The Perfect Five-Day Abu Dhabi Itinerary.

The last time I visited Abu Dhabi was in 2018, when I visited the city for just 24 hours before heading to Dubai to stay with my friends there. Ever since I got that small glimpse of the UAE’s capital city, I’ve desperately wanted to go back and explore it more, so imagine my absolute JOY when the tourism board invited me on a fun-packed press trip back in January?! This was my first press trip since before the pandemic, so it felt extra special, and I’m so grateful that travel is opening up again.

I was very fortunate that I was able to take my old work bestie, Clare, with me. We’ve travelled together before to Cambodia and the US, so we know that we travel well together and always have the best time! We left london on a very gloomy Saturday morning, and touched down in Abu Dhabi Saturday evening.

We stayed at the beautiful Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel & Villas, which was honestly in the most perfect location on Saadiyat Island and gave us an incredible beach escape after our busy days exploring the city.

Disclaimer: All travel and accommodation was provided complimentary by the tourist board in return for Instagram coverage. I wasn’t obligated to post about this on my blog, but loved my visit so much that I wanted to put this together for you all.

Check-in: Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel & Villas

Check-in at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel & Villas. The hotel is beautiful, contemporary, and in the perfect location on Saadiyat Island.

The rooms are luxurious and have everything you could need, and after a day of exploring the city the hotel is a welcome oasis of calm with its stunning pools and long, sandy beach. I also really adored the food at the Park Hyatt, the restaurants are really exceptionally good and the breakfast buffet is very special!

Day One:

Your first day in Abu Dhabi is going to be a more relaxed day. If you land in the morning then these are the perfect activities to enjoy in the afternoon, or if you arrive late afternoon or at night, this is an ideal, slow-paced first day to ease you in gently!

Qasr Al Watan

You’ll want to start you visit to Abu Dhabi with a visit to Qasr Al Watan, the new Presidential Palace that was built in 2017.

Qasr Al Watan is more than a palace though, it was built as a unique testament to the spirit of the United Arab Emirates’ people and its leaders. The Palace invites the world to share their culture, knowledge and inspiring journey, providing an enriching interactive journey.

You’ll need around 2-hours to really enjoy the palace without rushing through. It’s a beautiful place to visit, especially at Golden Hour as the setting sun gleams off the brilliant white granite and limestone.

Emirates Palace

The Emirates Palace is one of the most famous luxury hotels in the world! The best reason to visit Emirates Palace though, is not only to see the interior of the stunningly opulent hotel, but to enjoy their famous camel milk ice-cream with 23-carat gold flake on top at Le Café.

I was super nervous about trying camel milk ice-cream, but I got the chocolate flavour and it’s so creamy and delicious! Promise me you’ll try it!? Emirates Palace is also a really great place to have dinner, as it’s where Hakkasan Abu Dhabi is located!

Day Two:

Day two is all about enjoying things in and around Saadiyat Island! It’s the new cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates, and the home of your first stop of the day, the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Louvre Abu Dhabi

After a restful night sleep, jump in an uber or taxi and spend the morning on day two soaking up the artwork at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. It’s a very small and manageable museum, with a great selection of artifacts, sculptures, and artwork.

As well as the art, the building itself is like a piece of artwork all by itself. The incredible architectural design wows you as you walk through it, it’s truly breathtaking!

Lunch at Soul Beach

You’ll be hungry after all that culture, so head to Soul Beach, the newest beachside foodie spot in Abu Dhabi. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from, from Arabic to Mexican, French and American.

Personally I love American restaurant Black Tap, and highly recommend a visit. I went to the NYC original back in 2016 when there was the ‘freakshake’ craze, and they do really delicious burgers and milkshakes.

Jubail Mangrove Park

After lunch at Soul Beach, jump in a taxi to Jubail Mangrove Park, where you can experience Abu Dhabi’s nature. It’s the first self-contained educational, nature and leisure destination of its kind in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and is a haven for avian and marine species. The 2km boardwalk takes you through the mangroves, and there are certain spots where you can get in the water and take a dip!

The park is a little far out and at the time of visiting in January 2022 Uber didn’t extend that far, so you’ll need to ask the reception desk at Jubail to phone the taxi company for you.

Once you’ve visited Jubail Mangrove Park, head back to the hotel and spend the afternoon lazing by the pool at the hotel or spend time on the beach.

Dinner at ANNEX Rooftop

Enjoy a late dinner at ANNEX Rooftop at The Abu Dhabi EDITION, which is the luxury hotel’s rooftop bar serving Peruvian food and cocktails. I recommend making a reservation for around 8/9pm to get the full party experience!

The cocktails are excellent and they do a ladies night on a Wednesday night, where ladies can enjoy an unlimited drinks package for just AED100, which includes cocktails, wine, spirits and bubbly and to top it off, you also get 30% off the a la carte food menu!

Day Three:

On day three you’ll be seeing a mixture of cultural and historial hightlights combined with a spot of shopping and food!

Qasr Al Hosn

Spend the morning of your third day at Qasr Al Hosn, a historical landmark and the oldest stone building in the city of Abu Dhabi. It was designed by Mohammed Al Bastaki and built in 1761 as a conical watchtower to defend the only freshwater well in Abu Dhabi island.

The building has been resorted and renovated to a really impressive standard, with an interesting museum built onto the original fort that displays artifacts and photos representing the history of the country. It also has a range of weapons, used through the region’s history, on display.

