# Al Ghadeer Village



## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Anyone know anything about Al Ghadeer village? It's on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi?

I've been commuting to Abu Dhabi but am reluctant to move there. Al Ghadeer could be a compromise. And it's cheap as chips. But there's always a cost, isn't there? Smack dab in the middle of nowhere, still 100km from the office although I'd avoid the Dubai traffic after Jebel Ali, so probably a hour door to door. And it's still a solid 20 to 30 minutes from anywhere decent in Dubai.

Am I right to assume that living there is actually getting the worst of both worlds rather than the best?


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Its cheap, and a decent community. You have the few amenities that you need for day to day living. I would almost say (at the cost of possible brickbats) that it is no worse than living in the JVC or JVT (or any other community in the middle of nowhere). You need a car to get out (just like a number of communites in Dubai), but everything useful in Dubai would be within 30 minutes. 

Makes your AD commute easier (30 minutes each way is no mean feat), and you are still close to Dubai.

Personally I would not live there though as I dont like long commutes (and my current one is 5-10 mins). But would make sense for someone who does Dubai-AD every day.


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

or... just move to AD...


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

That is the dreaded conclusion. I am fighting it tooth and nail but it will probably happen.

I've already written off Reem Island. Raha Beach looks decent. I can't make any sense of the island itself and no one area seems to stand out as a good place to live, as defined by having lots of shops (proper ones, not fabric shops or rental car agencies) and restaurants within walking distance, save that gloomy Central Market.



imac said:


> or... just move to AD...


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Downtown AD/AD Island is like one big Bur Dubai. Living in Khalidiya you would have lot of choices of places (restaurants and shops) you can walk to, but probably not much of parking.
I like Reem (I live here) but apart from Sun/SKy Towers (or possibly Gate towers) you can't really walk to a number of restaurants. I have a large apartment in the Marina Square part of Reem, but yes not a lot of choice in walking to places. Curious to know why you discarded Reem. 

I like Saadiyat as well, in case you havent looked there yet. Restaurants, Waitrose/ Spinneys (cant recall which one) and some utilities (e.g. laundries). 

Eastern Mangroves is good as well. A choice of probably 10 restaurants and a Waitrose on site, and very serene, if you have a mangrove facing apartment. 

I would say I like AD more in terms of convenience. [I used to live in the Greens in Dubai which has good landscaping, good access to SZR, but limited choices in terms of places you can walk to]


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

muroor is an excellent compromise between living in the city (with its parking issues) and living at the outskirts (with limited walk-able places to eat).. loads of low rise apartment buildings and plenty of parking available... its got some very cost effective places, plenty of cheap food options to walk to, and best of all, almost everyone delivers to within a reasonable distance... the danet area near al bustan even has a couple of higher end towers with decent gyms and pools... guardian tower is quite popular...

the best part is, pretty much any place in AD is at most 40 Dhs by cab for the times when you don't want to be driving... i take a cab to yas island every weekend for brunch and my cab fare is 80 Dhs both ways... and for the times when i go to any of the city hotels its 25 Dhs to the corniche...

its great... i love it and highly recommend it...


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

or... if you want to wake up on a weekend and look out your window to see etihad stewardesses lounging by the pool sunbathing, then my building rocks!!!

all comes down to priorities my friend...


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Except Bur Dubai has a lot more life and energy...talk about Meena Bazaar and Karama. Nothing comparable in Abu Dhabi.

I didn't like Al Reem because not only is it a construction zone but it feels so empty. The distance between the clusters of towers is vast and not endearing to getting around on foot. And I saw preciously few retail/dining options. You'd have to leave for most of your groceries and dining out. But Reem would be very handy to my office on the Corniche. 

The advantage of Raha is that it feels more complete and that seems to facilitate a better sense of community. Sort of like a more upmarket Greens. 

As for the rest of AD island, it's hard to get a feel for the area. Most of the buildings and areas look the same, so it's difficult to gauge which caters to, for a lack of better words, more affluent/educated/westernized expats, and which caters to more traditional expats. 

Abu Dhabi does lack a proper sense of place. At least in Dubai the main areas are easily distinguished from one another and each has its own personality. Abu Dhabi, to me, is just one big, very quiet town. Like Milton Keynes in the desert.

