Desert Diversions

Theme parks to motor sports to museums, Abu Dhabi entertains all ages.

- Richard Newton

Abu Dhabi at the height of summer. The temperature nudges 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s too hot to go anywhere or do anything — you would think. But starting next year there will be a fresh option for long-suffering parents to relieve their kids of sweltering boredom. Dress them up in winter coats, gloves and hats and let them play in the snow.

The 120,000-square-foot Snow Abu Dhabi will be the centerpiece of the new $1.2 billion Reem Mall close to downtown. This desert nation’s ambitions have never been modest. While this won’t be the first indoor snow park in a hot country (the neighboring emirate of Dubai opened an indoor ski resort in 2005), it will be the world’s largest, offering themed zones and 13 snow-based activities.

Abu Dhabi illustrates what can happen when money is no object. The richest city on Earth claims more than a quarter of a million households boasting an annual income of more than $250,000. This mind-boggling wealth is based on oil, the emirate’s great natural blessing. With a relatively tiny population, the oil money touched virtually every Emirati family and transformed a once modest fishing port into a glitzy, high-rise metropolis.

The vast majority of the population comprises expatriates from South Asia, Europe and North America. For them especially, the climate has always posed a challenge. In July and August the temperatures are ferocious, but wealth has allowed the emirate to subvert the extremes of its climate, conjuring snow in summer and water in the desert.