Introduction
We landed in Abu Dhabi from Sydney at around 6AM. Our flight out of Abu Dhabi to Tokyo was at 10PM, so we had about 16 hours to kill (more like 12 hours once you factor in travel times, etc.) I wasn’t sure what to do, so I looked on Tripadvisor and the top attractions were the Grand Mosque, Yaz Island, and Ferrari World. At first I thought about just going to the waterpark and lounging all day, but we didn’t pack our swim suits, so decided to be a tourist instead.
Grand Mosque
We took an UberX from the airport to the mosque. It was about 15 minutes away; wasn’t terribly expensive. My wife didn’t bring a scarf so she had to rent one from the mosque. It was free. The mosque is also free. Take note of the visiting hours, especially if you are visiting on a Friday.
When we got to the mosque, we could have walked inside and done a self guided audio tour, but I do RECOMMEND you go on the free guided tour instead. You’ll learn more about the mosque and you’ll be able to walk into a part of the mosque that is sectioned off from self guided tours. The tour lasts about an hour. Without further ado, here are pictures of it (pictures don’t do it justice; it is majestic in person.)
Yaz Island – Mall and Ferrari World
After the mosque, we then took an UberX to Yaz Island, which has the mall and Ferrari World. We walked around the mall basically from noon until about 6pm. Yes, that’s an awful long time, but the mall is HUGE (but doesn’t compare to the Dubai Mall.) Plus, Ferrari World is connected to it. We decided to NOT do Ferrari World just because we didn’t think it was worth the cost.
The good thing about the mall is that there is a Shake Shack in it. It also has a 4DX cinema (first I’ve ever seen.) We should have gone to that, but it was something like $30 USD, so the wife nixed it since I have an affinity to falling alseep in movies. I told her with all the 4D senses, I most likely would have stayed awake. I lost that battle.
By 6PM, we took an UberX back to the airport and ate at the first class lounge there. Initially we were going to stay the night in AUH, but I’m glad we didn’t. There just isn’t much to see or do there; Dubai has more things to do.
