After the weekend in Dubai we were off to Abu Dhabi. We were to stay at the Yas Viceroy on Yas Island.
Yas Viceroy, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Yas Island is the home of the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 racing circuit and is about 35 kms out of Abu Dhabi itself. It takes about 35 minutes in a taxi to get into Abu Dhabi city, and about 90 minutes to get to/from Dubai. Yas Island is also directly under the flight path for Abu Dhabi International Airport which is a quite busy airport so expect to hear planes landing or taking off every couple of minutes during peak hours.
The hotel itself is built over, yes over, the F1 track, and probably 75% of the rooms have a view of the track. The welcome was friendly and the check-in efficient and I’d say I was on my room 15 minutes after getting out of the cab.
My room was huge with a modern, racing feel. I had a really comfortable king bed. The wet area had a large bath, separate shower and separate toilet & bidet.
This was the view from my room (through the non opening balcony door – see below)
The hotel was built around 2009 and so was around 4 years old by the time I’d visited but it was already showing its age a little in the rooms. A couple of examples
- While I had a balcony I was unable to open the door as there was no door handle
- There was free wi-fi but you had to stand by the door of your room to use it. If you sat on the bed or sofa you lost the wi-fi signal
- The TV was huge and modern but the TV signal faded in and out making the picture break up regularly
While the room was comfortable my major peeve was how random and un-intuitive the controls for things like the lights, do not disturb and make up room buttons worked. For example, the do not disturb indicator was illuminated when the button said it was off and the red LED was on, but for the make up room indicator it was illuminated when the button said it was on along with the green LED. That just seems wrong to me.
There were a good number, and variety, of restaurants in the hotel itself and they weren’t too expensive (but more expensive than if you’d trekked into Abu Dhabi for a feed).
The hotel looked very impressive at night when it was lit up.
There’s also a plethora of things to do on the Island. From the race track itself, Ferrari World & Waterworld theme parks and an Ikea.
One thing I had the opportunity to do was 3 hot laps around the circuit in a Yas Supersport SST. Totally exhilarating! More info here.
Here’s me dressed up for the drive.
I look a little like the Michelin Man 🙂
It was an alright hotel for the week, but if I went back to Abu Dhabi I’d probably stay at a hotel in Abu Dhabi city itself rather than so far out in the middle on nowhere though.