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Written By Arabiers Digital & Reviewed by Robeena Brown
11 February 2026 | 12 min
When you imagine Abu Dhabi, your mind is filled with thoughts of skyscrapers, luxury hotels, and desert adventures. However, Abu Dhabi is not limited to those famous concepts, and it has a rich history that is enriched from centuries of trade, hospitality, and coastal occupations. Earlier, the city was a pearl diving village. This is well known as a pearl diving village from 19th century to 20th century throughout the pearl markets in Asia as well as Europe.
Still the ruins of pearl diving sites can be found there, and related details can be found in museums. Petroleum resources of the Abu Dhabi area were found in 1958, and this was the turning point of the region, and it ended the dependency on the sea for fishing and pearl diving. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan became a ruler in Abu Dhabi in 1966, and his rapid, oil-funded development paved the way to the modern Abu Dhabi city with amazing infrastructure facilities, entertainment, etc.
A curious visitor can roam in giant mosques, museums, important archaeological sites, etc. You can learn the Abu Dhabi culture from visiting heritage villages there. Note that many of these cultural sites require advanced booking or specific visiting hours.
When you are planning your visit to Abu Dhabi on tourist visa, you must prepare your travel document in a suitable way and should apply for entry permits or visas. And to do this in the proper way, you can apply for a visa online via Arabiers Abu Dhabi, a licensed local visa agency that has local offices in Abu Dhabi.
Travelers who are visiting Abu Dhabi should not miss this location. This mosque can be considered as a symbol of Islamic spiritual life and Arabic architecture. Located at the entrance to the Abu Dhabi city, this is a concept of the founding father of the United Arab Emirates.
Thie mosque has been open to the public since 2007, and around a decade was spent for the construction tasks. As a traveler, you can visit to the mosque without paying any charge. Visitors should behave respectfully, and your dress should be modest inside the mosque. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre gives you free guided tours inside the site to understand the rich culture there and you can get insights of vast UAE cultural background from enduring such tours.
While it is not mandatory advanced booking can make your experience more comfortable.
This is a result of a collaborative project between Abu Dhabi and French and was opened to the public in 2017.In your cultural journey in Abu Dhabi, this is one of the must visit place as this is a universal level museum located in the Arabian world. Artifacts belongs to prehistoric era as well as modern artworks can be observed in this large museum, which is housed under an attractive dome, which indicating an amazing architectural wonder.
You can easily spend a half day in this museum while roaming between ancient artifacts to modern art works while attending to film screening and workshops etc. Advanced bookings can make convenient your visit to the museum and the bookings and ticketing can be done in the official website of the museum here.
This is the presidential palace, and this connects the governance, history and culture in Abu Dhabi. The construction task of the building was completed in 2017 and it has been open to the public since 2019.The palace has amazing architectural wonders, large halls with full of decorations, and a massive collection of ancient texts and historical artifacts too.
The imperial great hall has a magnificent dome and there is another building named “house of knowledge” and it has tens of thousands of interesting books. There are curated tours within the palace which can improve your knowledge and experience related to Abu Dhabi`s cultural heritages.
Exploring this place will help you to understand how UAE is standing as a modern state while keeping their traditions.
However, to experience, all these valuable things ,you need to do pre bookings .
Qasr Al Hosn is the oldest historical and stone building of the city and if you want to understand how the city before the oil-funded rapid development was, this is an ideal place.
Initially, at the beginning this place was utilized as a watch tower and gradually it became a fort and then a royal residence’s story of how older fishing village turned into a modern metropolitan city can be understood by exploring this location.
Currently, this building is used as an museum where you can witness the ancient artifacts while attending to workshops and exhibitions what tells about the story of this city and how it evolve with time.
Near to the Qasn Al Hosn, there is a heritage village which tells you everything about Emeriti culture and to make your journey more meaningful.
Workshops continue throughout the day, and you can visit this place in a convenient time.
To enter Qasr Al Hosn, you need to buy tickets and book the time slot. However ,entrance to nearby heritage village is free.
As we mentioned above, Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum is in this Saadiyat Island. However, Saadiyat island not limited to Louvre. It has immensely significant other cultural venues too and for decades, it has been considered as a cultural hub of Abu Dhabi.
There is a place named Abrahamic Family House in the Saadiyat island. It is an interfaith complex and it includes a church, mosque and a synagogue while showing the world about the tolerance and religious coexistence and harmony in Abu Dhabi.
Not only famous places like the Louvre Museum and the Abrahamic Family House, there are emerging culturally significant places, we can find in Abu Dhabi and in below those places are explained briefly.
The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi: This place explaining about the earth`s natural history from Big Bang to present day situation. It uses multimedia and modern story telling technologies to showcase the situation.
The Zayed National Museum: This was established in honor of the founding father of the Abu Dhabi, and it explaining the nations evolving history and the journey so far with the support of the immersive galleries.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi: Currently this is under the construction and will be opened within this year to the general public. It`s a contemporary art museum and it will focus on contemporary arts in the world from 1960s to now.
Manarat Al Saadiyat: an art gallery is located there in the Saadiyat Island, and you can visit the place, get involved in the cultural discussions and witness the exhibitions there. The entry to the art gallery is free; however, some exhibitions may get fees as per their requirements.
Abu Dhabi`s cultural significant not limited to the museums, galleries or forts and it extends beyond that. There are ceremonial memories, public arts and etc. there.
Wahat Al Karama: This is a war memorial located across the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the purpose of memorizing and commemorating all the war heroes of Emirati who sacrificed their lives to protect their motherland from internal or external threats. Entry to this place is cost free and many tourists are visiting to this site also.
The newly opened BAPS Hindu Mandir Abu Dhabi: This was opened in the end of 2024 and since that time millions of Hindu devotees and tourists visited to this. This Mandir can be considered as the symbol of growing cultural diversity in Abu Dhabi. You can book a visit to the temple via official website of it. The official website can be reached here.
Abu bdhabi can be considered as the symbol of cultural tolerance in Arab world unlike most of the neighboring Arab countries there.
Dalma Island—Cultural & Historical Gem
This can be considered as one of the oldest inhabited islands in the UAE. There are traditional markets, fishing heritage, and historic mosques on this island. The tourists can experience local souks, pearl diving history, community tours, etc., in here. This is good for people who love the history and the culture.
It is true that currently this is a quiet and ideal place to spend leisure time and escape from day-to-day hectic city life; however, there can be changes in the future with the development plans. More details about the Dalma island can be taken via its official website here.
Abu Dabhi is a symbol transformation. From it`s humble beginning as pearl diving fishing village, it has been evolving so far into the sophisticated city of modern world with high end infrastructure facilities and all the entertainment facilities, in parallelly with developing as a hub of business and the professional world.
Abu Dhabi`s culture going beyond the skyscrapers and it has been evolving from the ancient culture and values towards modern culture which has multicultural, multi religious aspects too.
No matter whether you are attracted to the beauty of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque or whether you are delighted by the universal arts witnessing in Louvre Museum, you have something to grab in this Arabian world class city Abu Dhabi. As a visitor, you will experience a change in Abu Dhabi where innovation meet the traditional culture also you can experience Abu Dhabi Morning Desert Safari.