Abu Dhabi Travel Guide

Day Trips

Futaisi Island: is an attractive eco-tourist resort located just off the coast, and reachable by boat. It’s a great spot for a day of biking, visiting the lagoon and mangrove swamps and seeing the island’s eagles, flamingos and gazelles. The famous Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club hosts world class polo matches on Wednesdays during the winter season, attended by the country’s rich and famous.

Musandam: a two-hour drive away is the Omani enclave of Musandam. This is an area characterised by unusual beauty, with a rocky coastline, and separated from Oman by around 40 miles of the UAE.

Ras Al Khaimah: is quite an unusual destination, located between the Musandam Peninsula and the stark mountainous region of the Ruus Al Jibal. The landscape here is a combination of fertile plains and long stretches of shoreline; and is a suitable setting for this unique combination of ‘Wild West meets Middle East’.

If you’d like to make this more than a daytrip, the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah is quirky in itself, offering up clean and spacious accommodation along with belly-dancers and an all-female pop and rock band for your evening’s entertainment.

The staff is friendly and helpful in a ‘Wild West’ kind of way, and you’ll probably find yourself having a lot of fun. For adventure of a different sort, but still providing an adrenaline rush, you might try out Dreamland Water Park – where, in addition to the excitement on the water slides, you can also take advantage of the bungee trampoline, go-kart track and rodeo machine.