Where the Celebration Takes Over: Flag Island and Al Majaz
Start on Flag Island, where the giant flagpole anchors a waterfront of lights, food stalls and families in national colours. From here the corniche curves south past Al Majaz Amphitheatre, the emirate's biggest stage, where National Day concerts have drawn headliners — Balqees and Latifa performed here during the 2022 programme. The organisers are the Sharjah National Day Celebrations Committee, and when the programme runs, it typically stretches across roughly ten days from late November into early December. Come at dusk: the heat drops, the food stalls fire up, and the crowd thickens along the water.
- Flag Island — ceremonial heart of the emirate's celebrations
- Al Majaz Amphitheatre — major musical performances on the calendar
- Al Majaz waterfront — evening crowds, stalls and corniche views
Marches, Bands and the Street Party Circuit
The National Day programme in Sharjah is built around popular marches — processions of government departments, schools, scouts and military bands that move through town and end in folk songs, operettas and dance. In 2022, Dibba Al-Hisn staged a march at 4pm from the city entrance to the Al-Hisn island canal, with celebrations running until 9pm. Al Kharous Public Park hosted its own march with folk performances and stalls selling local families' products, and Al Bataeh ran a march joined by the Sharjah Scouts Commission and a military band, alongside folk groups, horse shows, classic cars and tourist buses. In Al Madam, the programme added police and military bands, an art exhibition, an allegiance charter signing, a narrator segment, evening poetry, Yowlah competitions and children's activities. Al Dhaid, at the fort, split its days between morning and evening sessions with camel racing and traditional performances.
- Dibba Al-Hisn — march from the city entrance to the Al-Hisn island canal, then folk songs and competitions into the evening
- Al Kharous Public Park — march, folk dances, operetta, local family products
- Al Bataeh — government and school march, military band, horse shows, classic cars
- Al Madam — police and military bands, poetry, Yowlah, dishes from productive families
- Al Dhaid Fort — national march, camel racing, traditional performances
Snow, Skies and Stages: The Set-Piece Spectacles
Sharjah National Park becomes the family hub of the celebrations. In 2022 it opened the programme with a ceremony that included a musical performance about the ruler, Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, and then ran daily activities from 4:30pm to 8pm — among them a snow village, snow sculpting of national landmarks and a model of Sharjah's landmarks. Mleiha Public Park hosted a national march with military music, competitions, games, prizes and raffles. Wadi Al Helo combined a national march with an Al Fursan air show and sports events sponsored by the Sharjah Marine Sports Club. The closing nights traditionally land at Khorfakkan Amphitheater, where the 2022 programme featured Eida Al Menhali and Diana Haddad in a charity concert with a national operetta, poetry and performances — with bands from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait taking part.
- Sharjah National Park — daily 4:30pm–8pm, snow village and landmark sculpting
- Mleiha Public Park — march, military music, games and raffles
- Wadi Al Helo — air show and marine sports competitions
- Khorfakkan Amphitheater — headline concert and operetta to close the programme
Heritage Villages, Classic Cars and Food from Local Families
National Day is when Sharjah's heritage sites do what they do best. At the Heritage Village in Al Hamriyah, celebrations ran from 4pm to 8pm with national songs by Al Qalaa School students, traditional songs from folk groups, a heritage exhibition, a Bedouin environment exhibition and a classic car display with the Sharjah Classic Car Club. Hamriyah Creek hosted the Hamriyah Sports and Cultural Club competition and a children's competition. Across the emirate, the food you'll eat is the food of the occasion: popular dishes cooked and sold by productive families — the local home-cooking enterprises that set up at Al Kharous, Al Madam, Al Hamriyah and elsewhere in the programme. Kalba ran a full day of celebrations from 8am to 8pm, with further shows and activities on the Kalba Corniche. Khorfakkan's Souq Sharq hosted traditional shows and a classic car display.
- Heritage Village, Al Hamriyah — national and traditional songs, heritage and Bedouin exhibitions, classic cars, 4pm–8pm
- Souq Sharq, Khorfakkan — traditional shows and classic cars
- Kalba and Kalba Corniche — full-day celebrations and corniche activities
- Productive families' stalls — popular local dishes served at venues across the emirate
Planning Around the Programme
The National Day period in the UAE falls on 2 and 3 December, and Sharjah's emirate-wide programme has historically opened in late November and run into the first days of December — in 2022, from 24 November to 3 December. The venues spread far beyond the city: Flag Island and Al Majaz in Sharjah City, then Dibba Al-Hisn, Khorfakkan, Kalba, Al Dhaid, Al Madam, Al Bataeh, Mleiha, Wadi Al Helo and Al Hamriyah. Pick two or three clusters rather than trying to chase the whole map — an evening at Al Majaz, a march in the eastern regions, and a heritage village afternoon make a strong three-day shape. Because the programme is announced fresh each year, confirm the current schedule with the Sharjah National Day Celebrations Committee and local listings closer to the date, then book your stay near the corniche and let the marches, bands and markets carry you through the week.