If you are in Dubai, a trip to the neighboring Emirate of Abu Dhabi is definitely recommended. Especially the Emirates Palace hotel, the Louvre museum and the beautiful Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque are a must to visit. A visit to Ferrari World and the Yas Marina Circuit is highly recommended for the motorsport enthusiast. Both are located on the man-made island of Yas Marina, where you can visit the huge shopping center Yas Mall. Do not forget to visit the 8 km long Corniche boulevard, on this wide boulevard you will find beautiful sandy beaches, cycle paths and various parks where you can relax, walk and enjoy the view over the Persian Gulf.
An organized (bus) trip to Abu Dhabi
Because the Covid 19 measures differ in the emirates, it is possible that entering another emirate is not always possible with some tour providers. To enter you must have a valid PCR test, which shows that you are not infected with COVID-19. These tour providers will probably return to our list when the COVID-19 Worldwide is fully under control again. Check out what is available for you to admire this beautiful emirate.
There are several options for visiting Abu Dhabi. You can book an organized bus trip where you are picked up in Dubai. You can board at an agreed point in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. By the trip you see all the sights of Abu Dhabi and have short time everywhere to visit the attraction. We believe that the downside of an organized tour is that you cannot determine the time when you want to travel there and back and you cannot decide for yourself how long you can visit an attraction. A big benefit is that you do not have to figure out anything yourself and only have to get in the bus and sit back and look around and see the beautiful surroundings.
You can choose from a few organized tours from Dubai to Abu Dhabi:
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Premium Full-Day Sightseeing Tour (prices from 79 US Dollar p.p.)
– Abu Dhabi Tour: Sheik Zayed Mosque and Louvre museum (prices from 86 US Dollar p.p.)
– Abu Dhabi: Half Day City Tour with Guide (prices from 48 US Dollar p.p.)
– Abu Dhabi Hop on Hop off bus tour of one day (prices from 88,50 US Dollar p.p.)
– From Dubai: Private Abu Dhabi Day Tour with Qasr al Watan (prices from 290 US Dollar p.p.)
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Sightseeing – Premium Day Tour (prices from 79 US Dollar p.p.)
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi day tour with Ferrari World ticket (prices from 224 US Dollar p.p.)
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Mosque, Qasr Al Watan & Etihad Towers (prices from 88,70 US Dollar p.p.)
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi City Tour (prices from 155 US Dollar p.p.)
You can also see the various sights in Abu Dhabi from the water on a boat trip.
– Abu Dhabi Highlight speedboat tour(prices from 52 euros p.p.)
– From Dubai: Abu Dhabi City Tour with 1-Hour Yacht Ride (prices from 490 US Dollar for a group to 5 persons.)
By shuttle from Big Bus Tours
Have you bought a combi ticket for the Big Bus Tours in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? Then you can use the free shuttle bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. The shuttle bus departs from Dubai: the Mall of the Emirates between 08:00 and 08:30 in the morning and drops you off after about 1.5 hours in Abu Dhabi at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Here you can change to the other route of the Big Bus Tours through Abu Dhabi.
The combi tickets for the Big Bus rides in Dubai and Abu Dhabi can be booked on this website. Adults pay EUR 131 US Dollar per person, children pay EUR 84 US Dollar per child. There are also family tickets available that allow you to travel with 2 adults and 2 children aged 5 to 15. A family ticket costs 264 US Dollar.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the fifth stop on the Big Bus Tours route in Abu Dhabi. The shuttle bus returns to Dubai at 6:00 PM from the Big Bus Tours stop at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. So make sure you don’t miss it, otherwise you will have to bring your own transport back to Dubai. If you took the last bus from stop 1, 2, 3 or 4, you can be sure that you will be at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque stop on time.
Travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi with a taxi
Another option is to take a taxi from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. This is pricey with two people, it is better to go with a group of about 4/5 people so that you can share the taxi costs with several people. The costs for a single trip with 4 people are around 72 US Dollars. You should also take into account that taxi drivers from Dubai only drive to the Abu Dhabi bus station, or you must have arranged otherwise in advance. From the Abu Dhabi bus station you can then travel on with another taxi or buy a ticket for the normal bus or the Big Bus Abu Dhabi.
On the way back you can take a normal taxi, it will be slightly cheaper than the outward journey as they have a lower rate in Abu Dhabi compared to the rates in Dubai. But you can also opt for the cheaper taxi variant, the white “Toyota Van taxi vans”. These small vans are particularly popular with the poorer Indian and Pakistani population and cost between 6 and 14 US Dollar per person each way. You can find them at the main bus station in Abu Dhabi in a separate section of the bus station, see the Google Maps below of the Regional Taxi Station. With these taxi vans you can get off at almost any place in Dubai if you indicate this in time. The vans also stop at a fixed number of places such as metro stations and the central bus station of Dubai. The disadvantage of these taxi vans is that you have to travel with about 10 other people in a van without too much room for your legs.
