What's a good 3-day itinerary for Abu Dhabi?

Three zones, three days, one taxi app. Abu Dhabi sits across three islands connected by causeways, and each day claims one. Day 1 stays on the main island for the Corniche waterfront and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Day 2 crosses to Saadiyat Island for the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the beach. Day 3 drives 30 minutes east to Yas Island for Ferrari World. You will not walk between them. Download Careem before you land. Rides between zones run 50-80 AED (14-22 USD). In summer the temperature hits 40°C by 1pm, so fill the midday window with air-conditioned stops and save the outdoor walking for mornings and late afternoons.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, completed in 2007, opens to visitors at 9am Saturday through Thursday. Arrive at 8:45. The white Macedonian marble is still cool underfoot, the 82 domes catch the low sun, and you might have 10 quiet minutes before the tour buses pull in. Budget 90 minutes. Women receive a free abaya at the visitor centre. Men need full-length trousers and covered shoulders. By 11am, taxi 12 km north to the Corniche, an 8-km paved waterfront where the salt air hits as you step from the car. Walk the western stretch from Heritage Park toward the Hilton beach, roughly 3 km. Lunch at Al Fanar by 12:30pm. The chicken machboos, around 65 AED, is the Emirati saffron rice dish, served in a copper pot with a smoky warmth that stays on the palate. After lunch, walk 10 minutes east to Qasr Al Hosn, Abu Dhabi's oldest stone structure, built in the 1760s. The fort takes 45 minutes to see. By 4pm the light softens and the Corniche fills with joggers heading toward the Breakwater.

Day 2 belongs to Saadiyat Island, 15 minutes by taxi from downtown. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, a project born from a 2007 agreement between the UAE and France, sits under a 180-metre steel dome that filters sunlight into shifting geometric patterns on the gallery floors. Arrive at 10am when doors open. The permanent collection runs through 12 galleries, from ancient Egyptian funerary masks to contemporary photography. Budget 2.5 hours and 63 AED admission. By 1pm, walk 800 metres east to Saadiyat Beach. A weekday pass runs about 150 AED. The sand is fine-grained and nearly white, the water a flat turquoise calm that feels closer to a lake than the open Gulf. Worth noting, the sand scorches bare feet by 3pm. Retreat to Manarat Al Saadiyat, the free gallery next door, for the air-conditioned afternoon. Dinner at the St. Regis Saadiyat terrace by 8pm, where seafood mains run 120-150 AED and the evening breeze finally pulls the humidity down to something bearable.

Yas Island fills the final day, a 30-minute taxi east from downtown Abu Dhabi. Ferrari World, which opened in 2010, sits under the largest space-frame structure ever built. The red roof covers 200,000 square metres and is visible from commercial flights. Formula Rossa, also from 2010, accelerates to 240 km/h in 4.9 seconds. The ride lasts 92 seconds. Arrive when the park opens and ride it first. General admission runs 295 AED. By early afternoon, cross to Yas Mall for a late lunch. Shawarma plates on the dining level cost 35-50 AED and the lemon-mint juice is 15 AED. After lunch, walk the 2.5-km Yas Marina Circuit perimeter on the public waterfront path. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has run here every year since 2009, and the pit wall and track barriers sit in plain view from the walkway. End the three days at Yas Beach, a 400-metre strip of imported sand with loungers facing west. Sunset at this latitude drops from orange to full dark in about 20 minutes, with the Yas Marina yachts as the last shapes against the sky.