First settled in 1761 by tribesmen who found fresh water there, the name Abu Dhabi literally means 'place of the gazelle'. Today Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE. It has changed a lot in the last decades. It is a rather cosmopolitan city, with its bold urban architecture and lush gardens. It is also the seat of government for the Emirates.It is the headquarter for the president of the state, the cabinet, and most of the ministries, the Federal institutions, foreign embassies, Broadcast TV, Zayed Port, Abu Dhabi Airport and most of the oil companies, establishments and commercial markets. The Abu Dhabi Corniche, with its public parks and fountains, is a remarkable landscape of the city, The east part of the Corniche has recently been demolished to make way, via more massive land reclamation, for a new Corniche road to ease the traffic congestion and provide more lush gardens along a new lagoon like waterfront inside the artificial Lulu Island which blocks the view of the sea by providing Abu Dhabi its own desert dunes of red sand. The city has grown so rapidly, there is no natural beachfront now, but nonetheless an impressive and attractive city with all modern amenities.

Outside of Abu Dhabi city, Abu Dhabi Emirate covers more than half of the country, with endless miles of desert stretching into the Empty Quarter, and up to the borders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Some of the country's most interesting destinations can be found inland in Abu Dhabi emirate including the Liwa Oasis and the Oasis City of Al Ain.