Rent / Lease a Car in Abu Dhabi or Dubai? Click here for long term, click here for short term

Emirates Park Zoo is located in Abu Dhabi near Yas Island. It is actually right next to one of the F1 overflow car parks. It’s the best place you’ve never been… but with a catch.

If you have children you need to go. There is no place like it in the UAE more suited to a children’s vacation than Emirates Park Zoo. You can book a reasonably-sized chalet that opens onto a paddock containing giraffe, zebra, warthogs, and more. Literally, you open your door and a giraffe is bending down to see if you have any leaves it can eat. You can image how this inspires children. In addition to the zoo the resort has a child friendly swimming pool. It’s nothing fancy, but there’s a slide and it’s shallow enough for a small toddler. There’s an indoor arcade/soft play area, and a bouncy castle. Really, it’s made for families.

But, and this is a huge but, many of the animals are in cramped enclosures and some seem unnecessary. There are obviously regulations in place to govern these things, but a donkey with a sad face is still a donkey with a sad face. If you’re going to give your children a great time you’re going to have to look past this. After all, you don’t know how the animals came to be at the zoo. For all you know they were sadder before they arrived.

If you have children, take them. You can teach them about the wide array of animals, they are going to go crazy feeding them all, and you can cool off in the pool in the afternoon. It might be the best place in the UAE that you don’t know exists.