Just as we did at the Grand Mosque, this palace is best to see both at night as well as during the day. The Archway at the front of the building although is a very good for a photo shoot is not the public entrance,...More
Hi, Yes the Sh Zayed Mosque is free. All you need to do is try avoiding prayer time, as a result of which you will have to wait till the prayer is over. (This may take up 20-30 minutes depending on the day and time of... More
Hi, Yes the Sh Zayed Mosque is free. All you need to do is try avoiding prayer time, as a result of which you will have to wait till the prayer is over. (This may take up 20-30 minutes depending on the day and time of prayer, and if you have lined up other activities you may not want to wait that long. Further the Friday afternoon prayer may cost up to a couple of hours).
Try going to the Emirates Palace Hotel, book yourselves for tea/snacks at a restaurant(if not Lunch/Dinner) , if you are not able to just go in (which is occasionally possible, when there are not many people visiting). Am sure you will like it.
Next door is the Breakwater, where you can visit the Heritage Village, which is very basic but still ok for people from the West. One thing that is not described is the history of a large wooden boat parked on the beach close to the Heritage Village (which is also close to the largest UAE flag/flagpost in the world). That was the late HH Sheikh Zayed's fathers boat (ie present rulers grandfathers), which Sh Zayed wanted to preserve and so he donated it and it was converted to a restaurant in the 90's. They used to serve only local traditional food so it wasn't doing great business and later closed down. The boat however is still there.
Then take a walk along the Corniche beach as that is quite pleasant, if you don't want take a boat ride to the Lulu Island which is generally not too busy.
There is Marina Mall on the Breakwater which you can stroll through just to get the feel of it (since it is all within walking distance anyway).
Visit the Al Hosn Palace in the middle of the city.
So quite a bit of free places to go to.
