Now the sun has set, Bur Dubai Souq (between Al-Fahidi Street and Dubai Creek) is buzzing.
The souq comes alive on Friday, when sales are conducted briskly from the back of trucks.
At the newly opened Handicraft Souq, visitors can buy traditional Qatari carpets and other trinkets.
You have not really been to Morocco until you have gotten lost in a Marrakesh souq (covered market).
Continue through the winding lanes to the wooden-latticed arcades of the Gold Souq where all that glitters is not just gold.
Start your day of shopping with an early morning tour of old world Arabia at Souq Waqif, located behind the crescent-moon shaped waterfront Corniche.
Follow the pungent perfume of frankincense, sumac, cinnamon and sacks full of enticing spices across the street to the tiny yet aromatic Spice Souq.
Look in at Hammam al-Abd, situated in a tiny alley in the very thick of the souq, to see if it is open for business.
Just a few blocks in from the Corniche is the Souq Waqif, a cobblestoned facsimile of the souq that was on this site for a century.
The Souq is renowned for its selection of spices from the region and South Asia (sumac, saffron, preserved lemons), and for selling colourfully wrapped chocolate and sweets by the kilo.
In the capital Doha, you can wander a labyrinthine souq, take in some of the glitziest shopping malls known to man and explore decidedly hip boutiques from exciting local designers.
Dyers' Souq (Souq Sebbaghine) is the most picturesque, with skeins of freshly dyed saffron and vermillion wool hung to dry against Marrakshi pink walls and Saharan blue skies.
The vivid scenes represent life in the souq, Islam, education, social life, architecture, costumes and jewellery, the desert and oasis, water and survival, and the popular "underwater" sea exhibition.
After a morning browsing the souq, jump into a taxi for the 20-minute ride to the Pearl-Qatar, a man-made island in West Bay Lagoon and one of the most up-and-coming areas in Doha.
Alternatively for more unusual, unbranded souvenirs, visit the Women's Handicraft Centre (Karama St, Al Mushrif), where local female artisans produce weaving and thread-work, or don your haggling hat at the carpet souq on Al Meena Road.
Souq Sharq -- Kuwait's premier mall on the seafront with shops, a movie theater and restaurant -- is near Kuwait's parliament, Foreign Ministry and Sief Palace, the official seat of the emir of Kuwait.
Spend the day plumbing the depths of the city's Mamluk-era souq (market), which dates back to the 14th and 15th Centuries and is home to a plethora of historic madrassas (religious schools), mosques and khans (travellers' inns).
No matter where you duck, a hotel lobby, government office or dusty rug-seller's stall in porticoed Rashid Street's old souq, there is no escaping the poster-size photographs of Iraq's dictator--only recently proclaimed president, but its longtime strongman.
First take a saunter around the blossoming, waterfall-studded gardens of the Emirates Heritage Village down on the Breakwater, where you will find evidence of an older era Abu Dhabi, complete with Bedouin encampment, mosque and a re-creation of a traditional souq.
In the evening, there is simply no better place to be in Doha than Souq Waqif, a recently renovated bazaar targeted at tourists but with an authentic mix of locals and expats all shopping, eating and just hanging out.
It may have been built to look old, but the souq is still a top spot for an evening out, wandering in and out of warmly-lit stalls and galleries selling everything from jewellery to spices, past groups of men smoking shisha and sipping mint tea.
"When the merchants of Hamidiya -- the main souq (marketplace) -- go on strike, you know you have lost the conscience and heart of Damascus, " wrote Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Slow down and look around: when rays of sunlight through the palm-frond roof illuminate a lute maker at work, you have found the Instrument-makers' Souq (Souq Kimakhine), and if you glimpse sparks flying as old bicycle parts are re-fashioned into lanterns, Blacksmiths' Souq (Souq Haddadine) has found you.
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