Abu Dhabi – Adrenaline-Filled Fun for Business Travelers

One moment you are emulating Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen by racing around a 21-corner Grand Prix circuit, the next you are feeling the adrenaline rush of Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest rollercoaster. For the thrill-seeking business traveler, there is no place on Earth like Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, in the United Arab Emirates.

Known as the UAE’s “entertainment island”, Yas Island offers unlimited exhilaration, from elite sports facilities to world-class theme parks and luxury shopping, all only minutes away from Abu Dhabi’s Central Business District.

Saif Al-Noaimi gets to inhabit this dreamland every day. As Deputy CEO of Yas Marina Circuit, the setting of the dramatic finale of F1’s World Championship 2021, he is fulfilling a passion for fast cars and excitement that he’s had since childhood. “I have been a motorsports fan since I was a little kid, and when I found an opportunity to come and join the team over here, I was really excited,” he says.

Yas Marina Circuit is home to the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a fixture on the F1 race calendar since 2009. “There is the noise of the cars, there is the excitement – the energy is contagious,” says Al-Noaimi of the big race day.

Although the Grand Prix is the flagship event, it is just one of 500 events taking place annually at the venue, which is open 365 days a year. Visitors to Yas Marina Circuit can enjoy health and fitness activities including cycling and running around the hallowed track under floodlights.

The circuit also has superb facilities for hosting corporate events. “Abu Dhabi is extremely well-connected,” says Al-Noaimi. “It’s a great opportunity for companies to host a networking event.”

Perhaps most enticing, visitors can get behind the steering wheel themselves. “You can come on the track and get into one of our vehicles and experience the track that the world’s best drivers experience over the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend,” he says.

Yas Marina Circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, famous for overhauling the legendary Nürburgbring in Germany and creating the Shanghai International Circuit, home of the Chinese Grand Prix, as well as the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Visitors can navigate the Abu Dhabi track driving a range of vehicles including a powerful Formula YAS 3000, an Aston Martin GT4 or a go-kart.

For 2021's F1 final race on December 12, the circuit also hosted a series of concerts by global music artists, including Foo Fighters, Khalid, Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi.

The great attraction of Yas Island – only 25 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi – for the business traveler is that it offers so much excitement close at hand. With an area of less than 10 square miles, the island, lapped by the Arabian Gulf, is just 10 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The island is also a good base from which to visit the emirate’s cultural gems, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi – on Saadiyat Island, only 15 minutes’ drive – which houses treasures from ancient Egypt and the caravans of the Silk Road, as well as the works of artists including Gauguin and Manet.

After visiting the Grand Prix circuit, where better for thrill-seeking travelers to go than the world’s first Ferrari-branded theme park, right next door to the track? Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is home to the Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest rollercoaster, which accelerates to 149 miles/h in 4.9 seconds and reaches a height of 170 feet. The park even has a Tyre Change Experience where you can test your skills against the pace of F1 pit crews. For more leisurely pleasures, the Bell’Italia ride replicates a drive in a small-scale Ferrari 250 California past Italian landmarks including the Amalfi Coast, the Colosseum and Maranello, home of Ferrari.

The island’s Yas Mall, directly linked to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, is the emirate’s finest example of shopping heaven, offering 370 stores and 68 restaurants and cafés, both indoors and outdoors. Yas Mall houses the Tryano luxury department store and a 24-screen cinema complex.

Yas Island has a marina and 10 luxury hotels, including the world’s first Warner Bros.-themed hotel, which is linked to another stunning theme park, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. Golfers and shoppers are offered world-class facilities at maximum convenience on Yas Island, says Al-Noaimi, who points out that they are all within walking distance of one another.

Yas Links Abu Dhabi is among the top 50 golf courses in the world and is ranked No. 1 in the Middle East by golf site All Square Golf. Created by acclaimed course designer Kyle Phillips, whose portfolio includes Kingsbarns in Scotland and The Grove in England, it was the first true links golf course in the Middle East. Set alongside the water’s edge on the Arabian Gulf, the championship links course is on the western shore of Yas Island. As well as a luxury clubhouse, it has floodlit practice ranges, a swimming pool, a gym and Hickory’s, a high-end restaurant with views of the mangroves and Abu Dhabi’s city skyline.

Because Abu Dhabi is known for bordering the Arabian Desert, international business travelers are not always aware that the emirate, which includes an archipelago of 200 islands, has a deep relationship with the sea. Yas Marina offers sailing activities, luxury yacht hires and tours by seaplane.

For a fun place to get wet, Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi is a water park like no other. Spread over 37 acres, the park includes 40 rides, such as Dawwama, the world’s largest six-person tornado water coaster, and the Liwa Loop, the Middle East’s first freefall-drop waterslide.

“For the business traveler coming to Abu Dhabi, we have a lot to offer,” says Al-Noaimi of the unique hub of excitement that is Yas Island. “It’s a great place to be even if someone is coming on a short visit to Abu Dhabi. Come and visit Yas Marina Circuit and Yas Island and get to experience everything we have to offer.”