On the back of the successful article, How Much is a Week in Dubai, we thought we’d make another helpful guide – How Much is a Week in Abu Dhabi?
The average cost for a week in Abu Dhabi for 2 people stands approximately at 13,325AED / £2,800 / $3,600. However, Abu Dhabi can be visited for as little as 5,000 AED / £1,000 / $1,360 if you want to travel on a budget.
Visiting Abu Dhabi for around £2,800 is great value for money and below we show you how much it will cost depending on the type of travel; from budget to luxury.
Tip: Don’t worry if you’re not flying from the UK like us, we have put all prices in AED & USD too; just take away the UK flight price and add your own to the trip!
How Much is 7 Nights in Abu Dhabi?
To break down the cost of a trip to Abu Dhabi we are going to look at the following:
- Flight Costs
- Hotel Costs
- Food & Drink
- Excursions
- Transport Costs
Below we look at the approximate cost of 7 nights in Abu Dhabi based on three types of traveller. The budget traveller, the average traveller and luxury travel.
Is Abu Dhabi a better holiday than Dubai though? We have an article on that, but we certainly recommend visiting both as both these places have fantastic things to offer. If you are interested in visiting both cities in a single go, please read our guide on How to Get to Abu Dhabi from Dubai.
Anyway, let’s get down to business starting with flight costs.
Cost of Flights to Abu Dhabi
Your flight cost to Abu Dhabi will depend on a few things. These are namely, class of seats, number of stops and season. For the benefit of this guide, we have taken flights to Abu Dhabi in one of the cheapest times of year to travel which is November.
The actual cheapest time of year to find flights to Abu Dhabi is September, but November offers a better climate for just a fraction of more expense, as September can still see temperatures in the 40 degrees Celsius mark!
Tip: Kayak.com have a great tool (Explore) you can use to explore flights across the world with the click of a mouse. This allows you to type in your departure airport and it will generate flights all over the world shown on a world map. This automatically gives you the cheapest flights to that destination.
Budget Flight Costs to Abu Dhabi
To gain extra value budget flights you will more often than not have to fly in-direct.
We found a flight from London Stansted to Abu Dhabi on November 1st and returning on November 8th for around £230/ 1,100AED / $270 with one stop.
Alternatively, from Hartsfield-Jackson in Atalanta, we found flights for around $1024. From New York JFK, $799.
Standard Flight Costs to Abu Dhabi
For the average traveller we have looked at direct flights in economy class. We found a direct flight on the same dates from London Heathrow for about £355 / 1,550AED.
Luxury Flight Costs to Abu Dhabi
For the luxury travellers, the flight cost below is in business class. We found a business class flight from London Heathrow on November 1st and returning on the 8th for £2575 / 10,800 AED.
Abu Dhabi Flight Cost Totals
| Travel Type | Flight Cost for 2 (AED) |
| Budget | 2,200AED |
| Standard | 3,600AED |
| Luxury | 21,600AED |
Cost of Hotels in Abu Dhabi
Next we look at how much it costs for 7 nights at a hotel in Abu Dhabi. To make this simple, we’ve chosen the most popular location to stay, the Corniche area.
This 8km long area is close to Saadiyat Island and Al Maryah Island. The Corniche offers incredible beaches, luxury shopping areas and fantastic places for food and drink too. For board type, we are going with Room Only. The food in Abu Dhabi is too good to stay in your hotels!
Budget Hotel Costs for 7 Nights in Abu Dhabi
The Nehal Hotel is set back just a short walk from Abu Dhabi’s Corniche and has rooms in November from just £50 / 200AED / $55 per night!
Standard Hotel Costs for 7 Nights in Abu Dhabi
Next we take a look at a 4 star hotel on Corniche Beach, Southern Sun Hotel. This is available for our November dates at £72 / 360AED / $95 per night. This hotel is in a prime location in Abu Dhabi.
