian Oud stores in The Dubai Mall.

Emirati homes are scented with bakhoor, wood chips soaked in perfume oil, burnt on charcoal in a mabkhara, a small footed burner of metal, wood or clay. Lumps of frankincense from Oman and Somalia are sold beside it. Guests' clothes are wafted with the smoke. Pack the burner well: the cheap ones are thin painted tin.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Spice Souk and the Perfume Souk in Deira, and the perfume houses in the malls.

Dubai has traded spices across the Creek for a century: saffron from Iran, cardamom, sumac, dried black lime and ready-made mixes for Emirati dishes. Sold by weight, so ask to taste and smell. Saffron should be deep red threads that colour water slowly; a very low price usually means safflower or dyed filler. Prices in the souk are open to haggling.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Spice Souk in Al Ras, Deira, on Baniyas Street next to the Deira Old Souk abra station.

Dubai is a gold-trading city, and the Gold Souk has hundreds of shop windows of chains, bangles and bridal sets, mostly 22 and 18 carat. The price per gram follows the official Dubai gold rate on the boards and is fixed; the making charge for the design is where you haggle. Ask for a bill showing weight, carat, rate and making charge separately.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Gold Souk in Deira (around Sikkat Al Khail Street), and the jewellers in Gold & Diamond Park and the big malls.

Gahwa, lightly roasted coffee boiled with cardamom and sometimes saffron, is poured from a dallah, the beaked brass pot that appears on the UAE's one-dirham coin. Take home the ground coffee blend with a few small handleless cups. Most souk dallahs are decorative; a real one is heavy and its lid fits tightly.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The gift shop of the Coffee Museum in Al Fahidi, and souvenir shops in the Deira Old Souk and Souk Madinat Jumeirah.

The Textile Souk on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek sells silks, cottons, embroidered fabrics and piles of pashmina shawls. Many "pashminas" are wool, viscose or acrylic blends: real cashmere feels warm and soft, not slippery, and costs a lot more. Bargaining is expected; offer well below the first price.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: The Textile Souk (Bur Dubai Souk) by the Bur Dubai abra station, and Souk Madinat Jumeirah.

Glass bottles filled with layers of coloured sand that form a desert scene with dunes, camels and palms, often with "Dubai" or your own name worked into the sand. Watch one being made: the artist uses only a funnel and a thin stick. Check that the stopper is glued, or the picture shifts in your luggage.

• 🛍️ Where to buy it: Craft stalls at Global Village (in season) and souvenir shops in the Deira and Bur Dubai souks.