Abu Dhabi: Morning Desert Tour with Camel Ride & Sandboarding

The desert surrounding Abu Dhabi is home to dunes that rise and fall for miles, and this morning tour gets you into the middle of them with a mix of adrenaline and calm. After a 45-minute drive from the city, you'll swap the skyline for sand and spend the morning bashing dunes in a 4x4, trying sandboarding, and riding a camel across the desert landscape.

What makes this desert safari worth booking is the pace — it packs dune bashing, sandboarding and a camel ride into a single morning, so you get the full range of desert activities without giving up your afternoon. The 4x4 ride alone covers steep dune faces that most visitors to Abu Dhabi never see up close, and the sandboarding section lets you slide down them yourself rather than just watching from the vehicle.

You can choose between a shared tour or a private tour, depending on whether you'd rather share the 4x4 with other travelers or keep the group to your own. Hotel pickup in Abu Dhabi is included, and the whole experience runs as a half-day outing built around the cooler morning hours in the desert.

Your morning starts with pickup from your Abu Dhabi hotel, followed by a 45-minute drive out to the desert. Once there, you'll climb into a 4x4 for the dune bashing section, riding over the tall dunes as the vehicle navigates steep drops and sharp turns. There's a stop to try sandboarding, where you'll get instructions on how to glide down the dunes on a board.

Throughout the morning there are chances to stop and take photos against the desert scenery. The tour winds down with a short, relaxed camel ride across the sand before you're driven back to your original pickup point in Abu Dhabi, wrapping up the half-day experience.