Downtown Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi's downtown is very modern with supertall skyscrapers, palaces, luxury hotels, malls and restaurant. Corniche Road is a long and beautiful road parallel to downtown situated along the shoreline of Corniche Lake. Our small tour bus from Dubai drew fastly through Cornjche Road without stopping, so I tried to make as many snapshots as possible to capture streets and architecture, but without really doing downtown justice.

 

Downtown Abu Dhabi and Corniche Lake, from the left: ADIA Tower (185m, tallest 2006), The Landmark (324m, 2013), World Trade Center Residences (381m, 2014), Baynunah Hilton Tower (165m, tallest 1994-2002), WTC Trust Tower (278m, 2013)

 

 

CORNICHE PARK AND CORNICHE ROAD:

 
Capital Plaza and Le Royal Meridien   Corniche Park, Downtown
  Outskirts of Downtown, Corniche Park

Corniche Park, The Landmark (324m, 2013), WTC (background), Baynunah Hilton Tower (165m, tallest 1994-2002), seen from Corniche Road.


ADIA Tower , 185m tall. This curvy 39-strorey building was the tallest building in Abu Dhabi 2005-2010.

  


Capital Plaza from 2011 is a mixed use complex with offices, hotel (Sofitel) and residences. The postmodern/art deco architecture of the tallest tower resembles Empire State Building in New York.

 


Le Royal Meridien, a hotel that was the city's tallest building 1993-94 and has a revolving restaurant.

Capital Plaza, Abu Dhabi's Manhattan

 

 

OTHER MAJOR ROADS:

 
Al Ain Tower and park   Abu Dhabi is very green    

 

SOUTH END OF DOWNTOWN:

ADNOC Headquarters (342m, u/c, expected completion in 2014) Etihad Towers (five towers from 2011 up to 305m)

  

ADNOC Headquarters, u/c


Etihad Towers, five glass towers from 2011 with hotels and offices. The tallest one is Tower2, 305m tall with 77 floors and an observation deck on the 75th floor. Tower 1 has a Jumeirah hotel. The bronze glass highrise to the right is Bab Al Qasr Hotel, under construction.

  


Etihad Towers are designed to resemble an open hand from above

Etihad Towers and Bab Al Qasr Hotel

 
Etihad Towers, designed by DBI Design.   Etihad Towers
   Etihad Towers, Bab Al Qasr Hotel

 

Nation Towers with the world's highest pedestrian bridge and ADNOC Headquarters (u/c) that has a hole on the top

  


Al Ain Tower

 

Nation Towers has the world's highest pedestrian bridge, even higher then the one at Petronas Towers, our guide told us. There is also a helicopter platform on the top of one of the towers. To the right is Hilton hotel, today one of the oldest modern buildings in Abu Dhabi.

The top of the Nation Towers with its heli platform
Downtown skyline  

Traffic jam in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Corniche Road shoreline and Capital Plaza in the middle

The skyline of Downtown Abu Dhabi seen from Heritage Village, from the left: Capital Plaza (complex in the distance), ADIA Tower (185m, tallest 2006, The Landmark (324m, 2013), World Trade Center Residences (381m, 2014), Baynunah Hilton Tower (165m, tallest 1994), WTC Trust Tower (278m, 2013). To the far right is Al Ain Tower (49 floors, 2011). In the front is Corniche Road and the beachfront.