Coming into Abu Dhabi, put together to be welcomed by cheerful sunshine, an azure sea, the mesmerising scent of oud in bustling markets and malls, the sight of palatial inns and hovering skyscrapers and way more. They certain don’t scrimp on the very best of the very best on this a part of the world!
Simply accessible from key European, Asian, African, American and Australian hubs, Abu Dhabi is rapidly gaining a fame as being one of many world’s most family-friendly locations of the second – and it’s no shock. Because the Emirate opens its doorways to all vaccinated guests (with out quarantine), the ‘Time is Now’ to go to Abu Dhabi. Due to the Emirate’s pioneering Go Protected Certification programme, the tourism trade has been revived, inspiring shopper confidence in tourism and hospitality institutions throughout the town. The Go Protected certification behind the programme is being awarded to inns, malls, museums, theme parks, leisure spots, household sights and eating places that meet rigorous hygiene requirements, with Abu Dhabi’s implementation of an accelerated vaccination programme additionally seeing a 90 p.c vaccination fee within the UAE capital.
So, why go to Abu Dhabi now?
In simply over 50 years, Abu Dhabi has reworked itself from a humble fishing village right into a thriving Twenty first-century metropolis – one that is still deeply loyal to its tradition and roots. It goes with out saying that regional historical past, custom and tradition thrive in Abu Dhabi in varied varieties. From historic tombs at UNESCO World Heritage Websites in Al Ain (about an hour and a half from the town by automobile) to the oldest standing construction and delightful conventional handicrafts at Qasr Al Hosn and Home of Artisans, unbelievable structure at Qasr Al Watan, the Emirate’s working Presidential Palace, and way more. In case you’re searching for journey, Abu Dhabi additionally provides adrenalin-fuelled enjoyable throughout the town – from dune bashing and sandboarding within the Rub’ al Khali desert to exhilarating and academic rides and sights at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and 6 magical and immersive worlds on the world’s greatest and totally air-conditioned indoor theme park Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. Don’t get us began on nature, with unbelievable wildlife and gorgeous sights to be seen at Sir Bani Yas Island, Mangrove Nationwide Park and plenty of different magical spots.
Abu Dhabi metropolis and Saadiyat Island are house to unbelievable artwork, tradition and nature.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the magnificent Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island is a must-visit for artwork and tradition aficionados. There’s loads to see right here, with a everlasting gallery of native, regional, worldwide artefacts and paintings on supply. In case you want a second to take a breath and simply calm down, Saadiyat Public Seashore is good, overlooking the inviting waters of the Gulf. It’s right here that the island’s oldest company – Hawksbill sea turtles – make their house. Continued conservation work on the island ensures that the turtles and their nesting grounds are protected, with a whole bunch of eggs efficiently hatched on Saadiyat’s shores.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
One other sight to behold, and never too removed from Saadiyat Island, is Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Protecting nearly 30 acres with the house to welcome over 40,000 folks, it is likely one of the world’s most distinguished locations of worship. That includes a surprising mixture of conventional and trendy types, it is likely one of the world’s largest mosques and the one one which captures the distinctive interactions between Islam and different world cultures. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque celebrates cultural range by making a religious oasis that’s genuinely welcoming and inspirational in its basis. Designed by British, Italian and Emirati architects, the mosque was constructed with design concepts borrowed from elements of Turkey, Morocco, Pakistan and Egypt, amongst different Islamic nations. As quickly as you enter the mosque, you’re welcomed by its 1,096 amethyst-and-jasper-embedded columns, 82 white marble domes, reflective swimming pools, gold-plated Swarovski chandeliers, iconic prayer corridor, and a courtyard that includes one of many largest marble mosaic artworks on the planet. The mosque holds a Guinness World File for the biggest hand-woven carpet and boasts one of the huge chandeliers in a mosque, making it a surprising place to discover and take pictures.
For a glimpse into the Emirate’s historical past, head to Al Ain.