I should quit complaining and stop comparing the two cities :roll eyes:

It'll only make me even unhappier. 



rsinner said:


> Downtown AD/AD Island is like one big Bur Dubai. Living in Khalidiya you would have lot of choices of places (restaurants and shops) you can walk to, but probably not much of parking.
> I like Reem (I live here) but apart from Sun/SKy Towers (or possibly Gate towers) you can't really walk to a number of restaurants. I have a large apartment in the Marina Square part of Reem, but yes not a lot of choice in walking to places. Curious to know why you discarded Reem.
> 
> I like Saadiyat as well, in case you havent looked there yet. Restaurants, Waitrose/ Spinneys (cant recall which one) and some utilities (e.g. laundries).
> ...


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Does anyone know anything about the Club, the old British club? Easy to get a membership if you don't know anyone? Worth it?


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## FourAgreements (Mar 19, 2014)

We were there this past weekend. We have friends who live in AD who belong to it. I initially thought it was an odd location, kind of industrial. But whatever. It has great facilities, bit of a lived in feel, but not shabby. You could probably go take a tour.

My husband LOVES the place, and we tried to find something similar in Dubai after we moved here last year - to no avail. We would become members in a heartbeat if we lived in AD.

I don't know if there's a waitlist, but I just saw some membership info that said it helps if you're 'recommended' by 3 other members.



TallyHo said:


> Does anyone know anything about the Club, the old British club? Easy to get a membership if you don't know anyone? Worth it?



Also, a cappuccino is only 7 dirhams in the restaurant and the pork spareribs served at the buffet were DELICIOUS.


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

I went through this same dilemma over the last few months, and its weird how Tallybait seems to be echoing my thoughts to such an extent (re: Reem, Raha, Ghadeer etc.), maybe not surprising considering we both post across 3 forums..... 

I was_ this_ close to getting something at Ghadeer, and at first I too thought it was the worst of both worlds, but in reality it is a very good option for someone who does not mind driving and has 2-3 cars to cover the commute to AUH as well as the drives to Dubai. 

Firstly, there is absolutely nothing nearby, except a small Enoc with basics, and that is a ~10 km round trip.

You would still have to brave the commute to Abu Dhabi, so you are looking at ~50 minutes to an hour. And you will still face the fog/accidents etc. 

Now comes the interesting part, the drive to Dubai. It is only ~20 minutes to Bin Batuta, which sounds like a nice enough time, the rest of Dubai depends on how bad the traffic is. If you choose non peak hours, you can be in Dubai Mall within 35 minutes of leaving Ghadeer, but in peak times it will be an hour or more. 
The best parts of Dubai to access from Ghadeer are the ones on E311, so Global Village would be only half an hour away, and Mirdif CC just 45 minutes.....and the Green Community only 15 min off

Now the catch is in the miles your car will rack up. A round trip to Bin Batuta will be ~80km, a trip to Dubai Mall around 100km. Doing this 3/4 times a week on top of the 200km you will put on the way to Abu Dhabi means 6000+ km every month, at least. 

Another issue I thought of is getting handymen/cleaners/food deliveries, as most probably would not come so far.

Now as for the units themselves, the build quality is quite good, the community feels very decent, and landscaping was above my expectations. 

But you will have to drive, a lot, to pretty much anywhere, and that is what should define your choice. I had been driving 7k+ km every month for the past 4 years which is why I decided against it, but if I had not done it for so long, Ghadeer would be near the top of my choice list....


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

TallyHo said:


> Except Bur Dubai has a lot more life and energy...talk about Meena Bazaar and Karama. Nothing comparable in Abu Dhabi.
> 
> I should quit complaining and stop comparing the two cities :roll eyes:
> 
> It'll only make me even unhappier.


Since moving back to AUH, that is the main thing me & my SO are noticing, the incredible difference in "energy" levels between the 2 cities. In Dubai, everyone is on the move, no one seems to have time to sit around and linger unless they are doing it with friends/someone special. In AUH, there are some people with seemingly endless amount of time on their hands, and some spend it by staring, something quite rare in most parts of Dubai. 

We entered a mall in AUH at peak time, and 2 pharmacists of a well known chain just stood at their door and stared at us, something you can never envision in Dubai, they would be too busy with customers or something else. 
You'll notice that the Metro has contributed hugely to this "rush" in DXB, just stand outside Business Bay Metro Station at 6pm and you will see hundreds of office goers briskly walking to the station, with Burj Khalifa in the backdrop, can never envision something comparable in AUH. 

