UAE 2020 Day 10: Al Ain Bus Ride

We had made it a point to try out new experiences and visit new places on our 2nd visit to the UAE, but rare and special exceptions are the Ibn Battutta Mall, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Bur Dubai and Deira areas.

And of course there is the Al Ain Oasis. No trip to UAE would be complete without a visit to Al Ain, known as the Garden City for its palm groves and natural springs. We made plans visit Al Ain on our own today by taking the local bus from Abu Dhabi, while further indulging ourselves in the experience of its public transportation.

Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station

It is our 10th day in the UAE and we hitched a ride with Ginny and Sern early in the morning to the Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station. We then headed to a Hafilat machine kiosk to ‘re-charge’ our Hafilat cards with the appropriate values since the fare to Al Ain Central Bus Station is AED25, same as the fare to Dubai but using a different card (the Nol card).

we caught this bus

left the station at 8.30am on the dot

but alas, not an 'express' bus

a rarity nowadays

Brendan's selfie booth

We waited for the X90 bus to Al Ain with a frequency of 30 minutes, and caught one at 8:30am. The bus ride about 2 hours and a half and unlike the Dubai express bus the Al Ain bus made many stops along the way. We only learnt later that the X90 was not an express bus like the E101 to Dubai.

a glimpse of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

arriving at the Al Ain Central Bus Station

We arrived at the Al Ain Central Bus Station at about 11am and went about our merry way, returning at about 2pm to catch the 2.30 bus back to Abu Dhabi.

We slept most of the way back and arrived at Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station close to 5pm. We walked across to Al Wahda Mall and after a few short minutes we met up with Ginny and Sern who just got off from work. They took us to an upscale shopping mall on the posh Al Maryah Island, and we had dinner while enjoying a spectacular view of the sunset over Al Maryah Island at the terraces.