Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) → Abu Dhabi transfer

The driver leaves the airport on the access roads, joins the E11 and heads away from Dubai rather than through it. Within a short while you pass the Jebel Ali area and the Dubai–Abu Dhabi boundary at Ghantoot, where the road continues as a wide desert-and-coast highway.

Further on, the E11 runs past the Khalifa Port area at Taweelah and the outskirts of Al Rahba and Al Shahama, then reaches the junctions for Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and the bridges onto Abu Dhabi island. Traffic usually only thickens in the last part, as the motorway feeds into the city.

Abu Dhabi is spread out, and the final stretch differs a lot by district. Yas Island, with its theme parks and circuit hotels, comes first on the way in. Saadiyat Island's beach resorts and museum district are a turn off further on, while the Corniche, the city hotels and the Emirates Palace area are on the main island at the end of the drive.

Give the full hotel name and area when booking. The drive time shown is to central Abu Dhabi; Yas is usually a little quicker, the far end of the Corniche a little longer.

Allow the full 83–104 minutes, plus extra on weekday mornings and late afternoons, when commuter traffic builds between the two cities. Leave Abu Dhabi about five hours before an international flight from DWC, which leaves a sensible margin for traffic and check-in.