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Aircraft in the Runway in Abu Dhabi
Written by Rahul on November 17, 2022 Share on

Activities at Abu Dhabi International airport- Don’t waste your Layover time

What can you possibly do at an airport? Airports are merely a place which helps you transfer from one place to another. At another perspective, it serves as a connecting point from one place to another. As a considerable amount of people use them, the airport maintenance is top-notch and some airports are just heavenly to look with amazing architecture and great maintenance. These are just to make the customers make more comfortable to stay for longer transits. In some airports, there are even more than 12 hours of layover and after a certain point, it does get boring to stay there. This is where most of the travellers lose their cool and sometimes even be unhappy with the experience. One of the notable airports of all the airports worldwide is the Abu Dhabi International airport. The infrastructure of this airport is just amazing. Let us look at the Activities at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

A flight docking for the departure at Abu Dhabi airport.
Image Credits: Anna Gru on Unsplash

Abu Dhabi International Airport

The Abu Dhabi International Airport is the single main airport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is located 30.5 km away from Abu Dhabi main city. It serves an average of 20 million passengers in a year. This particular airport has more than 30 aircraft companies that are operating through which it connects more than 120 destinations in over 60 countries. It is the second-largest airport in the UAE and also the fastest-growing aviation hub in the world. They are looking at the growth of footfalls in the airport to be increased by 45 million in the coming decade. This is one of the best airports in the world and one of the top-rated by Travellers too.

Dhabi International airport
Image Credits: Google Images

Activities at Abu Dhabi International airport

Abu Dhabi is one of the best-constructed airports in the world. In this Airport, there is everything that is there for the travellers to rest during their long transits. People come from various countries to catch their connecting flights. While they are spending their long transits in the airport, they can do loads of things for them to be occupied. There are 3 terminals at Abu Dhabi International airport. 1&2 terminals accommodate passengers from other different airlines. The 3rd terminal is exclusively reserved for Etihad airlines departures. Each terminal offers a wide range of activities to do so that the people will not be struck with boredom for a long time. So how much ever time you have to kill at the airport, you will be able to pass the time with ease here. So, here are the activities that you can do at the airport.

Grab a bite at the Food Court

There are plenty of restaurants there in Abu Dhabi airport. You can check out many places inside the airport to get the food you like. The Bricco Cafe in terminal 1 and the Negroni restaurant in Terminal 3 are the best places to go grab a bite if you are an Italian food enthusiast. If you crave more for the Asian cuisine, then you can hit the Yum Cha restaurant, which serves authentic Asian food. Hit up the Urban Food Market, a breakfast cafe if you feel peckish after a long flight in the morning time. This cafe can be found in Terminal 3. Transit passengers can check out the ‘To Go’ cafe, as this sells small snacks for your snack cravings. This place also has good food and beverages for the travellers. You can find this in terminal 1.

Italian Cuisine food
Image Credits: Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash

All these snack bars and breakfast cafes can be easily used to kill your time on your transit. Just a small disadvantage is that this food can be a bit expensive. These are a great spot for you to spend your time if in case you have a short layover time at Abu Dhabi.

Shop your heart out at the Airport

Duty free shopping at the Abu Dhabi airport.
Image Credits: Photo by Kiwihug on Unsplash

Browse through some of the most impressive, unique and antique sets of handbags. Also, have scents of the top brands of perfumes in the Abu Dhabi International Airport. It gives you a whole new exquisite and new collections of the handbags and top varied fragrances. Get one of the best bargain deals on the prices of certain products at the Abu Dhabi Duty-free shops. From high-end products to small items for snacking are made available at this airport for the shopaholics to go and immerse themselves in the shopping experience.

Don’t worry about the cash for your onward journey from the Abu Dhabi airport as there are plenty of ATMs around for you to withdraw money from. In that way, it will be easier for you to withdraw UAE Dhirams.

Rest at the top class Lounges

After long flights, our body starts to take a toll and it becomes important for us to rest. There are some premium lounges that you can go ahead and take rest in. These premium lounges provide complimentary drinks and snacks. Some of these lounges are Al Ghazal, Al Reem, Etihad and Al Dubai lounges. They work in either pre-book basis or pay-and-enter model. For instance, the Etihad lounge needs pre-booking to be done while Al Dubai works under the pay-and-enter model, meanwhile, First class and Business class passengers do not need to pre-book to access the lounges. Other than these, there is a children’s playing area in Terminal 1 and a Burgundy smoking lounge in each terminal.

Also Read: Places to Visit in Abu Dhabi

Airport Lounges
Image Credits: Google Images

Explore a part of the city

Do you have a long layover of more than 8 hours? Not to worry. You can get out of the Airport and visit some of the iconic places in Abu Dhabi. View the world’s largest chandelier and carpet at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. See some of the best artworks by Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci at the world-renowned Louvre Abu Dhabi. Yas Mall is a short drive away from the airport. Shoppers paradise is another name for the Mall. Experience the thrill at the Ferrari World and Warner Bros which is just 15 minutes away from the airport. Let your long wait be something fruitful and not go to waste while at transit.

An aircraft view of the Ferrari World
Image Credits: Victor Malyushev on Unsplash

Catch up on your lost sleep

Tired of waiting for the flights
Image Credits: Jay Wen on Unsplash

Tired after a long flight? Tired of waiting for the next flight? Walking from one terminal to another is tiring? There are sleeping pods for the travellers. They can snooze off here for some time to recoup their freshness back. Like for travellers, there are even charging pods for your electrical devices. They have a baggage storing facility, so you can take the nap without any fear of your bags getting stolen.

Also Read: Free Things to do in Abu Dhabi

Hope you will find all these tips to be useful. Abu Dhabi airport is not only well built but also well maintained. Travellers have the comfort of resting and also to explore the city. Pickyourtrail offers some of the best UAE experiences and have a check on the Pickyourtrail website for some of the best Abu Dhabi tour package and also for more fresh contents on travel.

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