Luxury Hotel Costs for 7 Nights in Abu Dhabi
Next, we step up to a 5 star hotel for the luxury visitors of Abu Dhabi. Welcome Emirates Palace, a 5 star resort with 9+ out of 10 ratings. Located on the beach, this place offers a fantastic experience. A 7 night stay here on our dates in November stands at £2,120 / 10,600AED $2,800.
Abu Dhabi Flight & Hotel Costs
| Traveller Type | Flight Cost | Hotel Cost (For 2) |
| Budget | 2,200 | 1,050AED |
| Standard | 3,600 | 2,520AED |
| Luxury | 21,600 | 10,600AED |
Food & Drink Costs in Abu Dhabi
Eating out in Abu Dhabi may sound expensive. And truth be told, if you don’t pick your restaurants carefully, it can raid your wallet. However, eating out here is not much different from other major cities. In fact, you’ll find that it’s cheaper in Abu Dhabi than in other cities such as London and New York.
Below is a table to give you a general idea of the cost of eating out in Abu Dhabi.
| City | Lunch Cost for 2 at a Mid-Range Restaurant (AED) |
| Abu Dhabi | 200 |
| Dubai | 300 |
| London | 270 |
| New York | 350 |
| Sydney | 250 |
Alcohol in Abu Dhabi is expensive, especially when drinking at hotel bars, so make sure you factor in some extra money if you often fancy a tipple.
Typical Restaurant Costs in Abu Dhabi
To paint more of a picture of the price of eating out in Abu Dhabi you can see some example prices of dinner below. (Taken from Zomato.com)
| Restaurant | Cost for 2 (AED) |
| Wazwan (Indian) | 75 |
| Pizza di Rocco (Italian) | 180 |
| Bait El Khetyar (Lebanese) | 125 |
| Denny’s (American) | 230 |
| BBQ Nation | 120 |
As you can see from the above, a meal for two can range anything between 75AED (£18/$20) to 230AED (£55/$62).
Tip: Zomato.com is a great site for checking food menus and prices across the world. Allowing you to plan your holiday that little bit better, which can save you money.
Extra Tip: Eat out at Lebanese restaurants. Lebanese food is great and is often found much cheaper than many other food chains.
Total Food & Drink Costs for a Holiday in Abu Dhabi
Now we need to make some assumptions to draw up a cost to eat whilst on holiday in Abu Dhabi. For this part, I will assume that the budget traveller will eat twice a week out and then make the most of the supermarkets for food. The standard traveller will eat at most normal high-street food chains and the luxury traveller will eat only at 5-star restaurants.
Our allowance of “snacks” covers bottled water, crisps, ice cream, coffee, etc.
| Traveller | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Total 7 Days |
| Budget | 20AED | 55AED | 65AED | 50AED | 1,330AED |
| Standard | 70AED | 110AED | 180AED | 80AED | 3,080AED |
| Luxury | 160AED | 220AED | 350AED | 100AED | 5,810AED |
Food Prices in Abu Dhabi Supermarkets
Next, a short list of the cost of essential foods across supermarkets in Abu Dhabi:
- Bottled Water – 1.11AED / £0.26 / $0.30
- Loaf of Bread – 4.33AED / £1.03 / $1.18
- 12 Eggs – 10.15AED / £2.42 / $2.76
- Apples 1lb – 3.58AED / £0.85 / $0.98
- Pepsi 0.33ltrs – 3.11AED / £0,74 / $0.85
- Chicken 1lb – 12.73AED / £3.03 / $3.46
- Yoghurt 1kg – 6AED / £1.60 / $1.44
Tip: Numbeo.com and Global Price Info have great sites to check the cost of living and food costs across the world.
Abu Dhabi Excursions & Costs
Next, let us take a look into excursion costs for your Abu Dhabi holiday. We have made the assumption that the budget traveller will not go on paid excursions, and will instead make the most of the free things to do in Abu Dhabi and all of the fantastic sightseeing opportunities. Besides, Abu Dhabi has some great beaches to laze on and lots of free museums to explore the history of the city.
