Ask the group chat where to go this weekend and someone will say, “Shall we try somewhere new?” Forty minutes later, you have a booking at the usual place. In the interests of giving that conversation a fighting chance, may we suggest a family-run bakery inside an Emirati home?

It is called Juntas, it is in Al Mizhar and there is a fair chance someone in the chat has been going there for years. Why have they never mentioned it? “Oh, I thought you knew.” You can live in Dubai for just as long as the friend who spends half her Saturdays there and still need her to send you the pin.

That is how Beyond the Map. Curated by Audi. came about. “The idea began with a simple observation: even when you live in the UAE, there is still so much you haven’t discovered,” the Audi team told The Sandy Times.

To mark the arrival of the all-new Audi Q3, Audi Al Nabooda Automobiles have put together a guide to 30 places across the UAE worth changing your route for. There are independent cafés, traditional Emirati kitchens, farms, retreats and a geology park that looks suspiciously like the set of Dune. All 30 are accessible by car. The group chat can take it from here.

A team of Emiratis and expats from around the world, all of whom call the UAE home, pooled their personal recommendations. Even the people putting the guide together came away with places to try. “What surprised us most was how much we could still discover through one another,” the Audi team said.

So what did a place need to pass the vibe check? The UAE is hardly short of a handsome café. “Good coffee and beautiful interiors can draw you in, but we were looking for places with character, where you leave with a story to tell and want to bring someone back,” the team explained. Sometimes that came down to the people behind a place or a tradition they were keeping alive. Sometimes it was the sheer surprise of finding it here in the first place.

The team had newcomers in mind, along with people who have lived here long enough to be the ones showing visitors around. For either reader, part of the appeal is how much you can discover in a short drive. As Audi put it, “Its landmarks are part of its identity, but smaller places offer a more personal connection through the people who run them, the traditions they keep alive and the communities around them.”

“We wanted to create something people could hold, keep in the car and take along on their next discovery,” the Audi team explained. You can pick up the limited print edition at Audi showrooms in Dubai or browse all 30 locations in the digital guide.

Alongside the destinations, the guide includes facts about Audi and Al Nabooda. If you would like a closer look at the all-new Q3, three of the stops on Audi’s private driving experiences are also hosting public Q3 pop-ups. You can find them at Juntas, Houd and Guernsey Dairy (by appointment only) from October 27 to November 9, 2026.

Audi sees room for future editions across the UAE and further afield. For now, the team would quite like those pristine copies to pick up a little mileage. “We want the guide to be well travelled, with readers turning its pages into plans and making discoveries of their own.”

And if you have just one free Saturday? “Choose a destination that catches the eye, then build the day around it,” the team suggested. Open the zine, pick the place you would most like to try and send the pin to the group chat. Preferably before someone books the usual place.