Al Ain, about an hour and a half away from the town by automobile, is a UNESCO World Heritage metropolis and one of many world’s oldest completely inhabited settlements. It envelops seven oases and is crammed with charming forts. When visiting, keep at Telal Resort Al Ain, an opulent boutique desert resort set amidst an Arabian oasis. This stunning property sits on the outskirts of Al Ain metropolis within the expansive Remah Desert. In case you love sightseeing, contemplate Al Jahili Fort, erected in 1891 to protect the town and defend its treasured palm groves. It is likely one of the UAE’s most celebrated monuments and includes a placing assortment of pictures by British adventurer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, that includes his Nineteen Forties’ crossing of the Rub’ al Khali desert. One other must-see is the redeveloped Al Qattara Fort, now house to an arts centre and gallery providing a whole bunch of contemporary reveals and workshops, from pottery to portray, music and calligraphy. Al Qattara Arts Centre boasts a everlasting venue for archaeological and heritage reveals, and studios for artwork courses, whereas the onsite artwork gallery shows work by expatriate and Emirati artists.
Abu Dhabi’s journey capital, Yas Island, is the proper alternative for households and thrill-seekers.
Yas Marina Circuit
Yas Marina Circuit is the UAE’s most epic motorsports, sporting and enterprise venue created to raise Abu Dhabi’s standing as a world-class sporting and leisure vacation spot. This spectacular mega-budget circuit attracts travellers from around the globe. This world-famous Method 1® circuit performs host to a number of scorching occasions all year long, from the Method 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (this yr the occasion kicks off on 12 December 2021 itself to kart racing at Yas Kartzone, drag racing at Yas Drag Evening or race coaching at Yas Racing Faculty. The circuit additionally boasts strolling, working and biking tracks as a part of the TrainYAS programme. The property can also be nice for company wants, supplying you with the possibility to rent the entire monitor or host workforce constructing, occasions, gatherings or conferences as a part of the monitor’s Venue and Observe Rent providers. Yas Marina Circuit is the Assembly Place of Champions, enabling folks of all ages and from all walks of life to benefit from the thrill of go-karting with their household, testing the bounds at over 200km/hour in an Aston Martin GT4, getting match with pals, collaborating in one in every of many sporting occasions, or doing enterprise with track-side views.
For a keep on the monitor itself, select the enduring W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island. That is your gateway to a world of experiences, highlighting inspirational design and jewel-tone furnishings portraying hues of liquid gold. The 499 visitor rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling home windows supply magnificent views of Yas Marina and Yas Marina Circuit. Savour multi-culinary delights at Storage restaurant, soak up spectacular views at W Lounge or prime up your tan at WET Deck. Have to recharge with out the children? Head to FIT, the resort spa, whereas your little ones hang around safely at SUN Deck, a recent child’s zone.
Fancy driving the world’s quickest rollercoaster? Head to close by Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. This huge and principally indoor Ferrari-themed park boasts greater than 20 exhilarating rides and sights, together with The Tyre Change Expertise that exams in the event you can match the tempo of F1™ pit crews. In the meantime, Turbo Observe provides an epic zero-gravity fall, with Bell’Italia, being a experience that allows you to traverse a mini Italy in a Ferrari 250 California, circa 1958. The experience additionally showcases different Italian landmarks such because the Amalfi Coast, Monza Racetrack, the Colosseum di Roma, Venezia and Maranello, the house of Ferrari.
Warner Bros World TM Abu Dhabi – an indoor theme park on the island – is epic too, bringing your favorite Warner Bros characters to life via spectacular set designs in six themed areas, with 29 rides and interactive leisure excellent for all ages.
In case you’re into golf, try the Yas Hyperlinks Golf Course. Boasting a nine-hole academy course, a par three course for children and a complete 18-hole hyperlinks course for the extra skilled, that is the perfect place to get some contemporary air with the household.
A nature lover’s paradise, Abu Dhabi surprises you with wildlife and delightful surroundings.
