Dubai to Abu Dhabi: Car, Bus, Train or Tour?

You can drive, take the train, take a bus or join a tour. By road it is 128 km from Burj Khalifa to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, 81 minutes when the motorway is clear. Etihad Rail has run passenger trains between Dubai and Abu Dhabi since 30 September 2026: 70 minutes between its two stations, from AED 39, but both stations are outside the city centres. A tour is the easier day when you want the mosque and the island sights without working out the connections: OceanAir Travels’ From Dubai: Abu Dhabi Premium Full-Day Sightseeing Tour, from US$55 on promotion, usually US$65 a person (checked November 2026), collects you at your hotel and includes the mosque ticket.

Free cancellation until 24 hours before. From Dubai Airport, the tour’s only pickup point is the Holiday Inn Dubai Airport Hotel.

By car

Can you drive to Abu Dhabi from Dubai? Yes, and it is the simplest way to set your own hours. Distances and times by road, routed in November 2026 with free-flowing traffic:

Real times depend on traffic. The tours allow 1.5 hours each way, and Friday traffic can delay a drop-off, so avoid a Friday tour on the day of a flight.

At the mosque you park in the southern car parks and walk in through Gate 6. Qasr Al Watan’s ticket includes its own free shuttle bus and parking.

By train

Etihad Rail’s passenger service between Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah began on 30 September 2026, with fares from AED 39 in Comfort class and AED 109 in Premium (Etihad Rail’s launch announcement). Tickets are sold in its app, on its website and at the station machines.

• Dubai Station is at Jumeirah Golf Estates, joined by a footbridge to the Jumeirah Golf Estates Metro station.
• Abu Dhabi Station is in Mohamed Bin Zayed City, with a bus stop, a taxi rank and car rental.
• Both stations are open 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

The journey takes 70 minutes: on the live schedule for 10 November 2026, trains left Dubai Station at 5:05 PM and 6:40 PM and Abu Dhabi Station at 5:10 PM and 6:35 PM. The full timetable and the fare for a given train are in the app; we did not read them. The catch is the last mile: neither station is in the centre of its city, so the day starts and ends with a taxi or bus at both ends, and the mosque provides no transport of its own.

By bus

Dubai’s transport authority, RTA, runs intercity buses to Abu Dhabi, routes E100 and E101, from Al Ghubaiba and Ibn Battuta. We did not find their current fares on an RTA page, so none are printed here; the RTA journey planner gives the times.

Between the sights in Abu Dhabi

The sights are spread out, so on your own you need a car or a taxi between each pair. Qasr Al Watan and Emirates Palace are the only two close enough to pair easily.

When the tour is the easier day

The train is quick, the car is flexible, and both leave you to manage the mosque’s dress code, its pre-booked access pass and the 20-odd km between the mosque and the island sights. On the tour the van does all of it: hotel pickup in Dubai, the mosque with its ticket and a guide, the Corniche, Emirates Palace and the Louvre Abu Dhabi from outside, and back to your hotel.

Check dates for the Abu Dhabi day

If you want a car without a tour, Atlas's full-day private transfer with driver takes up to 6 people; a day in Abu Dhabi cost US$228.70 for the group on 27 November 2026 and on 20 January 2027 (checked November 2026), and its lower from-price is for a half day in Dubai; entry fees and meals are extra, and it does not do half a day to Abu Dhabi, because the round trip alone takes about three hours.