On our last day in Dubai, we rented a car to drive to Oman, which should be the final destination of our Middle East trip. But before we headed there, we drove to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Day Trip To Abu Dhabi
It takes about one hour and 30 minutes to drive to Abu Dhabi from Dubai – more or less depending on your starting point in Dubai. There’s also the option to take a bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, but you would have to take a cab to get to the mosque from where the bus drops you off. Once in Abu Dhabi, we met up with my husband’s co-worker who lives in Abu Dhabi and had kindly offered to show us around the mosque.
Facts About The Mosque
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the biggest mosque in the UAE. The mosque itself (without surrounding gardens) stands on more than 12 hectares and can accommodate about 40,000 people in total. It was built between 1996 and 2007, initiated by the UAE’s former president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The intention behind building the mosque was to unite muslims all over the world by taking into account their different cultural backgrounds and providing them with a “home” so-to-speak. This was accomplished by merging ancient and modern architectural styles as well as by using materials from many different countries.
Visiting The Mosque And Gown Rental Service
It’s free to visit the mosque but you need to adhere to a dress code (as is the same with any mosque you want to visit) in order to be able to enter. For men this means wearing long pants and a top with sleeves. Women need to cover their legs, arms and head. At Sheikh Zahed Grand Mosque they make it easy for female tourists since they offer a rental service for gowns. You can wear them over your clothes covering all the body parts that need to be covered. That way, you don’t have to worry about bringing a scarf, a long sleeve top etc. The rental service is free in exchange for your license or passport. It’s located underground in the parking garage.
The mosque itself was insanely beautiful. I took many pictures and I was really glad that we made the trip to Abu Dhabi to visit it. In my opinion, it’s worth the trip from Dubai to see the mosque only. It was the perfect end to our stay in the UAE before heading to Oman.
Check out my Dubai travel guide here.
Do you have any experience visiting the Middle East? What countries did you visit?
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