Top 5 Things to Do for Kids in Abu Dhabi
Spinning you upside down as your heart pounds and adrenaline courses through your veins...
Book Top Experiences and Tours in Abu Dhabi:
If youʻre booking your trip to Abu Dhabi last minute, we have you covered. Below are some of the top tours and experiences!- From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque & Louvre Museum Full-Day
- Abu Dhabi Airport Transfer to Hotel or Vice Versa
- From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Premium Full-Day Sightseeing Tour
- Abu Dhabi: Louvre Entry & Etihad Tower/Royal Palace Options
- Dubai: Luxury Canal Dinner Cruise with Optional Transfers
The island city of Abu Dhabi is a wonderful place to have a relaxing holiday. With a plethora of luxurious hotels, stunning architecture and exquisite restaurants, it’s an adult’s paradise. But this doesn’t mean that the youngsters won’t enjoy a trip to the UAE’s capital; in fact, the region is well-equipped to occupy and entertain children of all ages. From outstanding theme parks to zoos and wildlife centres, you won’t have a problem keeping them happy. Here we bring you our top five things to do for kids in Abu Dhabi.
Located in the second largest city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain (160km east of Abu Dhabi), Hili Fun City is the place to go for a fun-packed family day out. Refurbished in 2009, this colourful theme park is packed with rides to suit all ages. The sky flyer is perhaps the most extreme of all the rides, spinning you upside down, forwards and backwards as your heart pounds and adrenaline courses through your veins. It’s probably best not to eat before this one! If you’re looking for something a little calmer, you could try the circus train, the traditional carousel and bumper cars or the electric boats on the Crazy Marina. There are plenty of food outlets and picnic tables around the park so make sure you take a break from all the excitement to refuel!
How to get there: From the E66 highway, take exit 22 (Al Foaha/Town Centre) and at the third roundabout turn right, and turn left at the next roundabout.
These big cat specialists in the heart of the Abu Dhabi desert are dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating endangered species and abandoned animals, caring for them in their wildlife centre just off Mussafah Al Ain Truck road. You can book a one hour guided tour, which will allow you to spot cheetahs, tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, and smaller critters like bats and antelope. Entry costs AED65 for adults and AED35 for children under 12 years old, and all proceeds go back into funding the maintenance and development of the animal enclosures.
How to get there: Be sure to book your appointment in advance, then make your way to the ADNOC (Al Dhafra) petrol station in Mussafah 15 minutes before your appointment. ADWC staff will pick you up from this point.
Looking to escape the heat of the Middle East? You don’t need to journey far – the reasonably-priced Abu Dhabi Ice Rink is a refreshing alternative to the air-conditioned shopping malls and hotels. Kids will love whizzing around the rink on their blades, and lessons are available with advanced booking. The rink is open seven days a week, and there’s a café on site for parents who have had enough of being lapped by the youngsters. Don’t forget to bring a few layers, it’s chilly in there!
How to get there: Zayed’s Sports City, Airport Road
Everything about Abu Dhabi is sleek, sophisticated and extreme, making it the ideal home for Ferrari World! This outstanding piece of architecture (its astonishing red roof is one of the largest ever built) will get your hearts racing. It’s all about acceleration of the imagination, displayed in their ambitious rides like Speed of Magic, a 4D, state-of-the-art fantasy ride which uses simulation and top-class technology to take you on the ride of your life.
How to get there: Head towards Dubai via the Maqta Bridge, take the slip road signed Yas Island West or East and follow the blue ‘Yas Leisure Drive’ signs. Look out for brown tourist signs pointing out ‘Ferrari World Abu Dhabi’.
Yas Waterworld
Tipped to be the next big thing on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi’s entertainment centre, Yas Waterworld will be making a splash in late 2012. With over forty rides, slides and attractions, the little’uns will be kept busy for hours helping Dana – a character on whom the theme of the park is based – retrieve her long lost pearl.
The park is the first ‘green’ certified waterpark in the Middle East. But that’s not its only unique title. The park will be home to the first hydro magnetic-powered tornado in the world, the world’s largest surfable sheet wave, and the Middle East’s longest water slide, to name but a few. Perhaps you could be their first customers?
How to get there: Check out the directions to Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld is right next door!
Images by Martin Pettitt, Aziz J. Hayat, Yatmandu
