Known for
UAE's capital, government towers, museums and man-made islands
Must-see landmarks
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Qasr Al Watan
Best time to visit
November to March, when daytime temperatures are cooler
Getting around
Walkable along the Corniche; car needed for Saadiyat and Yas Islands
A recreated pre-oil Emirati village on the Corniche breakwater, with a mud-brick fort, a souk and a mosque, where artisans from the Emirates Heritage Club demonstrate pottery, weaving and metalwork. Entry is free. Marina Mall is an 18 minute walk east, past the breakwater's palm-lined path.
A five-floor shopping centre facing the breakwater, its fashion, dining and cinema halls a shaded break from the heat; entry and browsing cost nothing. The Founder's Memorial is a 20 minute walk south along the Corniche promenade, past palm-lined gardens and cycling tracks.
A national tribute to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan centred on The Constellation, artist Ralph Helmick's three-dimensional portrait that shifts shape with the viewing angle and lights up like stars after dark. The Welcome Centre and Sanctuary Garden are free to explore. Emirates Palace is a 13 minute walk south.
This gold-domed hotel opened in February 2005 in time for that year's GCC summit, its marble lobby and gardens spread across an 84 hectare estate with a private beach on the Corniche. Non-guests can admire the facade and grounds from outside; the Observation Deck at 300 is an 11 minute walk further along the waterfront.
Etihad Towers' viewing floor climbs 300 metres above the Corniche, the height that gives it its name, with floor to ceiling views over the Gulf, Emirates Palace and the skyline stretching towards downtown. A cafe on the same floor makes a good spot to end the walk.
One of the largest mosques in the world, this white marble landmark was completed in 2007 and named after the country's founding president, who is buried beside it. Its 82 domes, four 107 metre minarets and a courtyard fringed by more than a thousand columns frame a main prayer hall that holds one of the largest hand-knotted carpets ever made. Reflective pools mirror the marble, which is inlaid with floral mosaics of coloured stone.
Architect: Yusef Abdelki · Style: Mughal and Moorish
Location: Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Street, main island
Access: Free, including daily guided tours; modest dress is required. Visiting hours run Saturday to Thursday from 9:00 to 20:30, shorter on Friday; the official site lists prayer-time closures.
Designed by Jean Nouvel and opened in 2017 on Saadiyat Island, this universal museum sits beneath a 180 metre dome of interlaced star-shaped openings that scatter sunlight across the galleries below like the shade of a palm grove, an effect the architect called a rain of light. Its collection spans human history across cultures and is shown alongside loans from French museums, and the low white building appears to float on the sea.
Architect: Jean Nouvel
Location: Saadiyat Cultural District, Saadiyat Island
Access: Ticketed; closed on Mondays.
Part of the Presidential Palace complex, Qasr Al Watan opened to visitors in 2019 as a working palace that presents the country's culture and governance. Its Great Hall rises under a vast dome above an interior of mother-of-pearl and gilded detail, and a library traces centuries of Arab knowledge and craftsmanship. After dark, the Palace in Motion light and sound show is projected across the facade, and audio guides cover the state rooms in several languages.
Location: Al Ras Al Akhdar, West Corniche
Access: Ticketed, timed entry; the evening show is ticketed separately.
A domed landmark on the western Corniche, Emirates Palace opened in 2005 and spreads across an 84 hectare estate with formal gardens and a private beach. Built in a grand Arabian style with more than a hundred domes and gold and marble finishes around a soaring central atrium, it serves as a state venue as well as a hotel. Non-guests can walk the grounds and public areas, take afternoon tea and visit its galleries, cafes and shops.
Location: West Corniche Road, Al Ras Al Akhdar
Access: Grounds and public areas open to visitors; no booking needed.
The oldest building in Abu Dhabi, Qasr Al Hosn grew from a coral-and-sea-stone watchtower raised in the eighteenth century to guard the island's freshwater well. The Inner Fort and later Outer Palace rose around it, and the whitewashed complex served as the ruling family's home and seat of government before becoming a museum in 2018 after years of restoration. Its galleries trace the city's story from a fishing and pearling settlement to a modern capital.
Location: Sheikh Zayed the First Street, Al Hosn
Access: Ticketed; the adjacent House of Artisans is free.
Photo: "Qasr Al Hosn" by Darthjipsu (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Ferrari World opened on Yas Island in 2010 beneath a vast red roof that carries the largest Ferrari logo ever made. The indoor theme park is built around the marque's history and motorsport, with a museum of racing cars and rides for every age. Its headline coaster, Formula Rossa, holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest launch of any roller coaster, reaching 240 km/h in under five seconds from a standing start.
Architect: Benoy
Location: Yas Island
Access: Ticketed.
This fully indoor theme park opened on Yas Island in 2018 and fills six themed lands, from Gotham City and Metropolis to Cartoon Junction and Bedrock, keeping the desert heat outside all year. Rides, dark rides and live shows are built around DC super heroes, Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera characters, with a central plaza of restaurants and shops beneath a stained-glass dome. It is counted among the largest indoor parks of its kind.
Location: Yas Island
Access: Ticketed.
