Al Gurm Corniche & Eastern Mangroves Promenade
3.5 kilometres of continuous shade pushed six metres out over the water, facing the mangrove forest.
Al Gurm Corniche is a 3.5-kilometre waterfront promenade running along the eastern edge of Abu Dhabi island, facing the Mangrove National Park. Also known as the Eastern Corniche or Mangrove Waterfront, it was rebuilt by Abu Dhabi Municipality following the widening of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street and reopened in 2021, running from the Anantara Eastern Mangroves hotel and its promenade east to Dolphin Park.
The key design move, described by the Department of Municipalities and Transport, was to extend the new promenade six metres out towards the water, separating walkers and cyclists from the highway and putting them over the channel rather than beside a road. The cycle track provides 3.5 kilometres of uninterrupted shade and is closed to cars, linking Abu Dhabi island to the mainland. Several of the older concrete canopies that characterised the earlier park along Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street were deliberately retained. Parking was expanded to more than 300 spaces, and two pedestrian footbridges give access on foot.
The programme is unusually rich for a promenade. There are three outdoor exercise platforms, designated alfresco yoga areas, overwater cargo-net lounging stations, artistic seating, gazebos and viewing platforms with fixed binoculars for wildlife spotting. Two edutainment platforms carry water play, swings and installations teaching children about tidal movement, nature and gravity; historical nodes along the route set out the region's past and local ecology, and a heritage platform tells the story of modern Abu Dhabi. Kayak operators run tours into the mangroves from the western end.
At that western end sits the Eastern Mangroves Promenade proper, the retail and dining strip attached to the Anantara Eastern Mangroves Hotel and Spa, with cafés, restaurants, a supermarket and a marina. Note that the marina and parts of that strip have been closed for renovation since 2024 — check current status before relying on them.
Al Gurm Corniche itself is free, open 24 hours a day, wheelchair accessible and well lit at night. There are no public toilets along most of its length.
Exhibo editorial
Six metres. That is the entire difference between this and every other stretch of road-adjacent path in the Gulf — the promenade was pushed six metres out over the water, so you are walking above the channel with the mangroves in front of you instead of alongside a highway with a hedge.
And then the shade, which is the thing nobody photographs and everybody uses. Three and a half kilometres of it, continuous, on a track closed to cars, in a city where most outdoor exercise is a negotiation with the sun. They even kept some of the old concrete canopies from the previous park rather than clearing them — a small act of restraint that gives the route a memory. Come at six in the morning and it belongs to the joggers and the birdwatchers with the fixed binoculars; come at six in the evening and it belongs to families and the cargo nets over the water. Both versions are free, and the mangroves do not care either way.
How to find it
Along the eastern edge of Abu Dhabi island beside Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street (E10), roughly ten minutes from the city centre and facing the Mangrove National Park. The 3.5km route runs from the Anantara Eastern Mangroves hotel at the western end through to the Dolphin Park end. Use the larger car park of around 300 spaces near the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street exit, or reach the promenade on foot via one of the two pedestrian footbridges. The cycle track is fully shaded and closed to cars. Kayak operators work from the Anantara end. Free, open 24 hours, wheelchair accessible and lit at night — but there are no public toilets along most of the route, and the Eastern Mangroves marina has been closed for renovation since 2024.
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