The Galleria Al Maryah Island

After visiting Qasr Al Hosn, get an Uber or a taxi over to the Galleria Al Maryah Island. It’s on the way back to the hotel, and is a great place to grab lunch and do a spot of shopping, especially when there are sales on as the sales are often much better than in the UK!

The mall has shops like Pottery Barn, West Elm, & Other Stories, American Eagle, COS, Bath & Body Works, Zara, H&M, and then a whole load of the big designer stores as well!

Restaurants include Coya, Zuma, Din Tai Fung, Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys and Shake Shack. Personally I really love going to the Magnolia Bakery there for banana pudding – it always reminds me of my trips to NYC, the home of Magnolia Bakery.

Head back to the hotel to change for the Grand Mosque

After visiting the Galleria, head back to the hotel to drop off your shopping and get changed for the Grand Mosque and Wahat Al Karama.

Make sure you wear clothing that completely covers your body. If you’re a woman, you’ll need to wear a dress that covers your shoulders and tops of your arms, plus your chest, and your ankles. The dress needs to be a full maxi dress, rather than one that hits just above your ankles. You’ll also need a scarf to cover your hair.

If you don’t wear the correct clothing they will not let you in, or they will try and force you to spend £££ on an outfit from one of the stores at the entrance that sell traditional dress.

Wahat Al Karama

You’ll want to get a taxi over to Wahat Al Karama about an hour before Golden Hour (so two hours before sunset). Wahat Al Karama, also known by its English translation Oasis of Dignity, is a war memorial and monument located right across the road from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque to commemorate all Emirati soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty.

British artist Idris Khan was commissioned to deliver the memorial, which is free to enter and is composed of three structures: the leaning pillars, the pavilion of honor, and the memorial plaza, with the names of all the Emirati soldiers inscribed in the pavilion of honor.

After visiting Wahat Al Karama, get a taxi up to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Note: Please learn from our mistake, and promise me you’ll get a taxi! We decided to walk it because it looked so close – an hour later we were still walking because we had gone the complete wrong way so had to walk all the way back down and then up. Biggest mistake ever.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

You really can’t go to Abu Dhabi without visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It’s absolutely stunning and well worth a visit! Built by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the UAE, it’s one of the world’s largest mosques and an architectural masterpiece that beautifully combines Islamic architecture and design.

The mosque is free to enter and will take about 1-2 hours to visit, depending on whether you catch one of the guided tours or not. I highly recommend visiting during Golden Hour and sunset – I’ve been three times now, and seen it during the day, at night, and at sunset, and sunset was without a doubt my favourite time to visit!

Dinner at Market Kitchen, Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi

After visiting the mosque get a taxi up to Market Kitchen at the Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi. It’s a really lovely restaurant serving a tapas style sharing menu and really delicious cocktails and mocktails!

Day Four:

On day four you’ll want to travel to Al Ain for one night. Al Ain is an inland oasis city in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi, on the United Arab Emirates’ border with Oman, adjacent to the town of Al-Buraimi. It’s known as the Garden City for its palm groves and natural springs.

Al Jahili Fort

Al Jahili Fort was my favourite place in Al Ain. There’s a surprising amount to see and learn, with a very tastefully created museum within the historic building. Al Jahili Fort is one of the largest forts in the United Arab Emirates, and was built in the late 19th century by Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa the First, both as a symbol of power and as a royal summer residence.

Al Ain National Museum

The Al Ain Museum didn’t take as long to visit as we thought it would, as to be honest most of the rooms are very similar so there isn’t a *huge* amount to see. But the architecture of the building is beautiful and it really was interesting to see how the Royal family lived – I was really surprised at how simply they lived given they were Royalty. The rooms were very basic and the contrast between those rooms and the modern palaces in Abu Dhabi were just world’s apart!

Qasr Al Muwaji

Qasr Al Muwaiji was the birthplace of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates. Built during the early 20th century, the restored fort is surrounded by beautiful date palms.

The fort has had a beautiful restoration, with a glass museum located in the centre, which prevents the modern building from distracting the eye from the original historical fort. As well as the glass museum, you’re able to visit one of the fort’s towers to see where Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was born and grew up.

Check-in at Telal Resort

After seeing the historical sights of Al Ain, get your driver to drop you off at Telal Resort. You can find out more about Telal Resort in my full hotel review, but this resort is an incredibly special place. Set in the desert about 45-60mins from Al Ain, it’s the ideal place to relax after spending the day exploring Al Ain. It was also just so lovely having a unique desert stay at Telal resort after spending a few days in the city of Abu Dhabi.

Enjoy the swimming pools, the spa, and watch the sunrise over the desert the next morning!

Day Five:

Have an epic breakfast and one last swim in the pool at Telal Resort, then return to Abu Dhabi via taxi (it takes around 2-hours) and fly home! Five days in Dubai, done and dusted.

Watch the vlog!

Honesty Box

*Our visit to Abu Dhabi was provided complimentary as part of an Instagram campaign with Visit Abu Dhabi. Our entrance fees were booked and paid for by the PR agency, and none of the attractions were aware that we were there in collaboration with the tourism board. The blog content created was not part of the contract as it was a pure Instagram-only campaign, and as such it has been written purely because I wanted to share my experience with you all and provide you with – hopefully – useful content.