Two Days in Abu Dhabi: A Plan That Accounts for the Driving

Start at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and start early. It opens in the morning, entry is free, and the difference between 9am and 4pm is the difference between space and crowds. Allow 90 minutes including the security and dress-code queue.

Dress code is enforced at the door for everyone: ankles and shoulders covered, and hair covered for women. Abayas are lent free at the entrance but that queue is its own delay in high season.

From there, Qasr Al Watan — the presidential palace, open to visitors, and more interesting than "palace tour" suggests: the library and the great hall are the parts people remember. Two hours.

End on the Corniche in the late afternoon when it cools. Walk a stretch of the promenade, eat somewhere along it, and let the day finish slowly.

Our Grand Mosque, Qasr Al Watan and Etihad Towers tour is this day with the driving handled. The cheaper half-day city tour with the Heritage Village covers the mosque and the old city instead.

If you would rather look at things than queue for rides, give day two to Saadiyat.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi in the morning, when the light through the dome is at its best. Two to three hours, and the express guided tour is worth it if you would otherwise drift.

Lunch on the island, then one other museum — the Zayed National Museum if you want the story of the country, teamLab Phenomena if you want something completely different, the Natural History Museum if there are children.

If there is time and energy left, a kayak around the Louvre in the late afternoon shows you the building from the water, which is the version most visitors never see. More on all of this in our Saadiyat museums guide.

If you are travelling with children, day two is Yas, and it is one park, not two.

Ferrari World for thrill-ride ages, Warner Bros World for a wider age range and full air conditioning, SeaWorld for a calmer day, Yas Waterworld in winter.

A multi-park pass only makes sense if you are staying longer than two days — see our Abu Dhabi with kids guide for when the arithmetic works.

Park days are long. Do not put an evening desert safari on the end of one.

The two things worth adding to a two-day trip, in order.

A desert evening. Abu Dhabi's dunes are bigger and emptier than Dubai's and the drive out is shorter than people expect. The safari with a camel farm and Bedouin camp dinner is the full version; the BBQ and Tanoura show safari is the livelier one. Both finish late, so put them on the night before a slow morning.

An Emirati meal. Genuinely local food is harder to find here than it should be, and a dining experience is the straightforward way to eat something other than international hotel food.

What not to add: a Dubai day trip. It is 90 minutes each way and it turns a two-day Abu Dhabi trip into a day and a half. If Dubai matters, give it its own nights.