The Most Budget-Friendly Hotels to Book in Abu Dhabi

Here in central Zone 1, you might be a 20-minute drive from the Corniche, with its designer shops and sculptural skyscrapers. Still, you’re only ten minutes from the monumental Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, with its igloo-like domes and icicle-white minarets – and even closer to the lush Mangrove National Park for dreamy kayak trips through lush bird-thronged waterways. As far as this budget hotel in Abu Dhabi goes, you wouldn’t know it was on the cheaper end of the spectrum, with its huge, contemporary-sleek rooms – complete with beds that appear to float and designer kitchenettes.

With a rooftop pool and gym, as well as a choice of three opulent restaurants and lounges to dine in, this affordable five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi, located just a stone’s throw from the Corniche, is mind-bogglingly good value. Rooms are chocolate-box-luxurious, with oversized wood and padded-fabric headboards, double-height windows overlooking the city and its shimmering lagoons, and bathrooms clad in caramel-coloured granite. You’re also just minutes from the epic Abu Dhabi Mall, as well as the more traditional carpet souks and meat and fruit markets towards Zayed Port. Don’t step out without wads of notes and credit cards.

Arterial Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed Street is a dizzying sight, feeding a constant stream of Ferraris and other shiny-new supercars of the super-rich towards the Corniche. And here’s where you’ll find this five-star stunner of a budget-friendly hotel in Abu Dhabi. Rooms are bright and glossy as a Duty-Free perfume display, with white lacquer sideboards, teak-toned wood trim and accents of brushed gold. Views back across the city are so good you’ll spend most of your first day taking selfies with your back to the window. Don’t worry – Abu Dhabi is a kind of look-at-me place.

It’s a small shame that the rooftop pool here doesn’t have a view, as it’s hemmed in by a just-too-tall wall, but that shouldn’t dim the fact that you can go for a dip bathed in golden sunlight. Inside this cheap hotel in Abu Dhabi, rooms are more of a squeeze than others mentioned on this list, but the rates are still significantly lower. And while they may be smaller by the traditional Abu Dhabi disproportionately generous standards, there’s been no expense spared in the design and the finish – with a stylish mirror-surrounded headboard to maximise the light and marble-topped bedside tables and sideboards.

This goliath of a hotel towers over its namesake shopping super-emporium, the Al Wahda Mall, like something from the Star Wars universe with its rocket booster-like towers. Inside, things are less Death Star and more film star-stylish, with a neutral biscuit-toned palette adding pop to the splashes of pastel blue, coral and green in the soft furnishings, elegantly minimal light fixtures and luxurious bathrooms. Retiring it isn’t, but you don’t come to Abu Dhabi for understatement.

Abu Dhabi’s sky-high bar for accommodation quality means that even in the more affordable hotels, you can usually expect – as standard – five-star facilities such as a spa, gym, swimming pool and restaurant. And this smaller business hotel proves the point, in the downtown banking district, not far from the central clamour of shops and restaurants. Rooms, while not visually mould-breaking – think tiramisu tones of chocolate and vanilla – are generously proportioned, crisply clean and as comfortable as you could hope to find in this manic mega-city.

If you like golf, you’ll love this hotel. In fact, if you like Formula 1, water slides, theme parks, shopping and Ferraris, you’ll love this hotel. It’s at home on Yas Island – the hub of oversized entertainment venues such as Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina F1 circuit and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. You certainly won’t get bored. The hotel itself is something of a looker, too, with calming baby pink-hued rooms delivering views over the rolling green carpet of the Yas Links Abu Dhabi golf course.