While Dubai’s beach club scene is well known, the capital of the Emirates and the largest individual emirate, Abu Dhabi, also has some thriving beach clubs.
It’s worth noting that Abu Dhabi is a much more conservative environment than Dubai and there are some real oddities when it comes to beach clubs in this emirate, in particular, the very high prices they charge a single man to enter the beach club compared to women, kids and families (which can include a man).
Despite this, our team was quite excited to pack their things and head out to Abu Dhabi to see if the Saadiyat Beach Club could really compete with its counterparts in Dubai or whether it would all turn out to be a desert mirage?
This is what they learned at this interesting beach club.
Introduction – Getting To Saadiyat Beach Club
Saadiyat Beach Club is in Abu Dhabi, which is the capital city and largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates. If you’re coming from overseas, it’s easy enough to arrange a direct flight to Abu Dhabi, though it may be more expensive and you will have fewer options than flying to the other popular emirate of Dubai.
Once you’re in Abu Dhabi, the local transportation is excellent, and while traffic can occasionally get a bit hectic, it’s much better than most parts of the world, and you should be no more than a 30-60 minute drive from this beach club, wherever you’ve decided to stay.
The beach club is on the coast facing West, which means you can easily get a great sunset view when the day draws to a close.
As with pretty much every leisure facility in the UAE, there is valet parking at the door, and taxis can drop you off at the club without any problems at all.
Where Is Saadiyat Beach Club? Saadiyat Island, Exit 14 – Abu Dhabi – United Arab Emirates
Online: Saadiyat
Opening Hours: 8 a.m. – 7.30 p.m.
What’s Available At Saadiyat Beach Club?
The Saadiyat beach club has three restaurants, a bar, swimming pool areas (with more than one pool), a gym, access to Kai Beach, regular all-day brunches (a major feature of expat and tourist life in the UAE), spa facilities and even a Kids’ club.
Unlike many beach clubs around the world, Saadiyat Beach Club is primarily a membership organisation, though it is possible to buy day passes, and members are granted access to a tier of benefits that can make a day in this beach club much cheaper than it is for the casual user.
Our Detailed Review Of Saadiyat Beach Club
We evaluate each beach club using the same standardised process to ensure equitable treatment of owners, management, and staff, and to present reviews in a consistent format that facilitates easy comparison between locations.
The process unfolds as follows:
- A team is appointed to review the venue.
- All members must visit the beach club, but they are not obligated to visit together or on the same day.
- At the venue, each reviewer fills out a scorecard, rating the club from 1 (poor) to 5 (outstanding) across specified categories, while also noting their personal experiences.
- Once all reviews are completed, the team meets to discuss their findings and agree on final scores for each category.
- A designated member then drafts the review, incorporating the team’s consensus and final scores, before it is posted on our website.
Reservation and Booking Process
The booking system at Saadiyat Beach Club is decent. The club’s decision not to provide bed booking facilities to visitors means that you can’t choose where to sit; your only decisions are when you’re coming and how many passes you will need.
They sell passes for single men, for ladies only, for kids (from 6-12, under 6 and they go free), couples and families. And yes, they’re all different prices and while some come with a little food and beverage credit, mainly they’re just a fee for walking through the door.
And no, even the $100 USD (375 AED) single man’s pass or the $140 USD (549 AED) family pass don’t guarantee that you’ll be able to get a nice seat when you arrive.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Now, we can see why the club likes this system, but it feels anti-consumer. You might pay a large sum of money to come into a beach club in the boiling hot desert and not get a seat, which just isn’t fair.
However, the booking system they do have does work as advertised, which is good news.
Ambience and Atmosphere
We’ve made no bones about this, Abu Dhabi is an Islamic state where conservatism is very much the order of the day.
While this doesn’t detract from the atmosphere in a beach club, it does mean that the atmosphere tends to be naturally subdued, because that’s how people behave here in day-to-day life.
There is very little interaction between the sexes in Abu Dhabi outside of families, and you should be cautious about talking to someone of the opposite sex that you don’t know here, unless you have already been introduced to them by a family member.
Mostly, this is a place to hang out with your own family, and that’s how to get the most out of a day here.
Location And Accessibility
While Abu Dhabi is the richest and largest emirate, there’s no doubt that its glitzy, glamorous and more liberal neighbour, Dubai, tends to get the most visitors.
That means Dubai gets the best flights, has the most hotels and is generally speaking better set up for beach club culture.
However, if you have your heart set on Abu Dhabi, once you’re in the emirate, this beach club is very accessible from every part of Abu Dhabi, and you don’t really need to worry about traffic slowing you down.
And in this uber-modern setting, most of the beach club is also wheelchair accessible, which is a nice touch.
Aesthetic And Design
If you’ve spent some time in the Emirates, you will quickly come to realise that for many businesses, the objective is to try and be a slightly different corporate-looking business to the one next door.