For the standard travellers we have included 4 paid excursions, which gives you something to do most days. Then for the luxury travellers, we have included 1 excursion per day.
Below is a breakdown of excursion costs for your holiday to Abu Dhabi.
| Excursion | Cost pp (AED) | Standard | Luxury |
| Guided Sightseeing Boat Tour | 160 | YES | YES |
| Desert Safari, Camel Riding & BBQ | 250 | YES | YES |
| Abu Dhabi City Tour | 290 | YES | YES |
| Ferarri World & Yas Waterworld | 1050 | YES | YES |
| Kayaking in the Mangroves | 350 | NO | YES |
| The Grand Mosque & Louvre | 830 | NO | YES |
| Warner Brothers World | 360 | NO | YES |
| Total Cost | 3,790 | 3,620 | 6,600 |
Excursion costs per couple for the standard traveller across 7 nights comes to 3,790AED / £910 / $1030, which we think is great value for what your getting.
The luxury traveller will have an excursion every day with a total cost of 6,600AED / £1,580 / $1,800.
Tip: Class yourself as a standard traveller but want to make you journey cheaper? Pick and choose from the list of excursions to reduce your total cost.
Transport Costs Around Abu Dhabi
Finally, we take a look at transport costs. The assumptions made here are that the budget traveller will make use of the buses only to keep costs down. The standard traveller will use a taxi to and from the airport, but then use the buses (which is also a great way to see the city by the way). Then the luxury traveller will have 1 taxi ride (20mins approx.) every day factored in.
What about the metro you are thinking?! Well Abu Dhabi’s metro system construction is well under way. The Abu Dhabi metro was scheduled to finish in 2020 had it not been for Corona Virus. As soon as it’s up and running we will update this guide.
The below table shows the transport costs for getting around Abu Dhabi for each type of traveller.
| Traveller | Taxi pp (AED) | Bus pp (AED) |
| Budget | 0 | 75 |
| Standard | 170 | 75 |
| Luxury | 580 | 0 |
Tip: Rome2Rio is a great site to discover how to get between two destinations, anywhere in the world by taxi, bus, train, metro etc. It even gives you estimated costs so you cane make sure you’re not being ripped off.
The Total Cost of a Week in Abu Dhabi
Now we have looked into flights, hotels, food & drink, excursions and transport, the below shows you a total estimated holiday cost for 7 nights in Abu Dhabi for 2.
| Cost (AED) | Flights | Hotel | Food & Drink | Excursions | Transport | Total |
| Budget | 2,200 | 1,400 | 1,330 | 0 | 70 | 5,000AED |
| Standard | 3,600 | 2,520 | 3,080 | 3,790 | 245 | 13,235AED |
| Luxury | 21,600 | 10,600 | 5,810 | 6,600 | 580 | 45,190AED |
So there you have it, Abu Dhabi can be enjoyed for 7 nights from as little as 5,000AED / £1,000 / $1,360 for two people on a budget. For the average traveller, the cost of a trip to Abu Dhabi stands at around 13,325 / £2,800 / $3,600.
If you really feel like splashing the cash and enjoying some luxury on your travels to Abu Dhabi then you may end up spending as much as 45,190AED / £9,000 / $12,300!
How Expensive is an Abu Dhabi Holiday Compared to Dubai?
Spending a week in Abu Dhabi is cheaper than a week in Dubai if you’re looking for an alternative UAE holiday destination.
In our article, How Much is a Week in Dubai we found that the average trip cost was 14,940AED / £2,988 / $3,944. So Abu Dhabi is definitely cheaper to visit, but there isn’t too much in it.
Conclusion
Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both fantastic holiday destinations. Whats more, the city of Abu Dhabi is constantly expanding with new hotels, things to do an transport links.
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