Photo: "Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi" by Dasomm (CC0).
Designed by Hermann Tilke and opened in 2009, Yas Marina Circuit hosts the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that closes the season each December. The track winds past a marina and beneath a hotel that arches over the asphalt, and is one of the few circuits to finish under floodlights at dusk. Outside race week, visitors can take guided track tours, driving experiences and karting sessions around the grand-prix layout.
Architect: Hermann Tilke
Location: Yas Island
Access: Ticketed for tours and experiences.
Photos: "North Grandstand at the Yas Marina Circuit" by TravelPhotosNL (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Sunset at Yas Marina Circuit" by Cesar I. Martins (CC BY 2.0).
Yas Waterworld opened on Yas Island in 2013 and spreads dozens of rides, slides and attractions across a story drawn from Emirati pearl-diving folklore. A wave pool, a lazy river and family raft rides sit among rock-carved theming, with dedicated zones for younger children and several record-setting water coasters. A suspended coaster, the Bandit Bomber, loops over the whole site, which is landscaped around a central pearl motif that ties its rides to the region's seafaring past.
Location: Yas Island
Access: Ticketed.
Photos: "Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi" by LittleOneM (CC BY-SA 4.0).
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi opened on Yas Island in 2023 as the first SeaWorld outside the United States and the first built without orcas. Set inside a huge domed building, it is organised into eight realms that move from an Arctic penguin habitat to a tropical rainforest and a vast multi-level aquarium. Visitors can walk beneath schools of fish through underwater viewing tunnels, and the park combines its marine-life encounters with a research and rescue centre for the region's dugongs, turtles and other sea life.
Location: Yas Island
Access: Ticketed.
Photos: "SeaWorld Yas Island" by Lintophilip (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Penguins at SeaWorld Abu Dhabi" by Tashmetova808 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Corrs play Etihad Arena on 27 September at 20:00, a Music date at Yas Bay's indoor arena.
Power Slap 25 comes to Space42 Arena on 23 October, a Sports card at Abu Dhabi's indoor arena.
Riverdance plays Etihad Arena on 31 October at 15:00, an Arts & Theatre afternoon performance at Yas Bay.
Hans Zimmer Live plays Etihad Arena on 13 November at 18:30, a Music date at Yas Island's indoor arena.
The Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix races at Yas Marina Circuit from 4 to 6 December, a Marina Grandstand ticket for the season's closing race weekend.
The Constellation artwork and its gardens are free to visit, with complimentary guided tours run by the Welcome Centre in Arabic and English; the shapes are best seen once it is lit up after dark.
The souk, the mosque replica and the artisans' demonstrations are free to wander through, open daily from 9:00 to 16:00 with longer hours on Fridays.
Browsing its five floors of shops and cafes costs nothing, with air conditioning and breakwater views a welcome break from the heat; its cinema and specific attractions inside are ticketed separately.
The Al Sahil section of the beach, at Gate 4, is free to enter and use, with showers and lifeguards along its two kilometres of sand; other sections of the beach charge a small family fee.
Window shopping through the Galleria's fashion boutiques and waterfront promenade on Al Maryah Island costs nothing, with views across to the downtown skyline.
The memorial plaza, its reflecting pool and the 31 leaning tablets designed by Idris Khan are free to visit around the clock, with a daily Honour Guard march at the memorial before sunset.
Saadiyat Island's arts centre puts on free exhibitions, talks and workshops year-round, and its cafe terrace looks out towards the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
General admission to the House of Artisans and its landscaped courtyard, next to Qasr Al Hosn, is free; only the Qasr Al Hosn fort and museum itself charges an entry fee.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and the seat of its government, built mostly on a natural island connected to the mainland by bridges. Oil revenue funded its transformation from a pearling and fishing settlement into a planned capital of wide boulevards, museums and government towers within a few decades.
The Corniche curves along the mainland side of the main island, backed by government buildings and hotels, while Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the country's founding president, is honoured across the city, from the Founder's Memorial to the Grand Mosque that carries his name.
Saadiyat Island, northeast of downtown, holds the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum and the wider Saadiyat Cultural District, with a Guggenheim outpost still under construction. Yas Island, further out, is built around the Yas Marina Circuit and its Formula 1 Grand Prix, with Ferrari World, Warner Bros World, Yas Waterworld and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi clustered nearby. Al Maryah Island, closer to downtown, is the city's financial district, its Galleria mall facing the waterway.
November to March brings cooler days and is the busiest season for outdoor sightseeing and beaches. Daytime temperatures push past 40°C from June to September, when life shifts indoors between air-conditioned malls, museums and taxis. Two to three days cover the Corniche, the Grand Mosque and one or two of Saadiyat's or Yas Island's attractions at an easy pace. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Yas Island parks give the capital a large share of the country's headline sights, all of them among the places to visit in the United Arab Emirates.
The Corniche and its western breakwater are walkable on foot, but Abu Dhabi's islands are built for cars: taxis and ride-hailing apps are the easiest way to reach Saadiyat, Yas Island and Al Maryah, and a public bus network also links the main districts. There is no metro.