How do I get around Abu Dhabi?

Taxis and Careem handle the bulk of a visitor's movement here. The silver Abu Dhabi taxis charge a 5 AED flagfall (about $1.36) plus 1.82 AED per kilometer during the day, rising to 5.50 AED after 10 PM. A ride from the Corniche hotels to Sheikh Zayed Mosque runs roughly 25-30 AED. Careem, which Uber acquired in 2020, tends to be 10-15% cheaper than hailing from the curb and eliminates the language barrier with drivers who might not speak English beyond basics. Download it before you land. Uber also works but Careem has better driver availability outside the tourist corridor around Al Maryah Island. To be fair, taxi scams are almost nonexistent here. Meters always run. The issue is availability at peak times near the malls, not dishonesty.

Abu Dhabi's bus network, run by the Integrated Transport Centre, covers most of the island and connects to Yas and Saadiyat, but headways of 20-40 minutes and routes built for commuters make it slow for sightseeing. A Hafilat card costs 10 AED from any bus station kiosk or the airport arrivals hall. Load 20 AED and that covers a week of occasional rides at 2 AED per trip. Route 94 reaches Saadiyat Island from the Corniche in about 35 minutes. Route 190 connects downtown to Yas Island in 45. The buses themselves are cold, clean, and quiet. The stops are not. You will stand in direct sun on a concrete pad where the asphalt radiates heat upward and the humidity sits at 80%. That wait is the real cost.

Walking works along the 8-km Corniche waterfront, where shade structures and the Gulf breeze off the turquoise water make a morning tolerable from October through March. You might notice the pavement is immaculate and the path is wide. Outside that strip, forget it. Blocks stretch 400 metres between crosswalks, six-lane roads separate you from destinations you can see, and the summer heat index currently reaches 50°C by 10 AM. Sheikh Zayed Mosque sits 10 km southeast of the Corniche hotels. Saadiyat Island, where the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017, is another 15 km northeast. Yas Island and Ferrari World (opened 2010) are 30 km from downtown. This is a car city on a car-sized grid.

For the Yas Island cluster, budget 80-100 AED each way by taxi from a Corniche hotel, or take Route 190 for 2 AED if the 45-minute ride doesn't bother you. The E101 express bus to Dubai departs from Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station every 30 minutes and costs 25 AED for the 90-minute trip. Worth noting, there is still no passenger rail between emirates, though Etihad Rail's freight line opened in 2024. Renting a car makes sense only if you plan to visit Al Ain, a 90-minute drive east through flat desert where the smell of camel farms drifts across the highway. For city-only stays of 3 days, taxi plus Careem costs less than the rental, the Salik toll tags, and the parking headaches at every mall.