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Abu Dhabi

by Dara Morgan

What Abu Dhabi Will Look Like By 2030: The Future Is Almost Here

26 Jul 2025

The time flies — it seems like yesterday it was COVID-19 and Gangnam Style — and next moment you realise 2030 is somehow closer than 2020. What is cool about it is Abu Dhabi's Vision 2030 — once a glittering blueprint for the distant future that has now officially become the to-do list for a few upcoming years. Let's have a look at what to expect from the UAE capital in the near future.

So, Abu Dhabi is doing what now?

While most cities might take a victory lap after building a few towers and hosting a Grand Prix or two, Abu Dhabi has politely declined to sit still. Instead, it is striding confidently toward 2030 with the energy of someone who has just discovered double espresso and a blank cheque.
The plan? Turn the capital into a living Pinterest board where high culture, future-tech, and beachfront glam coexist like old friends at a brunch with unlimited mezze. From Saadiyat’s museum trifecta to flying taxis and a Bvlgari-branded island sanctuary, Abu Dhabi’s future isn't just bright — it is practically gilded.
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Image: Midjourney x The Sandy Times

What will Abu Dhabi be like in 2030?

Picture this: three million people zipping around in a city that doubles as a showroom for what happens when oil money meets urban imagination. Public transport that actually works, museums that look like alien spacecraft, and a luxury resort so exclusive it has its own island. Yes, it is a bit much. That is the point.
By 2030, Abu Dhabi will be:
  • Home to 3 million well-air-conditioned souls
  • Served by a shiny new metro and possibly flying taxis (seriously)
  • Dotted with museums that would make the Louvre blush
  • Lined with beaches featuring villas that come with their own yacht slips

Saadiyat’s museum glow-up

Saadiyat Island is having a moment — the kind where you emerge from a cultural chrysalis and suddenly find yourself with three of the world’s flashiest museums.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (finally!) is set to open its doors before 2030 (2026 seems to be it), completing the trifecta with the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the upcoming Zayed National Museum. Together, they are giving the phrase "desert mirage" a whole new spin. Saadiyat is no longer just an island. It is a statement. Possibly in six languages.
Expect massive sculptures, architectural flexing, and enough curated silence to make even the most chaotic tourist whisper in reverence.
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Source: guggenheim.org

Three million people and counting

Abu Dhabi isn't just playing SimCity. It is living it. With population projections inching toward the 3-million mark, the emirate is throwing up neighbourhoods, bridges, and green spaces with the enthusiasm of someone prepping for guests who definitely said they were vegan.
Reem Island, Yas Island, and Khalifa City are all getting the glow-up treatment. Think walkable urban design, smart infrastructure, and transport that makes car owners really jealous.
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Bvlgari's private island: The resort & mansions

Now, onto the crown jewel of beachfront luxury: Bvlgari Resort & Mansions Abu Dhabi. Coming in by 2030, this is not so much a resort as a Mediterranean opera staged in the Gulf, where every design flourish screams 'bespoke' in at least two languages.
Perched on its own private, horseshoe-shaped island — because of course it is — this glitzy sanctuary offers panoramic views of both the open sea and Abu Dhabi’s presidential palace. That means one side gives you sunsets; the other, the skyline and Qasr Al Watan, just in case you needed reminding you are somewhere important.
The resort will feature:
60 elegantly appointed rooms and suites, plus 30 beachfront villas, all draped in quiet opulence
A penthouse and two Bvlgari Signature Suites, for those who think a standard suite is a bit too... pedestrian
90 private mansions — some with docks big enough for 25-metre yachts, others with private coves, all with views that beg to be Instagrammed
A 2,000-square-metre spa and wellness complex that is more temple than treatment centre
Culinary delights including Il Ristorante – Niko Romito, Hōseki (for Japanese minimalists), La Spiaggia (for your seafood selfie), and a Bvlgari Bar, naturally
There is also a private Yacht Club with a 40-berth marina and exclusive membership programme for those who think the term 'nautical lifestyle' is an entire personality.
If that isn't enough, there is a landscaped sanctuary running through the centre of the resort that pays homage to regional conservation traditions — which is a rather elegant way of saying "plants, but make them haute". Add a concept store, a luxury pastry boutique, and marine sports access, and you have something that is part resort, part Bond villain lair, and entirely over the top — in the best possible way.
Designed by the Milanese firm ACPV Architects and landscape visionaries LAND SRL, every curve, every golden glint, and every breeze-rustled dune is choreographed to whisper, "This is not a hotel. This is your new identity."
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Transport that actually moves: From BRT to air taxis

You are no longer living in an era where “public transport” means sitting in traffic behind someone eating a chicken shawarma with one hand and scrolling TikTok with the other (no headphones obviously). Abu Dhabi is redefining how people move — and it is doing it with more style than strictly necessary.
The city’s upcoming metro system will (eventually) cover over 130 kilometres and link all the places where you might want to work, live, or dramatically exit a meeting. Light rail, heavy rail, and bus rapid transit lines are in the works — assuming they all cooperate and show up on time.
Already cruising the corniche is an Automated Rapid Transit (ART) line — essentially a tram in trainers — gliding between Reem Mall and Marina Mall without laying down a single track. Add to that a bus network that has quietly grown into something quite functional, and suddenly carpooling seems a bit... vintage.
But wait, the pièce de résistance: flying taxis. Yes, really. Test flights have happened, vertiports are being built, and by 2026 you might very well be late for brunch at the Louvre because your eVTOL was stuck in cloud traffic. A whole new layer of sky-high commuting is coming — perfect for those who feel traditional traffic is a bit too grounded for their taste.
So yes, by 2030, Abu Dhabi will have public transport that not only works — it floats, glides, and occasionally lifts off.