Beaches on Saadiyat Island
Saadiyat Island has about 9 km of white sand beach, and day visitors can use it in three places: Kai Beach, Saadiyat Beach Club and Mamsha Beach. All three charge for entry. Kai Beach is the old Saadiyat Public Beach, the free "open beach" many visitors remember; it has charged a day ticket since 2022. Most of the rest of the shore belongs to hotels and is for their guests.
Kai Beach
Public beach
Entry from AED 150 (≈ $41)
Saadiyat Beach Club
Beach club
Mamsha Beach
Public beach
Entry from AED 125 (≈ $34)
Public beach, beach club or hotel beach?
- Public beach with a day ticket (Kai Beach). An open beach with dunes, loungers and a café. You pay per person per day, and part of the fee comes back as food and drink credit. The cheapest of the three.
- Beach club (Saadiyat Beach Club, Mamsha Beach). A managed beach with a day pass and more service. Saadiyat Beach Club adds an infinity pool, spa and restaurants; Mamsha Beach is a simpler club on a residential promenade, with loungers and a café.
- Hotel beach. Each beachfront hotel has its own stretch of sand, reserved for hotel guests. A few hotels sell beach day passes to non-guests; ask the hotel directly.
Turtles and nature
Saadiyat's beaches are a nesting site for hawksbill turtles, the only sea turtle species that nests in the UAE. Nesting runs from March to July and peaks in April and May; hatchlings emerge 50 to 70 days later. The turtles come ashore mostly after dark, so in the daytime you are more likely to see the marked nests than the turtles. Kai Beach, with its low dunes and wooden boardwalks, is the easiest place for a day visitor to see the nesting area. Dolphins are occasionally seen from the shore. See Kai Beach for entry and turtle-season details.