Al Ain Zoo
Explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger stated of the magical Rub’ al Khali (Empty Quarter desert), “it was very nonetheless, with the silence which we have now pushed from our world”. The world’s largest uninterrupted sand mass nonetheless provides the identical serene silence that it did when Thesiger explored it along with his Emirati and Omani companions within the Nineteen Forties. Its nice, golden and pink sands shift with the winds to type dunes a whole bunch of ft excessive for so far as the attention can see, with its starry skies being a number of the clearest on the planet.
Rub’ al Khali Desert
You’ll be able to get pleasure from this dramatic desert surroundings by heading inland to the Al Dhafra Area to spend an evening amidst the dunes. Set in the course of the Rub’ al Khali, Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara is the perfect place to discover this enchanting panorama. Staying on the resort, you’ll be able to indulge within the property’s lushest desert experiences, from dune daybreak walks to camel trekking, campfire barbecues, to heart-pounding dune bashing.
Sir Bani Yas Island is a nature-based vacation spot house to gorgeous wildlife, a spread of family-friendly journey actions, five-star boutique inns, luxurious villas, purpose-built stables and historic websites, Sir Bani Yas Island is one in every of eight islands making up the desert islands of Al Dhafra. For safari-style wildlife recognizing, you’ll wish to head to the Arabian Wildlife Park – spanning greater than half of the island and residential to over 17-000 free-roaming animals, together with Arabian oryx, gazelles, hyenas and cheetahs. Take a wildlife safari to identify giraffes at eye stage from the viewing platform. There are a number of opulent inns positioned on the island. Visitors of the boutique Desert Islands Resort and Spa by Anantara resort can take 4X4 nature and wildlife drives of the park in specifically made autos. Not one however three Anantara retreats sit on the island, the place company can bask in luxurious five-star lodging. There’s Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara, Anantara Al Yamm Villa Resort on the japanese shores, and Anantara Al Sahel Villa Resort. This historic island can also be house to the UAE’s solely found Christian church and monastery, which will be visited throughout a Desert Islands Resort and Spa Tradition Tour. It’s believed to have been buried for hundreds of years, and was found within the early Nineteen Nineties on Sir Bani Yas Island to light up the proof of early Christianity within the area. Open to the general public, that is the UAE’s solely identified historic Christian web site.
Mangrove Nationwide Park
The sprawling Mangrove Nationwide Park is a jewel within the UAE capital’s crown, sitting simply exterior Abu Dhabi’s metropolis centre. A perfect place for households, chook watchers and photographers seeking to escape the town’s hustle for just a few hours, this stunning and shocking park continues to be one of many Emirate’s most important ecological property, protected by the Surroundings Company Abu Dhabi (EAD). Mangrove Nationwide Park constitutes about 75 p.c of the entire mangrove forest space within the UAE and is a biodiversity hotspot that features mangrove forests, salt marshes, mudflats, and algal communities. In case you want to “reside” among the many mangroves, select Anantara Japanese Mangroves Abu Dhabi Lodge. The resort provides serene lagoon views, and the spacious rooms and suites are distinguished by considerable private house and décor that displays the brilliance of the area’s desert and mangrove panoramas. Unwind on the resort’s infinity pool that boasts views of the mangrove forest.
Abu Dhabi is a vacation spot marked with outstanding contrasts, surreal eating, luxurious buying experiences and extra.
Min Zaman
With regards to consuming in Abu Dhabi, you’re spoilt for alternative. Savour the style of conventional Lebanese, Arabian and Center Japanese cooking as a singer and stomach dancer carry out at Min Zaman restaurant. Within the gentle and kooky atmosphere of Min Zaman, on the Al Ain Rotana, patrons can dine indoors or on the terrace dealing with the pool backyard, enjoyable with a shisha pipe whereas listening to an oud participant. There are cold and warm mezzes, grills served together with your alternative of home fries, grilled greens, oriental rice or aspect salad, in addition to sandwiches and markouk (paper skinny Lebanese flat bread). The specials from the oven embrace Sujuk lamb sausage with kashkawan, and za’atar with greens. Sweets embrace umm Ali (just like bread pudding), halawet el jibn (candy cheese rolls) and Arabic ice cream.
