The back story
Where Abu Dhabi sleeps: the palace, the islands and the creek
Emirates Palace, the Saadiyat resorts, Al Maryah’s towers and the creek facing the Grand Mosque.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Davide Mauro · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsAbu Dhabi is a city of islands, and the first choice is which shore you want to wake up on. At the western tip of the Corniche, Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental keeps its own beach and its own small kingdom of restaurants. Saadiyat Island has the long white beach, the museums and the resorts of the Park Hyatt, the St. Regis and Jumeirah. Al Maryah Island is the business island, with the Four Seasons and the Rosewood beside The Galleria.
Across the creek from the Grand Mosque, the Ritz-Carlton, the Shangri-La and the Fairmont face the white domes; out at Eastern Mangroves the Anantara looks over a national park of trees and water.
The palace and the Corniche
Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental stands at the end of the Corniche with its own private beach; Hakkasan and Talea by Antonio Guida, both holding a MICHELIN star, are inside, with Sand & Koal on the sand. Along the Corniche, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers has Ray’s Bar on level 62 and the Observation Deck at 300 above it; The St. Regis Abu Dhabi, in Nation Towers, has its own beach club across the road.
Saadiyat Island
Saadiyat’s beach is where hawksbill turtles nest, and its resorts are built low behind the dunes: the Park Hyatt, the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Jumeirah Saadiyat Island and the Rixos. Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and teamLab Phenomena are a short drive away.
Al Maryah Island
The Four Seasons and the Rosewood stand beside The Galleria and the waterfront promenade, with some of the city’s most talked-about restaurants within a few minutes’ walk: Coya, Zuma, LPM, Butcher & Still and Dai Pai Dong.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Tms2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsBy the creek and the mosque
The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal, the Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri and Fairmont Bab Al Bahr line the water of Khor Al Maqta, with the Grand Mosque on the far bank.
Choose Saadiyat for beaches and museums, the Corniche for the city, Yas Island for the theme parks and the Grand Prix.
Desert and islands
Two hours or more from the city, Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara rises from the dunes of the Empty Quarter, and the Anantara resorts of Sir Bani Yas Island sit in a wildlife park in the Gulf.
Our advice: if you want the beach, ask whether it is the hotel’s own, and whether the sea there is calm enough to swim year-round.
Why it's on our list
- The palace and the Corniche
- Saadiyat Island
- Al Maryah Island
- By the creek and the mosque
- Yas Island
- Desert and islands
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More in depth
The back storyThe white city on the water: reading Abu Dhabi’s great sightsThe Grand Mosque, the Louvre’s dome, a fort of the 1760s and the islands: how to read Abu Dhabi.
History & heritageAbu Dhabi: from the oases to the island capitalBronze Age tombs at Al Ain, a fort of the 1760s, a pearling town and the union of 1971.
The back storyUnder the dome: Abu Dhabi’s arts, from the Louvre to the GuggenheimThe Louvre’s rain of light, Zayed National Museum, 421, Frieze and the Abu Dhabi Festival.