Eleven Thousand Square Metres of Sand: Radisson Blu Hotel and Resort, Abu Dhabi Corniche
The Executive Suite with Lounge Access and a sea view at the Radisson Blu on the Abu Dhabi Corniche runs to sixty three square metres. It sleeps four adults and a child, it faces the Gulf, it comes with access to the executive lounge, and it is the largest of the categories the hotel publishes. The Premium Suite with the same lounge access and the same outlook takes fifty six square metres.
Below those, the standard stock is consistent. Superior, Premium with a sea view, Premium with a city view, Executive with lounge access, and Executive with lounge access and a sea view all measure twenty six square metres and take two adults and a child. That consistency is worth knowing, because it means the decision here is about outlook and lounge access rather than about floor area.
The Corniche Road position
The hotel stands on Corniche Road in Al Bateen, on the western half of the promenade. Marina Mall is 1.6 kilometres away, Heritage Village 1.8, Qasr Al Watan 2, the Louvre Abu Dhabi 10.8 and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque 16.1. Zayed International Airport is roughly 33 kilometres, about half an hour on the road, and Dubai International is around 157, which makes this a workable base for a visitor splitting a trip between the two cities.
The Corniche itself runs immediately outside, with its cycle path and running track, and the government quarter is close enough to support a steady corporate trade alongside the leisure guests.
The Suite with Lounge Access and a city view is the category families should look at, since it takes three adults and two children and gives the space without charging for the sea.
Eleven thousand square metres of beach
The private beach measures 11,000 square metres, which is a great deal of sand for a city hotel and the property’s strongest single asset. That is roughly the footprint of a small park, and it is the reason the beach is not fully claimed by nine in the morning in the way that shorter hotel strips along this coast tend to be.
West Bay Abu Dhabi is the beach club that occupies it, with a pool bar and a beach bar of its own, and the hotel describes it as the first beach club on the Corniche. Loungers, umbrellas, showers and changing facilities are provided, and the service is accommodating about letting a departing guest use the club through the afternoon before a late flight.
Three pools, a wave pool and a lazy river
Water is where this property separates itself from the towers either side of it. Three swimming pools serve the resort, alongside a surf pool, a wave pool and a lazy river, and all of it is included rather than charged as a day rate.
That is six separate bodies of water, and none of them carries a supplement for a resident guest. The combination is closer to what a family would expect of a resort an hour outside the city than of a five star address on the Corniche, and it is the reason a great many guests who arrive once come back.
West Bay, Vertigo and Hemingway’s
West Bay Abu Dhabi handles the beachfront dining. West Bay Lounge covers fusion cooking and brunch, which on this coast is a weekend institution rather than a meal. Vertigo Bar and Lounge takes the evening trade, and Hemingway’s is the English pub, with live sport on the screens.
An all inclusive rate is available, which is unusual for a city hotel on the Corniche and puts the property into direct competition with resorts a good deal further from the centre. For a family, or for any stay beyond three nights, the arithmetic becomes compelling.
> An inclusive rate on the Corniche, with a wave pool and 11,000 square metres of private beach attached, is a proposition almost nothing else in Abu Dhabi offers.
Wellness, and eight venues for events
The Health Club and Spa provides the treatment offer, with a well equipped gym, a steam room and a nail salon. The salon is a small detail that says something about the guest mix here: this is a resort operation running inside a city hotel, and it is staffed accordingly.
On the events side the property runs eight venues, including two ballrooms and the beach club. Two ballrooms means a wedding and a conference can run on the same day without either party knowing about the other, and the beach club is available as an event space in its own right. That is a wider range than the room count would suggest, and it explains the steady flow of corporate groups alongside the families.
Family rooms and connecting rooms are available throughout, and the combination of beach club and inclusive rate makes this a straightforward family choice at a level the palace hotels on this coast do not attempt to match.
Reading the Corniche
Compare the numbers along this shore and the position becomes clear. Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan, further west, holds 443 rooms, two hundred metres of beach and no alcohol on the premises. The Sheraton, at the eastern end, has 279 rooms and cabanas provided without charge. The Radisson Blu brings 11,000 square metres of sand, six bodies of water including surf, wave and lazy river, an inclusive rate and eight event venues.
Book a sea facing room with a balcony, take the inclusive rate if you are staying more than three nights, and use the beach club properly rather than treating it as a garnish.
Contact
HOTEL: Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort, Abu Dhabi Corniche
ADDRESS: Corniche Road, Al Bateen W43, Abu Dhabi
TELEPHONE: +971 2 681 1900
EMAIL: info.abudhabi.corniche@radissonblu.com
WEBSITE: https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-abu-dhabi-corniche