Saadiyat Island means “happiness”. This piece of land is considered by many to be artificial, although in fact it has a natural origin. This is a project looking to the future. Here is the ideal resort - parks, places for leisure, museums and concert halls, as well as luxury hotels. The company for tourism development and investment is building it at a tremendous pace, and the opening of the island of Happiness is scheduled for next year, 2018. It would seem that you can advise travelers who want to see it? Come here later? But know that already now both residents of the Emirates and guests of the country are happy to visit it. Read on to find out why.
Description and how to get
Saadiyat Island is a few kilometers drive from Abu Dhabi. To the international airport of this city from him to get about twenty minutes. To get here from the center of Abu Dhabi, you can take a taxi or take a shuttle bus at number four hundred and one. He will take you to the Saadiyat Public Beach stop.
The area of the island is twenty-seven square kilometers. Despite the fact that not all of its iconic places are open for tourists, it has already won the glory of a world-class resort. Almost all the buildings of this resort were designed by architects-laureates of the Pulitzer Prize. The tourist center of the island - Manarat al-Saadiyat - is already hosting guests. Several million people visit it annually.
National Museum
Saadiyat Island (UAE) is divided into seven districts, the names of which sometimes cause an allusion with the movie Hunger Games movie trilogy, but in their luxury they remind the capital of this dystopia, the Capitol. One of the main highlights of Saadiyat is the Calceral District. This is the main museum area of the island. There are already some amazing sights here. One of them is the Sheikh Zayed National Museum. This is the first president of the country who made one of the richest countries in the world from the Emirates.
Its architecture is unique. The museum looks like five lattice towers resembling wings that are cooled by desert winds. They remind us that the founder of the UAE loved falconry. There is also a special room with feathered predators.
Premises for world masterpieces
Branches of the largest museums in the world - the Louvre and the Guggenheim (New York) are opening here. The latter is dedicated to contemporary art and is twelve times the size of the original. This is the first major museum of its kind in the Arab world. He will have his own collections, and from other countries, exhibits will be sent here for exhibitions.
The Louvre branch is another amazing project that Saadiyat Island is famous for. In his building - a huge glass dome and many canals, which creates the impression that you are contemplating works of art on the high seas. The branch rented paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh, and other exhibits from Versailles and the Georges Pompidou Center from the Louvre . The museum is due to open this year.
Entertainment
Saadiyat Island (Abu Dhabi) is also known for the fact that you can have fun and usefully here. Saadiyat Laguns is a district designed for families. There is entertainment for every taste. In a huge amphitheater in the open air there will always be shows and concerts. The Equestrian Center is also located in the same area. They teach horse riding and demonstrate first-class horses. Since the district surrounds the central lagoon of the island, there are many places where you can stay alone with wildlife.
A very elegant establishment for the rich public in the Promenade is called Monte Carlo Beach. This club resembles establishments on the Cote d'Azur of the Mediterranean Sea, but has its own style and charm. Water taxis will run between Saadiyat areas as the most environmentally friendly and safe mode of transport.
Ecotourism and beach vacations
One of the most popular areas for tourists is Beach. Travelers often come to the island of Saadiyat who want to look at the beach vacation of the future and even feel it on themselves. A huge nine-kilometer coast will provide you with everything your soul desires. There are not only sun loungers and deck chairs, but also bathrooms, lockers, towels. You will also see a golf club located right on the beach, diving and surfing schools, spa and fitness centers, saunas and massage rooms, chic pools with stunning views and a jacuzzi - there is nothing to count.
If you do not like hustle and bustle, there are two more areas at your service - Retreat and Promenade. They are designed following the example of Daytona Beach in the United States. There you can go in for sports, walk along the paths, breathe the sea air and at the same time have all the modern infrastructure. The beaches of the island are open from eight in the morning until 20:00, and the entrance costs twenty-five dirhams.
Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island - Hotels & Residential Area
Residents of this "piece of happiness" will settle in the Marina district. There will be about one hundred and fifty thousand people, and all of them will feel the delights of the elite style that awaits the owners of real estate in Saadiyat. Here, fashionable shopping centers and hypermarkets will open for them, as well as a marina for yachts and private boats. The Maritime Museum is being built in the same area. The University of New York has reserved a campus here for its students.
Despite the fact that the grand opening of the island has not yet taken place, two five-star hotels are already working here. These are St. Regis Island Resort and Hyatt Abu Dhabi Park. Both of them offer a chic vacation. The first one is a six-minute walk from the beach. The rooms are decorated in a Mediterranean style, on the beds there are luxurious feather pillows, in the bathroom there are cosmetics from Remedy. The hotel has five pools, seven restaurants. You will be served gourmet cuisine - Arabic, Asian, seafood delicacies.
Guests can visit all twelve treatment rooms at the spa. Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel offers the highest class service. The rooms have panoramic windows and the bathrooms have a rain shower. The hotel’s residential buildings are surrounded by landscaped “hanging” gardens. They are located right on the beach.
Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi: reviews
“Happiness in reality,” is what travelers say about their visit to this resort. This is the main and most ambitious tourism project of Abu Dhabi. Here you can not only enjoy all the benefits of civilization, but at the same time feel as if in a fantasy novel and if you want to be alone with the wild.
The hotels have everything for a comfortable stay - beautiful views, gorgeous beaches, amazing food. On the beach, everything is very conveniently organized. Especially tourists like comfortable “shells” on the beach, where you can sit down for tanning and hide from the wind. You can observe the reserved places, especially when the bisse turtles sail there in winter to lay eggs. Here you will see the real Arabian hospitality that the island of Saadiyat will offer you. Photos of its stunning nature and unearthly architecture have already appeared in the reports of tourists who visited this resort of the future.