I know I am nitpicking, but am a bit depressed since moving, and miss the energy and drive of Dubai. 

Now here is the odd thing; in many parts of the world such as the US, the tradeoff is that laid back and sleepy places come with their own set of advantages, i.e. people are friendlier and costs are low. 
Unfortunately in both cases, DXB still beats AUH, people are no friendlier here and costs for everything from handymen to rentals are still higher in AUH.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I completely agree. People like to claim Dubai has no soul whereas AD does as it was resolutely an Emirati city. But they're wrong. Dubai has a soul. It's a very inclusive place. It's become a global city, even if it still lags far behind the New York/London/HK/Singapores of the world. 

AD, by contrast, is certainly an Emirati/Arabic city, but if you're not Emirati nor Arabic, you're excluded.

But I do know if you focus on making a good set of friends, which should be possible, then life in AD can be fine. Just quieter  

Right now I'm debating getting a very cheap apartment off island in Khalifa or even MBZ city, and booking a hotel room in Dubai for Thurs-Fri each week. Daft idea or not? The pragmatic in me says if I continue shunning AD instead of attempting to be active locally I'll always be disappointed. 







Tropicana said:


> Since moving back to AUH, that is the main thing me & my SO are noticing, the incredible difference in "energy" levels between the 2 cities. In Dubai, everyone is on the move, no one seems to have time to sit around and linger unless they are doing it with friends/someone special. In AUH, there are some people with seemingly endless amount of time on their hands, and some spend it by staring, something quite rare in most parts of Dubai.
> 
> We entered a mall in AUH at peak time, and 2 pharmacists of a well known chain just stood at their door and stared at us, something you can never envision in Dubai, they would be too busy with customers or something else.
> You'll notice that the Metro has contributed hugely to this "rush" in DXB, just stand outside Business Bay Metro Station at 6pm and you will see hundreds of office goers briskly walking to the station, with Burj Khalifa in the backdrop, can never envision something comparable in AUH.
> ...


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

What about Al Bateen? Last time I was around there, they were building some nice apartments next to the sea and a Marina.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Ghadeer's main flaw is that it's still 10km off E11. You might as well drive an extra 20 minutes to JLT/Marina and be in a much more convenient location. I wonder why it wasn't built right off E11. Talk about the lack of proper planning in the UAE.



Tropicana said:


> I went through this same dilemma over the last few months, and its weird how Tallybait seems to be echoing my thoughts to such an extent (re: Reem, Raha, Ghadeer etc.), maybe not surprising considering we both post across 3 forums.....
> 
> I was_ this_ close to getting something at Ghadeer, and at first I too thought it was the worst of both worlds, but in reality it is a very good option for someone who does not mind driving and has 2-3 cars to cover the commute to AUH as well as the drives to Dubai.
> 
> ...


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Tallybait?

Three forums?

Is there a Tallybait floating around out there on the other popular forums?



Tropicana said:


> I went through this same dilemma over the last few months, and its weird how Tallybait seems to be echoing my thoughts to such an extent (re: Reem, Raha, Ghadeer etc.), maybe not surprising considering we both post across 3 forums.....


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Pretty sure I saw that username in at least 2 other forums........and as its not that common a name, thought it would be the same user....


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I do post on British Expat periodically, though haven't in ages and with a different username.



Tropicana said:


> Pretty sure I saw that username in at least 2 other forums........and as its not that common a name, thought it would be the same user....


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Gavtek said:


> What about Al Bateen? Last time I was around there, they were building some nice apartments next to the sea and a Marina.


Actually the apartments are great (but I did not like the layout of the 2 beds) and good views. A couple of shops nearby as well.


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## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

What about Al Badrah? It's really close to IBN and right off SZR? It's a bit closer to Dubai, so compromise on getting to AD. 

---
I really resent the comments about JVT and JVC. I'm only in JVC and I'm only: 
5 mins from Motor City (Spinney's)
10 mins from JLT
15 mins from Mall of the Emirates
20 mins from Dubai Mall

I'm only 10 mins from Arabian Ranches which is one of the most coveted areas in Dubai and nobody says they're "miles away from everywhere"


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