Everything is nice, everything is upscale and sadly, everything starts to blend into everything else pretty quickly too.
If you only visit Saadiyat Beach Club during your time in the UAE, you’re going to be blown away by the way it looks.
Spend a few days here, and it’s very much standard Emirati design and aesthetics. Nice but very clearly, a commercial venture without much soul.
Staff Friendliness and Professionalism (Service Standard)
One thing you can say for the oil money in Abu Dhabi is that it enables the emirate to attract some of the best people in every single field in the world.
This is as true of its customer service staff as it is of every other business, and we’ve always found that service in Abu Dhabi is first rate.
There’s no change at Saadiyat Beach Club, where everyone is friendly and professional in exactly the right amount to ensure you feel good about being there.
Service Speed and Efficiency
The service staff are also surprisingly effective in our experience, though we did witness one poor chap signing up for a long-term membership, and he seemed to be having a little difficulty getting through the process, but we’re not sure if that was him or the staff.
From our time, we found that if needed to catch someone’s attention, they were there almost without needing to think about it.
The food, drinks and any other things that we needed were all brought quickly, and there was no waiting excessively for anything.
The staff at Saadiyat Beach Club are a credit to this place.
Food Quality and Variety
With three different restaurants, you won’t want for good food and plenty of choice at Saadiyat Beach Club, and it’s simply not done in the Emirates to skimp on quality either.
The food here is very good, and while it’s not always the most imaginative fare, it’s always beautifully presented and exceptionally tasty.
It is expensive, in the scheme of things globally, but this is Abu Dhabi, and things are expensive, and Saadiyat Beach Club’s pricing scheme isn’t out of the ordinary when compared to other beach clubs in this area.
Beverage Selection and Creativity
You should be aware that many of the patrons at this beach club don’t consume alcohol, and while you are welcome to, you should make sure that you don’t spill any on anyone else or it could become problematic.
Overall, there is a huge range of drinks to choose from, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and they are always presented in a wonderful way.
The downside is that this is one area where the Emirates is always much more expensive than many other countries because of the high taxes levied on alcohol, since the local Muslim population doesn’t drink.
Cleanliness and Hygiene
One thing that makes it really easy to tell that things are clean in the Emirates is that much of the decor makes use of white and light coloured materials.
This makes perfect sense because it helps to reflect the sunlight, and it gets hotter here than at nearly any other beach club on Earth.
It also means you can tell that this place is really clean at a glance, and this goes for every corner of the beach club, from the pool area to the toilets.
Comfort of Seating and Lounging Areas
We found some of the restaurant seating in this beach club actively uncomfortable. It felt like it had been chosen for form over function.
However, we really appreciated the day beds, which are luxurious and comfortable and among the best that we’ve ever tried.
The good news is that because there are no reserved seats, as soon as you see something that looks more comfortable, you can move, and the beach club’s staff will ensure all your food, drinks, etc. are brought with you.
Music and Entertainment
Music and entertainment in Abu Dhabi? Not so much. There is some bland piped music in some areas of this beach club but it’s simply not that sort of venue.
You go to this beach club for conversation with friends and family, and the odds of a party taking place here is next to zero on most days.
That’s OK, as we believe the more variety there is in beach clubs, the easier it is for you to find the beach club that suits your exact needs.
Seasonality
This is Abu Dhabi, and the weather is hot and sunny for today, tomorrow and in all probability forever more. There is occasional rain in this emirate, for about 3-5 days a year, and it won’t last for more than an hour or two if it does happen when you’re there.
In short, seasonality simply isn’t a concern. However, this beach club may close for certain holidays, and it’s always best to call in advance just to confirm that it’s open before you visit.
Pricing and Value for Money
The thing about the Emirates is that expats here tend to get paid very well and pay very little in taxes, thus the high prices are “value for money” in that context.
The author knows, because he’s been an expat in Dubai, and it worked really well.
However, if you’re coming from another country, such as the UK or Germany, where salaries tend to be lower and taxes tend to be higher, it’s quite an expensive place to be.
It’s certainly out of the range of the author’s salary now that he’s based in Southeast Asia. So, it can be value for money, but for the majority of people, it’s going to feel expensive to spend a day at the Saadiyat Beach Club in Abu Dhabi.
Beach Access and Quality
All the beaches in the Emirates are essentially reclaimed land, so if you’re OK with that, you will find that the sand is warm and soft, but also blisteringly hot thanks to that Abu Dhabi sun, so make sure to wear shoes when you walk on it.
The staff make sure the beaches are kept immaculately clean, and you can swim in the ocean here safely and without any real concerns.
Overall, these beaches are nice, though as they’re not natural beaches, they don’t quite measure up to the best beaches on Earth.
Sustainability Practices
There are certain eco-friendly practices that all facilities in the UAE are obliged to follow, including waste segregation and recycling, plastic-free beaches and oceans, and low-carbon-footprint energy use.
