How do you improve on the particularly UAE experience of riding an abra? These open craft have plied Dubai creek for generations, providing a helpful historical counterbalance to the city’s rampant modernity. Suggested improvements, such as enclosing and air-conditioning the abras, have generally been opposed.
So how to do you improve on the abra experience? How about introducing this mode of transport to a waterway with one of the region's most spectacular views? That is what is happening now in Abu Dhabi, where Khor Al Maqtaa now has an abra service.
The 20-minute trip stops at the four waterside hotels: the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, the Ritz-Carlton Grand Canal, the Shangri-La and Souk Qaryat Al Beri. Those hotels are each striking examples of architecture but they cannot surpass the view of the Sheikh ZayedGrand Mosque. And how is that experience made even better? By not charging for it.
