W Abu Dhabi

Hotel · Yas Marina

Adults · Indoor and outdoor · 1 to 3 hours

Wow, honestly, look up. The F1 track runs right under this hotel, and at night the whole steel-and-glass veil changes colour. You don't have to stay here: come for a drink or dinner. And on race weekend the rooms over the track are the best seats on the island.

Facts

The shell changes colour

At night the whole gridshell glows one colour and drifts through violet, blue and magenta, and the marina water follows., (after dark)

Glass panels

5,000+, diamond panels in the gridshell, lit with LEDs at night

Opened

2009, as the Yas Hotel, for the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Rooms

499, in two towers, one each side of the track

Best time

After dark, when the shell lights up

Website

On the map at 24.46740, 54.60606, Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.

Photos

• The W hotel's gridshell by day · Rob Alter · CC BY 2.0
• The W hotel lit purple at night over the track · Rob Alter · CC BY 2.0
• The hotel's two towers and the bridge over the circuit · Aleš Jungmann · CC BY-SA 3.0
• W Abu Dhabi on the map by day · Yas Island map
• W Abu Dhabi on the map by night · Yas Island map