Abu Dhabi offers a wide variety of top cultural attractions and venues where visitors can enjoy amazing culture and art. Explore a world beyond shopping centers and malls on this World Tourism Day, from the serenity of Al Ain to the wonder of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. By visiting these six locations in the capital of the UAE, you can create your own personal discovery experience.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
Enter the renowned Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first universal museum in the Arab World, which translates and promotes the idea of intercultural understanding. This art lover’s paradise is one of the top cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island and showcases artwork with historical, cultural, and sociological value from antiquity to the modern period.
There are nine thousand two hundred square metres of galleries to explore, including a permanent gallery and a temporary exhibition that has been enhanced by loans from renowned French institutions including the Centre Pompidou, the Musee d’Orsay, and the Musee du Louvre.
Qasr Al Hosn
There are places in a metropolis like Abu Dhabi where time seems to have stopped almost completely. One of them is Qasr Al Hosn. When you see it in person, Abu Dhabi’s gleaming skyline surrounds the oldest existing structure in the city, creating a striking contrast between the past and present.
Heritage Village
Family-friendly visitors can learn about the traditional way of living in the desert at Abu Dhabi’s Heritage Village. The village is a living time capsule with a mosque, souk (market), and camp that are designed to reflect life in the pre-modern UAE. The classic oasis town, which is adjacent to the city centre on Marina Mall Island, provides a window into Abu Dhabi’s past. You may buy, find artefacts here, and watch craftspeople weave fabric on a loom, produce pottery, and blow glass.
A history club with workshops for traditional crafts is also based in the area. Watch artisans exhibit age-old techniques like metals, pottery, weaving, and yarn spinning. They might even let you give their profession a shot. Do not overlook the village’s tiny spice shop, which sells a variety of dried herbs, handmade soaps, and numerous trinkets to bring back to your loved ones.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
One of the largest mosques in the world and the only one to depict the distinctive exchanges between Islam and other world cultures, a journey to Abu Dhabi would not be complete without a stop at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The inviting mosque’s open-door policy allows tourists from all over the world to not only take in its beauty but also learn more about the cultural beliefs of the emirate in a setting that fosters open discussion.
Up to 55,000 worshipers and guests may enter the mosque each day. It is a wonderful site to visit and take pictures thanks to its 1,096 columns with amethyst and jasper inlays, 82 white marble domes, reflective pools, gold-plated Swarovski chandeliers, distinctive prayer hall, and courtyard with one of the largest marble mosaic artworks in the world.
Al Ain Oasis
A half-hour drive from the capital is the island’s verdant garden city, the Al Ain Oasis, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is 1,200 hectares in size and offers a distinctive look into the people who first settled in the area and started taming the desert 4, 000 years ago.
Al Ain Oasis in Abu Dhabi is the ideal location for people seeking to spend time in nature, and a stroll through the oasis is a breathtaking way to do so. An energetic canopy of trees blooming with fruits including mangoes, oranges, and bananas shades sprawling paths. The oasis is also ideal for bicycle adventure. For a more unusual journey, unwind and cycle beneath the dappled shadow of the palm leaves.
Al Wathba Fossil Dunes
Al Wathba Fossil Dunes Protected Area, 45 kilometres east of Abu Dhabi, has one of the highest concentrations of fossil dunes in the emirate, with more than 1,700 fossil dunes distributed across 7 square kilometres.