Middle East - Yas Island: one week enough/too much?

Hi there.

I'm planning a one-week trip to Yas Island, Abu Dhabi in the end of January to celebrate a birthday. I've booked the Radisson Blu and am excited about the hotel.

For those of you who have been to YI and AD, is one week enough/too much? My primary goal is to relax and enjoy the sun, hit the Ferrari World, etc.

I read that the public beach should have opened in YI, has anyone been there? Are there any other beaches nearby?

DXB seems to offer better connections for my schedule, but how easy is it to transfer to/from Yas Island?

Any help is greatly appreciated ^

There is almost nothing to do on Yas Island. Besides Ferrari World (I am not sure about the public beach), there are no attractions.

You are about half an hour away from downtown Abu Dhabi and 75 minutes away from Dubai -- and transportation is easy by taxi (except to spend about AED 300, or $80) or rental car -- so, from that standpoint, Yas Island is not a bad base for a week-long trip to Dubai/Abu Dhabi.

But don't expect to spend the whole week on the island. If I were you (as it seems like you haven't been to Abu Dhabi or Dubai before), I might spend two or three nights on Yas Island, to visit the island itself as well as Abu Dhabi, then spend the remaining nights in Dubai.

Yas is 15 minutes from AUH, 45 minutes from the Marina end of Dubai and probably a good hour to DXB. I agree with mecabq: a week is a long time to spend on a desert island with one golf course, one tourism attraction and 5 hotels. I'm not sure when the new Yas beach will be open - but the Corniche beach is good on the main Abu Dhabi island (a bit of a trek from Yas though).

You could spend a night at Qasr al Sarab too.

the weather at the end of January is not exactly perfect for the beach either, but still better than Europe or North America!

Thanks a lot for the info, guys. Much appreciated!

The Yas Island beach (free to hotel guests) but public can pay, will open later this month. It actually soft-opened for the Grand Prix last month. IIRC it's called the C-Club.