Abu Dhabi isn’t Dubai’s quiet, boring brother. That’s the first thing people get wrong. It’s more like the rich uncle who actually has taste and doesn’t feel the need to scream about his crypto portfolio every five minutes. But when it comes to the best hotels in Abu Dhabi, the internet is a mess of sponsored fluff and people who have clearly never spent their own hard-earned money on a room there.
I’ve been going to Abu Dhabi for work and the occasional ‘I need to escape my life’ weekend for about seven years now. I’ve stayed in the places that look like gold-plated microwaves and the places that try too hard to be ‘hip.’ Most of them aren’t worth the Dhs 1,500 a night. Some of them absolutely are.
The Saadiyat tax is real (and usually worth it)
If you aren’t staying on Saadiyat Island, you’re basically doing Abu Dhabi wrong. I know people will disagree with this—they’ll point to the convenience of the Corniche or the proximity to the malls—but they’re wrong. The city center is a grid of beige buildings and humidity. Saadiyat is where the actual beach is. And I don’t mean a ‘man-made patch of sand next to a shipping lane’ beach. I mean actual turquoise water where you might see a dolphin if you aren’t too hungover from the brunch the day before.
The Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi is my go-to. It’s older than the others, and you can tell if you look closely at the bathroom fixtures, but the vibe is right. It doesn’t feel like a mall. The lobby felt like being inside a giant, air-conditioned Faberge egg—stunning, but a little intimidating at first. But once you get to the pool, it’s fine. I once spent four hours just watching a guy try to set up a sunshade in the wind. Best entertainment I’ve had in years.
I might be wrong about this, but I think the St. Regis Saadiyat next door is trying too hard. It’s too grand. It makes me feel like I should be wearing a tuxedo just to order a club sandwich.
I’ve stayed at the St. Regis twice. Both times, I felt like the staff were judging my flip-flops. If you like that ‘I am a very important person’ feeling, go there. If you want to actually relax, stay at the Park Hyatt. Or the Jumeirah at Saadiyat Island, though their elevators are the slowest in the Middle East. I tracked it on my watch: 4 minutes and 12 seconds from the 4th floor to the lobby during peak breakfast time. It’s exhausting.
The Yas Island warning
Look, I’m just going to say it. I hate the W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island. I know, I know, it’s iconic. It sits over the F1 track. It glows purple at night. It’s ‘the’ place to be.
It’s a nightmare. It’s a nightclub with beds. If you are over the age of 26 or you value the concept of a ‘quiet night’s sleep,’ avoid it like the plague. I stayed there in 2021 during a non-race weekend, thinking it would be chill. It wasn’t. The music in the lobby was at 84 decibels at 11 AM. Why? Who is partying at 11 AM on a Tuesday? What I mean is—actually, let me put it differently. It’s a hotel for people who want to take photos of their hotel, not for people who want to stay in one. Total waste of money.
The part where I admit I was wrong
I used to tell everyone that the Rosewood Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island was the best business hotel in the world. I was obsessed with it. The dark wood, the leather, the fact that it smells like a very expensive library. But then I had a disastrous stay there last November.
It was a series of small things that broke me. I arrived at 3 PM, room wasn’t ready. No big deal. But then I dropped my phone in the pool—totally my fault, obviously—and when I asked the concierge for a bowl of rice (the old-school fix), they looked at me like I’d asked for a human kidney. Then the valet lost my car keys for forty minutes. I was standing there in the heat, sweating through my only clean shirt, feeling like a complete idiot. It’s a great hotel, but the service has developed this weird, icy edge lately. It’s lost its soul.
The Edition is where I go now when I’m not on the beach. It’s in the Marina area, and it’s genuinely cool without being annoying about it. The rooms feel like high-end apartments. The lighting is perfect. I’ve actually bought the same Le Labo candle they use in the lobby because I’m a sucker for branding, apparently. It’s expensive, but it’s the only place in the city where I feel like the people working there are actually human beings and not hospitality robots. Worth every penny.
The ‘Gold’ Trap
We have to talk about the Emirates Palace. It’s now a Mandarin Oriental property. It’s the place everyone thinks of when they think of Abu Dhabi. There is a gold-leaf ATM in the lobby. There is gold on the coffee. There is gold on the ceiling.
- It is massive. You will get lost trying to find the gym.
- The breakfast buffet is a logistical feat of engineering, but the eggs are always cold.
- It feels more like a museum than a hotel.
I refuse to recommend it for a full stay. Go there, have the overpriced gold coffee (it’s like Dhs 75, which is insane), take your photo, and then leave. Sleeping there is like sleeping in a monument. It’s not comfortable. It’s stiff. The sand at the private beach is like walking on cooled-down velvet, which is nice, but you can get that at Saadiyat for half the price and 70% less pretension.
Anyway, I’m rambling. But I digress. The point is that Abu Dhabi’s hotel scene is moving away from that ‘look at how much money we have’ aesthetic and toward something actually sophisticated. But you have to be careful. If the hotel website uses the word ‘opulent’ more than three times, run away.
A quick verdict for the impatient
If you’re still confused, here is my completely biased, non-negotiable list:
- Best for actually liking your life: Park Hyatt Saadiyat.
- Best for feeling like a sophisticated adult: The Edition.
- Best for business (if you don’t mind the chill): Rosewood.
- Best for kids: WB Abu Dhabi (The Warner Bros hotel). It’s surprisingly well-run, even if having Bugs Bunny at breakfast is a bit much before coffee.
I often wonder why I spend so much time thinking about this. At the end of the day, it’s just a room with a bed and some tiny bottles of shampoo. But then I remember that 114-minute wait for my car at the Conrad and I realize that a bad hotel doesn’t just ruin a trip; it makes you feel like you’ve failed at being a person who knows how to travel.
Is it weird that I still miss the smell of the Rosewood lobby though? Maybe I’ll give them one more chance next year. Probably not.
Stay at the Edition. That’s the whole trick.