Nusr-Et Steakhouse
Meat connoisseurs will let you know that Nusr-Et Steakhouse at The Galleria is the place to get top-quality steak, burgers and extra. The place is known as after its proprietor, Nusret Gökçe, also referred to as an web sensation, Salt Bae. Nusr-Et provides a laid-back environment in a boutique idea restaurant boasting a slick trendy house with leather-backed chairs, brilliant murals, floor-to-ceiling home windows and an out of doors terrace with sweeping views over the bay. You don’t wish to miss their starters, together with steak tartare, beef carpaccio or smoked ribeye. For mains, take your decide from a collection of ribs, tenderloin beef, steaks, beef fillets, lamb, burgers, meatballs or sucuk (barbecued Turkish sausage), and don’t overlook a salad or your alternative of garnish (mashed croquet, mushroom, potato chips and extra).
In case you get pleasure from vegetarian meals, head to the 2017 winner of the What’s On Award for Finest Worldwide Restaurant underneath AED 400 – C.Style at Centro Capital Centre – Abu Dhabi. It lives as much as its expectations of bringing the very best and most inexpensive collection of worldwide delicacies to Abu Dhabi. We’re advised that their breakfast buffet is very in style amongst resort company.
With regards to discovering a spot to put your head for just a few nights, you’ll be happy to know that Abu Dhabi has a number of the finest inns on the planet.
The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi
If opulence is your jam, no one can do it higher than The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal. Watch the dawn over Al Maqta Creek and revel in sunsets that illuminate Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque superbly. Positioned inside ten Venetian-inspired buildings that type a crescent round one of many metropolis’s largest outside swimming pools, with eight eating places, five-star lodging, a holistic spa and 23,000 sq. ft of occasion house accessible, this is likely one of the finest inns to go to within the Emirate.
Then there may be Emirates Palace – an iconic Abu Dhabi landmark. This elegant resort combines Arabian splendour with trendy lavishness to create a fascinating and unforgettable expertise. The resort’s golden color enhances its contemporary inexperienced gardens, silvery water fountains, and blue sky through the daytime. The resort’s lighting adjustments subtly at night time, highlighting an impressive rainbow-changing impact over the central arch. Gold, mom of pearl and jewels, dominate its inside, and the palace has 1,002 chandeliers, the biggest weighing 2.5 tonnes. One other extraordinary hallmark is its two handmade wall-display carpets, portraying the property itself and every weighing a ton. Visitors and guests can wander via the majestic halls and corridors – a showcase of Arabian design, with grand central passageways and arched ceilings – and select from over 200 rooms, all embellished in a snug but stylish model and boasting lavish cultural touches. Culinary highlights embrace up to date Chinese language delicacies at Hakkasan, nice French fare at Le Vendôme and award-winning native dishes at Mezlai Emirati Restaurant.
Etihad TowersProviding a stark distinction to the palatial construction of the Emirates Palace is Etihad Towers. This five-tower complicated is a dramatic architectural assertion on the Abu Dhabi Corniche. It welcomes residents and travellers to reside, work, keep, store and dine in a single vacation spot boasting gorgeous panoramic metropolis and Arabian Gulf views. The complicated’s benchmark for luxurious consists of three residential towers, one enterprise tower, and the 280-metre tall, five-star Conrad at Etihad Towers resort. On Tower 2’s 74th ground, the Remark Deck at 300 provides a number of the metropolis’s finest views. Suppose you are searching for a wonderful place to buy. In that case, The Avenue at Etihad Towers is house to a number of the world’s most luxurious and unique boutique retailer collections, with many boasting personal rooms for VIP buying.
So, what are you ready for? With all that’s on supply, now’s clearly the time to go to Abu Dhabi.
Disclaimer: This text has been produced on behalf of the Division of Tradition and Tourism – Abu Dhabi by Instances Web’s Highlight workforce.