United Arab Emirates · 5-star stays
Luxury hotels in Abu Dhabi
5-star hotels, boutique stays, and design-led properties in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Expedia luxury collection — concierge service, spa access, and the city's best addresses.
- ✓5-star and boutique properties across Abu Dhabi
- ✓Spa, pool, and concierge service on most listings
- ✓The city's most-loved addresses, ranked by Abu Dhabi guest reviews
- ✓Powered by Expedia
What things cost in Abu Dhabi
Entry to the Grand Mosque is free, which is unusual for a region's headline sight. Louvre Abu Dhabi is around AED 65 and Qasr Al Watan is priced similarly, while a Ferrari World day pass runs into the hundreds. A metered taxi across the island costs AED 20 to 40, karak chai one or two dirhams, and machboos in a local canteen thirty to forty-five.
What to eat in Abu Dhabi
Emirati home cooking is considerably easier to eat here than in Dubai, with Meylas and Al Mrzab serving machboos, harees and balaleet to Emirati families rather than tourists. Al Dhafra runs dinner from a dhow off the corniche. Hamdan Street and the old Tourist Club area keep the Keralan and Pakistani canteens going. Karak chai from a drive-through window is the daily ritual.
Abu Dhabi after dark
Quieter and more conservative than Dubai by some margin. Licensed bars sit inside hotels on the corniche, on Al Maryah Island and out on Yas. The city's one genuine transformation is Grand Prix weekend each December, when Yas Marina fills with concerts and hotels sell out a year ahead. Beach clubs on Saadiyat cover daytime. Most evenings finish around two, and Ramadan suspends daytime service entirely.
What's actually worth your time in Abu Dhabi
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque charges nothing and holds a carpet of 5,627 square metres, the largest ever woven, beneath a chandelier ten metres across. Qasr Al Watan opens a working presidential palace to visitors. Qasr Al Hosn is the oldest stone building in the city, a fort of coral and sea stone. Yas Island stacks Ferrari World, Warner Bros World and SeaWorld within walking distance of one another.
Abu Dhabi's museums, and which one to pick
Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat hangs its collection by chronology rather than by civilisation, so Leonardo's La Belle Ferronniere, a Van Gogh self-portrait and Monet's Gare Saint-Lazare share a building with 8,000-year-old figures from Ain Ghazal. Jean Nouvel's perforated dome drops a rain of light across the plazas below. Manarat Al Saadiyat next door runs free exhibitions while the district's next museums are built.
When to go to Abu Dhabi
| Best months for luxury-hotels | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| February | 25°C / 77°F | 1 days |
| December | 26°C / 79°F | 1 days |
| January | 24°C / 75°F | 2 days |
The month to avoid is August — around 41°C (106°F) with roughly 0 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: February is the sweet spot, August the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.