The Malls of Abu Dhabi »

With approximately 20 malls to visit in Abu Dhabi, you have quite a number of opportunities to shop, dine or spend time out of the blaring sun. Most shops close between 10pm and midnight so there’s enough time to do all your shopping after dinner. Try to visit during the seasonal sales or shopping festivals if you’re planning lots of shopping. Unlike in Dubai, you won’t find extreme sports like skiing and shark cage diving (which I’m against) in the malls of Abu Dhabi.

I visited the following malls:

Yas Mall

Located on Yas Island, it has a bridge that links it directly to Ferrari World.

There’s plenty of shops and a cinema complex within. The bus stop with buses 190 and 195 to/from Abu Dhabi is outside on level P2 at the cinema entrance.

Marina Mall

If you can only visit 1 mall on your trip to Abu Dhabi let it be Marina Mall. It’s located on the marina between Emirates Palace and Heritage Fort. It is close to the Corniche and has an excellent view of the Abu Dhabi city skyline.

There’s a huge Carrefour store on site to get your groceries from. Navigating the mall was a bit hard for me as there are a few dead-ends.

I enjoyed a fine Persian meal at Hatam.

Abu Dhabi Mall

Close to Mina Souk you can visit the Abu Dhabi Mall if you must. It is quite dated with a small selection of shops and restaurants. My hotel had a free shuttle service to the mall and I had some free time so I decided to check it out.

Dalma Mall

This is a huge mall about 10 minutes drive from Sheikh Zayed Mosque. It’s got free WiFi and some nice coffee shops to chill at.

The Mall at WTC

Off Hamdan Road you’ll find this mall within the World Trade Centre.

It’s design is a fusion of traditional Arabian with modern amenities such as retractable roofs and air conditioning. The WTC Mall links to the WTC Souk via the Al Khalifa bridge.