Have you been to the United Arab Emirates? At the very least, you’ve likely heard of Dubai. Besides, who hasn’t watched in wide-eyed tension as Tom Cruise scaled the city’s Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol?
But the UAE has so much more to offer than make-believe exploits. A short drive from Dubai to the country’s capital, Abu Dhabi, will bring you within reach of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to perform feats of courage, such as drag racing, drifting, Formula One circuit racing, indoor climbing, and skydiving UAE-style.
Pack your bags, fly to Abu Dhabi, and visit the following places to tick off multiple things from your adventure bucket list.
CLYMB Abu Dhabi
CLYMB Abu Dhabi is an adventure hub located on Yas Island Abu Dhabi. The CLYMB Abu Dhabi building, with its sharp geometric edges, was inspired by the rugged, mountainous UAE landscape. Its distinct architecture, including its glistening, silvery skin and its imposing height, makes approaching the building an experience in itself.
What’s hiding inside, however, is the true marvel. CLYMB Abu Dhabi has the biggest indoor skydiving flight chamber in the world. It also houses the tallest indoor climbing wall in the Middle East.
As you must have already guessed, there are two activities you can tick off on your adventure bucket list when you visit CLYMB Abu Dhabi.
- Skydive
Indoor skydiving is an activity that will allow you to experience the free-falling sensation of outdoor skydiving but will let you do so inside a controlled environment – the indoor skydiving flight chamber.
Technically, a flight chamber is a vertical wind tunnel. When an indoor skydiver jumps from the skydiving ledge up top, they are met with a vigorous airstream generated by the tunnel’s enormous, powerful fans. The skydiver can use the airflow to experiment with different flight positions and orientations.
Traditionally, indoor skydiving was a means for skydiving enthusiasts to familiarize themselves with the sensation of free falling. They allowed skydivers to practice freefall flight maneuvers before doing it for real by leaping off a plane in mid-flight.
However, the adrenaline rush provided by indoor skydiving has made indoor skydiving a sport in its own right. Many people who love indoor skydiving may never even plan on progressing to skydiving from an airplane.
If you plan to tick off skydiving from your bucket list, it’d be best to do it from one of the most remarkable skydiving chambers in the world.
CLYMB Abu Dhabi’s indoor skydiving flight chamber measures 32 feet wide, more than twice the standard 14 feet width of regular skydiving flight chambers. It has 16 fans, four times the average number of fans in other flight chambers.
- Climb
While you’re at CLYMB Abu Dhabi for indoor skydiving, make sure to visit the world’s first indoor multi-pitch climbing wall to fulfill another item in your adventure bucket list: indoor wall climbing.
Indoor wall climbing is a sport that provides both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, develops coordination, improves balance, and engages different muscle groups simultaneously. It provides an intense workout and burns from 500 to 900 calories per hour.
In indoor climbing, you scale an artificial climbing wall using your hands and feet. You will, of course, be fully harnessed for safety.
The following are CLYMB Abu Dhabi’s five pitches, including Middle East’s tallest indoor climbing wall, The Summyt.
- The Boulder: 9.8 feet
- The Beginner: 18 feet
- The Intermediate: 33 feet
- The Advanced: 72 feet
- The Summyt: 138 feet
It would be such an accomplishment if you could conquer all of them. However, it should be all right to scale one of the lower pitches, too, especially if it’s your first time to try indoor wall climbing.
Yas Marina Circuit
Make sure to stop by the Yas Marina Circuit while in Abu Dhabi. Yas Marina Circuit is located on Yas Island Abu Dhabi, too.
If it’s Formula One season, you can finally take in an F1 race firsthand. Buy tickets to the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and you should be all set. However, if it’s not F1 season, take the driver’s seat and experience racing firsthand on an actual F1 circuit.
The following are some of the adventures you can check off your list at Yas Marina Circuit.
- Drive
Take the wheel of an Aston Martin GT4, a Formula YAS 3000, a Ferrari 458 GT, or other race cars available and ride laps around the track like a pro racer.
On Yas car track days (also premium car track days and bike track days), you can register your vehicle and have hours (seven hours for premium car track days) to master the F1 racing circuit.
- Ride
If you do not have the requisite driver’s license – or you are not ready for the driver’s seat – you can still experience the thrill of going super fast on an F1 racing circuit by taking a ride with a pro racer at one of the track’s iconic race cars.
- Drag
Want rubber-burning action? It’s the perfect time to try drag racing at Yas Marina Circuit. Book a Chevrolet Camaro SS to get five drag racing runs. An instructor will teach you drag racing basics, so this is the perfect way to mark off drag racing from your adventure to-do list.
If you have your own vehicle and access a race crew, you may register for Yas Drag Roll Racing. This is also great for rookies just wanting to experience or learn drag racing. Intermediate and expert riders can try Yas drag nights for four hours of track time.
- Drift
You could participate in Yas drift nights for multiple turns in four hours if you have your own vehicle. You may also choose the drifting passenger experience by booking passenger time on a Chevrolet Drift Taxi.
- Kart
Karting is the most accessible Yas Marina Circuit experience. Karting is available daily, from nine in the morning to midnight, and you can arrive and kart; no pre-registration is necessary.
Fly to Adventure
Book your flight to Abu Dhabi if you’re ready for the adventure trip of a lifetime.
Hot tip: There are many more things to do in Abu Dhabi than the seven activities that made it on this list. To maximize your vacation, stay at a Yas island hotel and explore everything this entertainment and leisure island has to offer.
