An Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Maldives holiday puts the last race of the Formula 1 season and a week on a coral island into one trip. You spend the race weekend at Yas Marina Circuit, then take a short flight south to Malé and a seaplane to your resort. This guide covers the 2026 race status, how to split the nights, the Maldives in early December and what a package costs.
Quick answer
The 2026 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is scheduled for 4–6 December 2026, pending a final F1 decision on the Gulf races. Plan the race weekend on Yas Island first, then close to a week on a Maldives island resort. The simplest way to book it is as one package, with the flights, race tickets and both hotels on a single booking.
- Circuit
- Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island: 5.281 km, 58 laps, final round of the 2026 season.
- Race start
- 17:00 local time (13:00 UK time), so it finishes after dark under floodlights.
- Flight time from London
- About 7 hours non-stop to Abu Dhabi.
- Abu Dhabi to Malé
- About 4 hours non-stop, several departures a day.
- Maldives in December
- Between the two monsoons, average temperature 25–32°C.
- Entry: UAE
- Free visa on arrival for British citizens, passport valid for 6 months from arrival.
- Entry: Maldives
- 30-day tourist visa on arrival, passport valid for 1 month beyond arrival, IMUGA traveller declaration completed within 96 hours before landing.
Is the 2026 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix going ahead?
Yes, for now. The race remains on the official calendar on its December date, straight after the Qatar Grand Prix. Because of the conflict in the Middle East, F1 has already called off the 2026 Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds. It has also named Imola in Italy as a contingency venue for the last two races.
Teams expect a final decision on Qatar and Abu Dhabi by the middle of October, the point at which race freight has to leave by sea. F1’s stated plan is to hold both races as scheduled. Until that call is made, treat the dates as planned rather than certain.
A package gives you more protection than separate bookings if the plan changes. Under regulation 11 of the Package Travel Regulations 2018, if the organiser has to change a main part of the package significantly, you can accept the change or cancel without a termination fee. Any refund is due within 14 days. That applies to the package as a whole, flights and Maldives nights included, so you are not left holding a resort booking for a race that has moved.
Separate bookings carry more risk. Official race packages sold by Yas Island are non-refundable, and a flight or Maldives hotel booked on its own has no link to the race date. If F1 moves the race, each part has to be changed or recovered on its own terms.
The FCDO currently describes the regional situation as unpredictable and warns of airspace closures and flight disruption across the Middle East. Read its UAE and Maldives travel advice before you pay a deposit and again in the week you fly. Check that your travel insurance is valid for the advice in force on your travel date.
How many nights, and which way round?
Our package runs to 10 nights: four in Abu Dhabi and six in the Maldives, so more than half the trip is beach time. The four nights cover the whole race weekend. You arrive the day before first practice, stay through Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and the Sunday race, then fly out on Monday morning.
Race first, beach second is the order we recommend. After a Sunday evening at the circuit, a shorter flight south on Monday is an easier next step than the long flight home. You also end the trip rested rather than straight off a late-night finish at the circuit.
Beach first can work if your dates are fixed at the other end, for example because of work in the week after the race. The trade-off is that you arrive in Abu Dhabi on a fixed day with no slack if a flight from Malé is delayed. With the race weekend immovable, that risk sits on the part of the trip you cannot rebook.
The split is not fixed. A longer Abu Dhabi stay leaves time for the Louvre Abu Dhabi or the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque once the race is over. Extra Maldives nights suit anyone who finds six nights on one island too short.
Getting from Abu Dhabi to the Maldives
The Maldives leg starts at Zayed International Airport, the airport formerly known as Abu Dhabi International, on the Monday after the race. Yas Island sits between the airport and the city, so the transfer is short. A departure later in the morning leaves time for breakfast and check-out without rushing.
Velana International Airport sits on its own island next to Malé. You clear immigration there, then you are met and taken to the seaplane terminal on the far side of the runway. From there, the seaplane lands at a platform off the resort island.
Seaplanes in the Maldives fly in daylight only. If your flight from Abu Dhabi reaches Malé in the late afternoon or evening, you may need a night in a hotel near the airport before flying out the next morning. A specialist checks the arrival time against the seaplane schedule before you book, so any overnight stop is planned rather than a surprise.
What’s the Maldives weather like in early December?
December is a transition month in the Maldives, not the start of a guaranteed dry season. The Maldives Meteorological Service puts the southwest monsoon, the wetter half of the year, from mid-May to November. The drier northeast monsoon runs from January to March, with December and April as the changeover months.
In practice, expect mostly settled days with some showers. For a month-by-month view of the islands and resort choice beyond this package, see our guide to luxury Maldives holidays.
What does an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Maldives holiday cost?
Our Abu Dhabi F1 and Maldives package is priced for the December 2026 race weekend in two cabins.
| Departure | Cabin | From (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| December 2026 | Economy | £5,379pp |
| December 2026 | Business | £8,579pp |
Both prices include return international flights from the UK. In Abu Dhabi you stay at the 5-star W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island on bed and breakfast. In the Maldives you stay at the 5-star Kandolhu Maldives on all-inclusive. Grandstand tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, private airport transfers in Abu Dhabi and return seaplane transfers are also included.
Prices are per person, based on two sharing. Dates, cabin and grandstand change the price, and a UK specialist confirms yours. ATOL 10713 protected.
Kandolhu is a small island resort of 30 villas with a house reef off the beach, so snorkelling starts from the sand rather than a boat.
Race weekend on Yas Island: what the ticket covers
A three-day grandstand ticket gets you into all the running. Friday has two practice sessions, Saturday has final practice and qualifying, and Sunday is the race itself. Support races fill the gaps each day.
After each day’s track action, Yas Island hosts the Yasalam after-race concerts. Official Abu Dhabi Grand Prix packages sold by Yas Island include concert access, but check what your own ticket covers when you get a quote.
The W hotel in our package straddles the track at the marina, and the circuit runs underneath its canopy. You walk to the grandstands rather than queue for shuttles, which matters on Sunday night when traffic off the island is slow.
For a race-only trip, other Yas Island hotels and a comparison of grandstands, see our Abu Dhabi Grand Prix holiday packages. Other races on the calendar are covered in F1 Grand Prix holidays.
Not going for the race?
The same pairing works outside race week, with a wider choice of hotels and no race-weekend premium on rooms. Our Abu Dhabi and Maldives holiday is a non-race twin-centre, and a Dubai and Maldives holiday swaps Yas Island for the city and desert.
