Abu Dhabi: An exquisite emirate of culture where historic heritage meets modern abundance. I personally fell in love with the place and would recommend everyone travelling to Dubai to pay a visit to the capital as well, since it’s only 1.5h away and offers a completely different experience.
This was the first stop of our world travel adventure and my partner, Gary, and I went in with a lot of false assumptions and misconceptions that we wish we had known better before departure. So to take the guess-work out of travelling, we rallied up the best advice on Abu Dhabi based on our experience to help fellow globetrotters manage their expectations when visiting this magnificent gem of the UAE.
What should I wear in Abu Dhabi?
Contrary to our belief, as a woman you don’t have to cover yourself up from head to toe. For general sight seeing the common attire was very casual. We’ve seen tourists walk around in shorts, skirts and sleeveless tops and no one even blinked an eye. Of course, if you wear something super revealing, you’ll get a lot of uncomfortable stares, so I’d generally advise to keep your outfits conservative and carry around an over-shirt just in case, but you don’t have to budget for a new wardrobe to fit in. When visiting mosques or palaces however, the dress code becomes a whole lot stricter for men and women equally. You have to wear long skirts or trousers, no knees could be shown even for male visitors. So fellas leave your holiday shorts in your suitcases! The arms and shoulders must be covered up, no belly or cleavage can remain uncovered and see-through layers will not be accepted. For mosque entries women also require to wear a headscarf. If you don’t bring your own they’ll make you buy one, which could be bad news for budget travellers not looking to invest in such souvenirs. All in all, we found Abu Dhabi’s population to be very progressive and welcoming, but as anywhere else in the world, treat the culture and local rules with respect.
How strict is Abu Dhabi on public affection?
Visiting an Islamic country with a reputation for strict rules and strong morals we were worried, if we could even stay in the same hotel room as a couple out of wedlock, so we went in wearing fake wedding rings pretending to be married. It’s needless to say that upon arrival this seemed rather excessive and beyond pranking our friends and aiding us to hotel upgrades, it was rather unnecessary. Still, out of fear based on clickbait articles we read prior visiting, we kept our otherwise intense PDA behind closed doors and refrained from kissing, hugging or holding hands in public. Walking around the streets of Abu Dhabi we witnessed a number of tourist couples taking a much looser approach compared to ours, nevertheless this practice made us feel very safe so we stuck with it. Not to mention that being unable to show affection anytime anywhere that we otherwise were so naturally used to, built up some healthy sexual tension by the end of the day, so I’d definitely recommend practicing self control for couples who’ve been dating for a while. In conclusion, as a general rule of thumb: do what makes you feel the most secure in your given social environment.
Can you travel to Dubai from Abu Dhabi?
100%. Visiting Dubai can be an eventful day trip from Abu Dhabi, but if you book a full-day excursion there like us that’ll stretch into late hours, we’d recommend booking a night’s stay in the city as well. There are 3 ways of travel: direct bus 40AED / person (around £9) with 2-3 hours of travel time, local taxi ranging from 250-400AED one way (around £60-£90) with 1-2 hours of travel time or jumping into a stranger’s car who offers to take the 2 of you for 100AED (around £23) in 1 hour and 20 minutes. You guessed it, we went with the latter. We have no idea how common it actually is, but the bus we booked was over 25 minutes late, so this random guy started to ask tourists in the queue (not locals, foreigners only), if they were interested in a direct ride to Dubai. Once we managed to refund our bus tickets, we followed this odd man of enterprise to collect his vehicle. We won’t tell you if this overlooked opportunity of transport was a good idea or not.. but if you disregard the fact that he took us through a dark alley to sit and wait in his seedy car kept in a shady parking garage while he looked for 2 more passengers, because the couple we were initially with have gotten spooked and ran off, he did get us from A to B in time safe and sound for the agreed price. So we leave it up to your judgement, but generally our experience is that tourism and the country image is so quintessential here, in addition to the severity of consequences to committing a crime, we don’t believe anyone would even consider meddling with the law in the UAE, so we thought it was okay. Our driver turned out to be very decent and kind at the end. We even kept in touch on Whatsapp the day after and booked him for the same fee for our way back. Principally, we advise to choose the means of transport that suits your schedule, wallet and comfort level the best.
Is travelling to Abu Dhabi expensive?
That entirely depends on you and your style of travel. We found getting around Abu Dhabi with taxi to be very cheap, min. charge 12AED (around £2.75), but the sights are very close to each other, so you usually spend around that amount. It’s way more affordable than using Uber or booking a sight seeing bus. We wouldn’t recommend taking a long walk before nightfall because of high temperatures and UV radiation, but there are docking cycle hire options available in the city centre for those who are brave enough to handle the heat. The sky is the limit when it comes to activities in Abu Dhabi from plenty of free entries to pricey full-day excursions. For more detailed recommendations on both, please refer to the list below. We can’t be much help if you are after high-end restaurant referrals, as we generally try to stay away from obvious tourist traps. We can give you pointers however, if you are seeking bargain eats and authentic experiences: Ask the locals where they eat for the best dine-in options and order food from their local Uber Eats app called Talabat to discover Abu Dhabi’s regional cuisine on a dime. All together with a beautiful pool-side resort room booked for 4 nights in Abu Dhabi, plus one night's stay in Dubai including all our food, travel (with flights) and excursions we spent £430 each. We are certain you can do Abu Dhabi on a way bigger budget and someone may manage to squeeze the costs down, but we did everything we planned to do in the given time while not holding back on activities or luxury, so here we are.
Things to do on a Budget:
Emirates Palace (free entry)
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (free entry and guided tour)
Abu Dhabi Beach and Corniche Promenade (private and free public options) - we’ve seen bikinis at the public beach and no one was fussed
Al Jahili Fort (free entry)
Heritage Village (free entry)
Umm Al Emarat Park (free entry)
Abu Dhabi World trade Centre’s Tallest Indoor slide (50 AED with video - around £11.50)
Walking around Qasr Al Hosn at night (free, 30AED if you’d like to enter the museum -around £7)
Skip the pub, alcohol is extortionately overpriced. Drink the best coffee of your life instead at 11pm with the local elite. Our favourite place was The Espresso Lab.
Book your hotel with a pool so you can cool down from the heat and enjoy the facilities.
Things to do if you’ve got cash to burn:
Qasr Al Watan Presidential Palace
Sand dune bashing with dinner, camel ride, henna tattoo, quad biking, sand boarding (Dubai and Abu Dhabi options) - we booked with Tripadvisor.
Yas Island (marina, water world, aquarium)
The links and recommendations are not affiliated or sponsored. This article is entirely based on my own experiences and judgement.
By Krisztina E. Fazekas - January 2023
love this it’s so detailed, will definitely use it when i travel to the UAE!!!