Which beach is better in Abu Dhabi — Saadiyat Island or the Marina area?

In an October 3 report about a stay roughly two weeks earlier, travellers described evening low tides, with water suitable for swimming in the morning and around midday and warmer water in the evening. One low tide was so pronounced that people could walk beyond the buoys, with water remaining only in scattered shallow pools. The sea returned by morning.

Conditions can vary noticeably even along the same stretch of coast: large waves were observed near Rixos, while the sea by Regis was much calmer at the same time.

The difference matters with kids: one traveler's child loved the waves, so at Saadiyat in the evenings the kid didn't want to leave the water and even woke up early to swim. At the Marina, the same child barely went into the sea in the mornings and preferred to sleep in instead.

There's a noted difference in beach maintenance: at Saadiyat the beach is cleaned every morning, while at a Marina-area hotel the guest didn't see the shoreline cleaned even once during a two-week stay — only the buoys were washed. The Marina hotel's seabed also needs the rocks cleared.

On the first day at a Marina-area hotel beach, the sea looked more like a puddle — poor visibility, seaweed everywhere. Few people on the beach; most guests prefer the hotel pools instead.

During low tide, the Marina-area beaches have rocky patches in places — it's important to enter the water where there are fewer rocks. The rocks are clearly visible from a room balcony or the hotel elevator looking at the sea. There's a cleaner passage on the right between the buoys and the breakwater, but swimming there isn't officially allowed.

At high tide, the sea in the Marina area is quite pleasant — no waves, similar to Saadiyat. But if you specifically want an open beach with good water quality, Saadiyat remains the best option in Abu Dhabi.

The Rixos hotel in the Marina area is more convenient for swimming with young kids than Saadiyat, since there are no waves there. On Saadiyat, waves of varying strength appear during high tide (tides change daily), which may not suit older kids.

Despite the downsides (low tide and rocks), it's possible to swim both morning and evening every day — during both low and high tide. When comparing areas for the best sea overall, Saadiyat Island remains the top choice in Abu Dhabi.