Six years here, and we had not seen all seven of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Which was a wasted opportunity.

Because the UAE encompasses only 32,278 square miles (a little smaller than Maine, a bit bigger than South Carolina, which are 39th and 40th among the 50 U.S. states) we were able to knock out all seven emirates in around four hours.

It helps that getting from Abu Dhabi, the capital, into or through the other six emirates is a trip of not even 200 miles. (Most of the UAE, more than 85 percent, is Abu Dhabi, and a lot of Abu Dhabi is the infamous Empty Quarter, which we did not have to cross.)

A mostly fun trip, helped along by the fact that late November, the beginning of the country’s temperate season, is a period when a breakdown in the car is not a life-threatening event.

So, the seven emirates:

1. Abu Dhabi. We touched down by rolling out of bed. This is the capital, and we have lived here for the duration of our stay in the country. We put gas in the tank and oil in the engine of the increasingly temperamental Audi A4 and took off, heading north and east on the E11 highway.

2. Dubai. Been here, done that. The most populous emirate and the UAE’s most populous city and (we hate to concede it, in Abu Dhabi) the best-known. Even at midday on a Saturday, the traffic was a factor. Never quite get used to the first glance, from a distance, at the dozens of enormous towers for which Dubai is known. We were pushing on, today.

3. Sharjah. One of us had been there a time or three, for soccer matches. Sharjah is always something of a shock, for those coming from Dubai. The latter is mostly shiny and new/spectacular. Sharjah is fairly old and a bit tatty, as the Brits would say. But, too, it could be perceived as a peaceful and thoughtful place, after Dubai’s manic energy. I was told recently that the Sharjah corniche is worth seeing, but not if you’re in a hurry to see all seven emirates on half a tank of gas. Sharjah begins the part of the country that has been inhabited for a long time. A batch of the area around here was once known as the Pirate Coast, which agitates the locals, who hotly dispute the designation. Sharjah is the “dry” (alcoholic drinks are banned) emirate and historically has had close ties with Saudi Arabia. It also is palpably less wealthy than Dubai or Abu Dhabi: We saw numerous cars older and more battered than our 2004 model, which sticks out in Abu Dhabi. From Sharjah north are the parts of the UAE where people have been living for thousands of years, depending on the sea and on trade to survive in a hard and nearly waterless land. Sharjah has some particularly odd/wandering/circuitous borders.

4. Ajman. We briefly got lost, and had to backtrack about 15 minutes in Sharjah to get to Ajman, and I hope the UAE’s smallest emirate (100 square miles, one-15th the size of Rhode Island) appreciated it. The easiest way of returning to a northerly bearing would have had us bypass li’l Ajman, but we reversed course till we found the E11 — which stretches from one end of the country to the other, though it gets quite confused while in Sharjah. I liked the look of Ajman, compared to Sharjah. The driver had the opposite opinion. Seemed a bit more open, a little less fossilized. Ajman also is known for its shisha bars because smoking shisha was banned in Sharjah, which surrounds Ajman by land, more than a decade ago.

5. Umm Al Qawain. Also known as UAQ. Easily the most obscure of the emirates. Perhaps, in part, because it also has the smallest population — fewer than 100,000. Perhaps because people of good will cannot decide how it should be spelled, in English. (Official style at The National has gone from Umm Al Quwain to Umm Al Qawain, but we spelled it Umm Al Qaiwain as recently as last weekend and it can be found under several more spellings on the web.) The kind of place where it is so empty and quiet that you can hear the wind, and perhaps in the distance something old and frayed flapping. If you stay on the major road, as we did, you see almost no developed areas. (To see those, you need to detour, and head toward the Gulf.) We did drive past the Barracuda Beach Resort and next to it is a place known by some expats, as the Barracuda Booze Shop — one of the cheapest and best-stocked places to buy alcohol in the country. UAQ is the only emirate without a soccer club.

6. Ras Al Khaimah. The northernmost of the emirates. Unlike the previous five emirates, which are oriented toward the Gulf, RAK (as it is known) also has a fair bit of inland area, in the foothills and mounts of the Hajar mountain range. Known as being one of the most socially conservative and Emirati (in fraction of the population, some 40 percent) of the emirates and also for a lower standard of living than in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Away from the Gulf, RAK will remind a Californian of the rocky, waterless mountains between Barstow and Las Vegas. We got well into the emirate, but not to the main city (also called Ras Al Khaimah), because we were starting to flag and had to hang a right on road No. 119.

7. Fujairah. Perhaps the most scenic of the seven emirates and also the only one that does not touch the Gulf. Fujairah is on the east coast of the peninsula and is oriented toward the Indian Ocean. The interior of the emirate is home to some small, ramshackle dwellings where goats are being raised, and also some dramatic scenery, near the Hajar Mountains. We entered the emirate about halfway across the peninsula, and went pretty much due east till reaching the Indian Ocean at Dibba. The road then turns south, with the ocean to your left, and passes a batch of resorts (we are staying at one) before reaching Khorfakkan, a busy port, and then the city of Fujairah — and we saw those twice, in the night, with an Arabian Gulf League match between Dibba and Al Shaab in the middle. Fujairah is a bit difficult to reach, but it by far feels less like the UAE than any other place in the UAE, almost certainly because of its acreage on the Indian Ocean. It claims the oldest mosque in the country.

So, all this in 4.5 hours, even counting the “lost” episode in Sharjah.

It demonstrated to us that the UAE contains a far wider spectrum of lifestyles and geography than one would assume, if one spent all his or her time in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

It also showed that the road net is modern and well-maintained — only one bit of the trip was on a semi-sketchy patch — which means seeing all seven emirates in one day is easier to do than might be assumed.

Dubai is fine for a one-day visit, but if you are going to spend any significant time in the UAE, a journey to all seven emirates is a must — one we put off for six years, but always planned to get around to and are glad we did.