Europe & Beyond

Shopping in Abu Dhabi

A quick guide for partners of Formula 1 fans who are being dragged along to the final race of the F1 season – the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – and want to make the most of their visit to the UAE rather than watch speeding cars and drivers battling for positions in the 2009 F1 title – the running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a little pointless some argue – the world title already having been claimed by Jenson Buttox when he ambled across the line in Brazil.

From manic local souqs to sprawling modern malls, Abu Dhabi is well-established as a shopper’s paradise — particularly for gold jewellery, perfume and designer clothes, dresses and even lingerie.

Abu Dhabi Airport Shopping

The award-winning Abu Dhabi Duty Free shop at the airport is the obvious place to look for big brand names. Spread over an area of 5000 square metres, the shop sells a huge range of perfumes at duty free prices as well as cosmetics, watches, jewellery, clothes, music, electronic items, toys and books.

For many tourists shopping is the main purpose of their visit, and they’re not afraid to run up an alarmingly large credit card bill in the process. But if you don’t have a bottomless supply of cash, is it also still possible to grab yourself a bargain, or are prices in Abu Dhabi no cheaper than in the UK or Europe?

Bargain shopping

If you’re looking for a bargain, you have to choose where you shop very carefully. The more traditional souqs in the Al Meena area are well worth exploring if you want to see local produce on sale at reasonable prices.

Al Meena is best known for its wide range of carpets and Persian rugs, alongside many other items such as antiques, colourful fabrics, spices, and traditionally-designed jewellery, with lots of small shops packed into the alleyways. If you plan to buy a Persian rug, make sure you do a bit of homework before you shop; there are machine made carpets alongside handmade ones, so you need to know what to look out for.

Traders will expect you to bargain over prices, so wear your haggling hat if you visit the souqs. And when you find yourself flagging, take a pew at one of the coffee shops selling robust Arabic coffee to recharge your batteries.

The Hamed Centre is another lower-budget shopping complex with a wide range of outlets selling cheaper items including Arabic music, jewellery and reasonably-priced casual clothes.

Luxury shopping

If like many visitors to Abu Dhabi you’re less concerned about price and more concerned about luxury and choice, head for the city’s more glamorous shopping malls such as the glitzy Marina Mall and famous Abu Dhabi Mall.

Abu Dhabi Mall

Abu Dhabi Mall is one of the city’s best known complexes, housing more than 220 outlets selling international and local brands of clothes, make-up, perfumes, books, household furnishings, electrical goods, gifts, health foods, and just about any other products you can think of – even luxury christmas hampers.  There are plenty of places to dine, plus a a bowling centre, a cinema complex,  and a kids’ edutainment centre.

Marina Mall

The Marina Mall is another massive complex combining small boutiques, and outlets for international brands and major designer names such as Channel, Gucci, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Versace and Yves Saint-Laurent.

Perfume shopping in Abu Dhabi

You can buy just about any perfume you can think of in Abu Dhabi, usually straight after they have been launched in their country of origin.

For a more unique Arabic fragrance, you could look out for the unique local perfumeries across Abu Dhabi city which will individually blend a distinctive scent for you using aromatic Arabic oils. A word to the wise, however: these fragrances tend to be far more intense than the average shop-bought perfume, so don’t drown yourself in the stuff!

Jewellery shopping

The gleaming gold jewellery shops in and around the Madinat Zayed Gold Market are said to sell 24-carat gold at the cheapest prices in the world.

You can pick up Arab-style gold bracelets and bangles, watches, necklaces or earrings in yellow or white gold, plus pearls and semi precious stones.

You need to hone your bargaining skills to get a good price, and if you visit a couple of times on different days, don’t be surprised if the prices have changed: they fluctuate according to the daily international gold rate.

Getting there try to fly to Dubai Airport

Because of the increased demand for flights to Abu Dhabi for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and associated events (including the opening of the amazing Yas Hotel) you might choose to fly to nearby Dubai International Airport on one of the many frequent flights to Dubai available from many UK and European Airports – see this previous post about Dubai flights

With such a big focus on shopping in this modern city, it’s hard to resist parting with your cash — but with such a great choice of outlets for a wide range of budgets there is something to suit every pocket in Abu Dhabi.

Cheap Flights Impact Climate Change

I’m fascinated by the fact that progressive papers such as the Guardian and Independent  continue to promote cheap flights and foreign holidays, and that when asked about this they weasel around the issue of the impact on climate change, citing the need for revenue. One assumes that there are industries they do refuse to promote, or industries they will only promote in particular ways, but the tourist industry gets carte blanche.

Longhaul and frequent cheap flights to Europe

In the history of humanity it is only since the 1960′s that we have developed the expectation of the ‘right’ to be able to fly to Sydney, Los Angeles, Bangkok etc on holiday once a year on a fraction of our salaries, and the further ‘right’ to be able to book cheap flights and hop over to Prague, Barcelona and Rimini every 3 or 4 months.

It seems to me that this is an absurd expectation, when these ‘rights’ affect fundamentally other peoples’ rights to life. Try explaining to somebody in the Maldives whose house is being flooded regularly because of rising seas that you have the right to these trips! Let’s not pretend that we don’t now know the effects of what we do!

It’s the toxic combination of the lack of viable alternatives presented to us with the promotion of cheap flights and foreign holidays as a basic right rather than privilege that’s to blame. Of the two ingredients, I’m inclined to believe that promoting the idea of the cheap flight for foreign holidays as absolutely basic to our way of life that’s the more worrying.