Living on Saadiyat Island: What It Is Really Like

I have lived on Saadiyat for six years, first in an apartment near the beach and now in a villa in one of the newer communities. People who visit for a weekend tend to see the Louvre and the beach clubs. Here is what an ordinary week looks like.

The beach is the centre of everything

Saadiyat has around nine kilometres of natural beach, and a large part of it is protected. Hawksbill turtles nest here between April and July, so sections of the sand are fenced off and lighting along the shore is kept low. It means the beach feels wild in a way that is rare in the Gulf. Most mornings I walk along it before work and see more herons than people.

Culture on your doorstep

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a ten-minute drive from most homes on the island, and an annual membership quickly pays for itself if you like to drop in for an hour. Manarat Al Saadiyat runs exhibitions and the Abu Dhabi Art fair each November, and the cultural district continues to grow as new museums open. Living here, you start to treat world-class galleries as somewhere to go on a quiet Tuesday evening.

The best thing about Saadiyat is how quiet it is. The second best thing is that you can still be in the city in fifteen minutes.

Getting around

You will need a car. The island is connected to the city by a fast highway, and the drive to downtown Abu Dhabi takes fifteen to twenty minutes. Yas Island is a similar distance in the other direction. Dubai is about an hour and a quarter away, which some residents do daily, although most choose Saadiyat because they work in Abu Dhabi.

Families and schools

Families are well served. Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and several other international schools are on or near the island, and most communities have their own pools, parks and nurseries. Teenagers sometimes find it too quiet; there is no mall on the island, so weekend plans tend to involve a drive.

What it costs

Saadiyat is one of the more expensive places to live in Abu Dhabi, with beachfront villas at the top of the market. Apartments and townhouses in the cultural district and the newer communities offer a lower entry point, and the island's height limits mean you will not lose your view to a new tower next door.

The things to know

• Choose your community carefully: some are on the beach, others are a short drive from it
• Summer is very humid near the coast, so good air conditioning matters even more
• Groceries and services are on the island, but bigger shopping trips mean a drive
• Tenancy contracts are registered through Tawtheeq, not Ejari

If you are thinking about a move to the island, come and spend a day with us. We will show you three communities, the beach and the cultural district, and you can decide whether the quiet suits you.

Written by Hana Lee

Hana leads our Abu Dhabi work from Saadiyat. She moved from Seoul to Abu Dhabi to work on the cultural district projects and now helps families and investors buy on the island.