Abu Dhabi Regional Taxi Station
Planning your trip to Abu Dhabi from Dubai
Do you want to make a trip from Dubai to Abu Dhabi with public transport? Then you can use the Wojhati website or app. This is the official route planner app of the RTA, the organization that arranges all public transport in Dubai. With this Wojhati website you can easily and quickly plan your trip from A to B.
You can plan your trip online via the RTA website or download the Wojhati app on your smartphone. The download links of the various app stores such as the Apple App store or the Google Play for Android phones can be found on this page.
Travel by bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi yourself
Next to the taxi, you can also travel to Abu Dhabi on your own by bus. Dubai has an excellent bus connection with Abu Dhabi and from various places in Dubai buses leave every hour to Abu Dhabi. On most lines to Abu Dhabi, there are no regular scheduled buses, but luxury buses where you have extra legroom. The journey by bus takes just under 2 hours, this also depends in part on the flow of traffic. Since the population in Dubai is not known as good drivers, it often happens that part of the highway is closed due to an accident, resulting in long traffic jams.
Al Ghubaiba Bus Station
If you want to travel by bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi you can take the Intercity bus from the RTA to Abu Dhabi which leaves from the main bus station Al Ghubaiba Bus Station. The disadvantage of this station is that it can be very busy at times because it is located in the working-class district of Dubai where many Indians & Pakistanis work who often travel by public transport. This sometimes causes long queues for the buses. It can be quite busy at this station, especially on Thursdays, the day before the weekend.
From Al Ghubaiba Bus Station, you need to take bus E100 to Abu Dhabi, Central Bus Station. A single journey costs you 25 dirham and takes about 2.5 hours from this bus station. A bus to Abu Dhabi leaves every 12 minutes. For more information about times and bus stops, check the RTA route planner website where you can plan your own journey.
Ibn Battuta Mall bus station
A good alternative to the Al Ghubaiba Bus Station is the bus station at Ibn Battuta Mall. The Ibn Battuta shopping center has its own metro station, a metro ride from the center of Dubai to Ibn Battuta will take you about 20 to 30 minutes. The bus station at the Ibn Battuta Mall is a lot quieter than the Al Garhoud station because it is located on the outskirts of Dubai and far from the working-class areas of Dubai. You will therefore mainly find expats and locals here and a lot less people who take the bus to Abu Dhabi.
From Ibn Battuta Bus Station, bus E101 leaves for Abu Dhabi. Every 30 minutes there is going a bus to Abu Dhabi. Buses from Abu Dhabi bus station also leave for Dubai every half hour. A one-way ticket from Dubai to Abu Dhabi by bus costs approximately 25 dirhams per person. If you consider that the ride from Dubai to Abu Dhabi is about 200 km, this is very advantageous! For more information about times and bus stops, check the RTA route planner website where you can plan your own journey.
It is also possible to take the E102 bus from the Ibn Battuta Bus station in Dubai. Please note, this bus does not stop at the Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station in Abu Dhabi as bus line E101 does. Bus line E102 stops in Abu Dhabi at Mussafah Shabiya Bus Station. This bus station is approximately 15 minutes drive from the Sheik Zayed Mosque, one of the major attractions in Abu Dhabi.
The E102 bus line runs on weekdays from 04:28 AM to 10:28 PM, during this period a bus leaves every hour from the bus station. On weekends, which in Dubai fall on Fridays and Saturdays, the first bus departs at 05:28 AM and the last bus at 10:28 PM. In between, a bus leaves every hour for Abu Dhabi. From Abu Dhabi, the bus line E102 departs every hour on weekdays from 06:30 AM to 11:30 PM. On weekends the first bus leaves at 7:30 AM and the last bus at 11:30 PM. The cost for this bus line is the same as for the E101, 25 dirham per person each way.
Pay attention! The above bus numbers and departure points may change over time. We therefore recommend that you inquire locally which exact bus number you need or look at the RTA website. More information about the buses can also be found at dubai-bus.com
Ghubaiba Bus Station – Dubai – start stop bus line E100
Ibn Battuta Bus Station – Dubai – start stop bus line E101 and E102
Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station – end stop of bus lines E100 and E101
Mussafah Shabiya Bus Station Abu Dhabi – E102 bus terminus
