Location and Drive Times

Nawayef sits in the middle of Hudayriyat Island, opposite Al Bateen in Abu Dhabi. Modon's map for the east hill gives 20 minutes to Downtown Abu Dhabi and 34 to Zayed International Airport; our own route check on Nov 12, 2026 found 16 km and 19 minutes to the city center without traffic.

0:12 Where Nawayef South will stand on Hudayriyat Island has not been published. The two hills that are on the map sit side by side near the island's center, with Nawayef Village and Nawayef Park Views in the valley between them, so the drive times below, which Modon gives for Nawayef East, are the best available guide. The clip is Modon's 2024 view over the first hill toward the city's towers.

Modon's location map of Nawayef East on Hudayriyat Island, with its drive times to six places Modon

Modon's times against a route check

Modon prints six drive times on its location map for Nawayef East. We ran the same trips on Nov 12, 2026 through the OSRM routing service, which uses OpenStreetMap's roads and assumes no traffic, starting from the east hill.

Destination	Modon's map	Our check: distance	Our check: time, no traffic
Downtown Abu Dhabi (Hamdan Street)	20 min	16.3 km	19 min
Abu Dhabi Global Market	30 min	17.8 km	21 min
Louvre Abu Dhabi	33 min	23.3 km	26 min
Zayed International Airport	34 min	36.5 km	34 min
New York University Abu Dhabi	38 min	not checked	not checked
Downtown Dubai	90 min	144.9 km	96 min

Modon's figures are a little slower than free-flowing roads for the city trips, which suggests they allow for traffic, and a little faster than ours for Dubai. Three more trips that the map leaves out, from the same check: the Corniche is 15.1 km and 20 minutes, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque 19.9 km and 21 minutes, and Yas Mall 41.7 km and 40 minutes.

Why "10 minutes" and "20 minutes" are both Modon's

Modon's Hudayriyat Island page says the island is a 10-minute, 11 km drive from downtown streets such as Hamdan Street. Its Nawayef East map says 20 minutes to Downtown Abu Dhabi. We read the two as measured from different points: the first from the island's edge, where the bridge lands opposite Al Bateen, and the second from the hills, which are further in. Our check from the east hill found 16.3 km, about 5 km more than Modon's island figure.

We think anyone weighing a daily commute should time the bridge at 8 a.m. before relying on either number. The island's page describes one dedicated bridge to the city, and every home sold on Hudayriyat since 2024 will use it.

Modon's render of villas on a wooded Nawayef hillside, with city towers across the water Modon

What is close by on the island

From the east hill, Hudayriyat Island's wave pool, Surf Abu Dhabi, is 5.1 km and about 8 minutes by road in our check. Modon's type brochures list the island amenities around the hills as Marsana Beach, a marina, Hudayriyat Beach, Trail X, Circuit X, a bike park, 321 Sports, the Bab Al Nojoum resort and a heritage trail, joined by cycling and jogging tracks.