The nomination file for Hatta is rather confusing to me. The location marker is actually in Oman, there’s talk about geological formations, despite it being a cultural site and even the (modern) dams are mentioned. I guess, the dams are rather anker points to show, what is part of the area. A great portion of the file is dedicated to the Hatta tombs, that were built there since the Bronze Age. However, I did not find anything about where these tombs exactly are and if you can visit them. Luckily, the file also talks about primitive stone houses and exactly those you can find in the Hatta Heritage Village. There is still some construction work going on in the village and the fort is one of these typically overdone Arab sites, but there is still a cluster of traditional stone houses on the slope of the hill with the watch tower behind the village. It appears, they will be kept in their current state, which make it look like a real archaeological site.

There is also a falaj (also mentioned in the nomination file), that can be seen from the other watch tower, close to the parking lot.

In general, our visit was rather pleasant. The houses were nice and unexpected. I can understand, that the emirate of Dubai tries to push this. If they go forward with this nomination, I hope the make the tombs accessible and this might become a worthy addition to the list.

Hatta is an exclave to Dubai and even though you drive for over an hour and almost reach Oman it's still Dubai, with the dam clearly showing the leaders. You could also continue to Oman for another 10 minutes from here.

Most of the time you'll spend in the car to get here and then you should park to get on the free shuttle that takes you to the dam but in the late afternoon one can just drive up to see everything yourself. I saw the shuttle and it allows for better walking at the top so I would definitely recommend it in peak times. Nobody really mind that I was driving up there and stopped the car on a dam.

So while I enjoyed visiting Hatta, the water spots, see green in Dubai that wasn't imported water and feel you aren't in the Emirates anymore, I don't see it is worth a UNESCO status at all just for that. If you make a road trip into the area I would still recommend going. There is enough in the area to make it worth a visit.