However, the beach club does not publish any reports on sustainability and has made no commitment to go above and beyond its basic legal obligations.
It’s sort of good enough, but there’s a lot of room to do better, too.
Exclusive Perks for Guests
If there’s one thing this beach club excels at, it’s tiers of privileges based on your membership status.
12-month membership gets you oodles of benefits, and then a 6-month membership gets a bit less, and a 1-month membership less still, and a day pass gets very little, indeed.
We approve of this; we think beach clubs should offer ways for guests to get perks and to pay for them. It’s a good way to generate revenue and to make people feel special.
Safety and Security
The security teams at Abu Dhabi hotels are ever present, and a bag scan and metal detector scan are not unheard of at the doors of any major establishment.
There’s also always enough physical security onsite to ensure that if any trouble should arise, it won’t affect the enjoyment of any other guests.
Event Hosting Capabilities
This beach club has a first-rate private events team and can (and does) hold events from large-scale corporate events to intimate and luxurious weddings.
Nearly every aspect of the service they offer can be customised, assuming you’re willing to pay for that customisation.
We’d be happy to hold an event at this beach club, with the proviso that if you want a party, this isn’t the place for it.
Consistency of Experience
There’s no doubt that the experience at this beach club is consistent. In fact, it’s consistency personified delivered with almost military precision.
The only downside is that neither long-term members, reviews nor our reviewing team could find any evidence of trying to improve on what is, admittedly, already a pretty good beach club experience.
Additional Amenities and Facilities
This beach club has an excellent array of amenities and facilities, and you could easily spend the whole day at this club as a family without being bored.
The only thing missing is the ingredients for a good party and this is Abu Dhabi and that’s not really how this emirate rocks.
Summary
Saadiyat Beach Club is entirely tailored to family days out, and that’s just fine. It’s a market that we think beach clubs in other parts of the world might want to tap into in a similar way.
However, the conservative nature of Abu Dhabi makes this club less attractive to childless couples and extremely unattractive to singles, particularly single men.
You can have a nice time at this beach club, and the food, drinks, and facilities are certainly class-leading, but at the cost of $100 just to walk inside for a single guy? You can get much better value elsewhere in the emirate.
So, if you want some family fun in Abu Dhabi, book Saadiyat Beach Club today. If not, look elsewhere. You’ll be glad that you did.
FAQs
Can You Go Swimming At Saadiyat Beach Club?
Yes, you can swim in the pool, which you have access to at this beach club. Your level of access will depend on both your membership status and your gender.
As a conservative Muslim nation, Abu Dhabi may not be as strict as nearby Saudi Arabia when it comes to dividing the sexes, but it’s strict enough.
Single men will need to pay a heavy premium to enter the club at all without a long-term membership (375 AED, which is in excess of $100 USD), and that does not guarantee a seat.
In general, this beach club is for families, and the entire membership structure is designed to deter those without families from attending.
You can also swim on the beach at this beach club as the ocean water is safe. Life guards are present and you should obey all instructions and warning signs.
What Is There To Do At Saadiyat Beach Club?
There’s a lot to do at this beach club. You can eat, drink and swim in common with most beach clubs. But you can also work out in the gym or engage a personal trainer to really get the most out of your fitness regime.
You can enjoy a massage in the onsite spa (please note, again, due to the strict nature of the emirate’s religious outlook, your masseuse will be of the same gender as you).
They have regular brunches which include unlimited food and drinks (and if you’re a member, you may also get discounts on these).
There is also a kids’ club which gives you somewhere to leave your children under supervision while you enjoy the beach club.
And, of course, there is a range of comfortable furniture in the venue for your use. This is not included in the membership fee or the day pass fee and is available on a strictly first-come, first-served basis.
Is Saadiyat Beach Club A Child-Friendly Venue?
Yes, in fact, we’d go as far as to say that not only is Saadiyat Beach Club child-friendly/family-friendly, but it’s actively somewhat hostile to people who try to visit who are not part of a family group.
There are plenty of facilities for children at this beach club, and there’s no doubt that it’s a great place for a day out with your partner and kids.
Who Is The Owner Of Saadiyat Beach Club?
The ownership of this beach club is not in the public domain. It is possible that Alpha Dhabi Holdings, a major player in the local area’s commercial real estate market, might be a shareholder or owner, but this cannot be confirmed as we go to press.
Final Thoughts On The Review Of Saadiyat Beach Club
There’s no doubt that the Saadiyat Beach Club provides a swanky backdrop for a little pampering on a day in Abu Dhabi.
However, unless you’re desperate for an oasis of calm for a family day out, we wouldn’t travel to Abu Dhabi for this beach club, and most of our review team is childless and they would be less tempted to return, even if they were already in the emirate.
Overall, it’s a nice experience, and for families, Saadiyat is top notch, but for everyone else? We’d look to Dubai or even go somewhere else entirely like Bali, before we’d go out in Abu Dhabi.
