Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi Marine Month WHAT'S ON: August 2026

23 Abu Dhabi, August 2026: This August, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi goes Under the Water, dedicating the month to the wonders of the marine world. With weekend workshops, guided tours, and a month-long family expedition, visitors of all ages can journey from the sunlit surface of the ocean to its deepest, darkest reaches, all without leaving Saadiyat Cultural District.

Alongside the marine programme, the Mindful Museum series returns with morning yoga, ladies-only Lagree workouts, and sound meditation beneath the dinosaurs, while a special seashell-inspired evening with Stardust Bar takes over Nayzak Café on August 28. Together, the programme invites visitors to explore, move, and reconnect with the natural world throughout the month.

MOVEMENT THROUGH WATER - MINI TOUR

A short, guided journey through water's power to move, and to be moved through. This mini-tour traces movement in and through water, from an ancient Abu Dhabi hippo dependent on a long-vanished river system, to the fastest shark in the ocean, to animals that appear still but are not.

• Date: Every weekend in August
• Time: 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:30 PM & 6:30 PM
• Location: Museum galleries
• Registration at the registration desk
• Free with every ticket

INTO SEA & SKY - A FIELD EXPEDITION INTO DEEP TIME

Journey into deep time and embark on a family expedition through the ancient seas and skies. Visitors collect their Field Notebook, choose the Sea Expedition or the Sky Expedition, and discover the extraordinary creatures that lived on Earth millions of years ago.

Along the way, families complete interactive tasks, uncover fascinating discoveries, and earn their Expedition Badge by exploring, observing, questioning, and thinking like a real scientist.

• Date: Throughout August
• Time: During museum operating hours, self-guided
• Location: Mezzanine Floor, Act 1A
• Walk-in, no pre-registration required
• Free with every ticket

DEEP SEA DISCOVERY TOUR

Dive into one of the ocean's most mysterious environments without ever leaving the museum. This guided experience explores the whale fall in the Deep Sea Biome and the OceanX interactive in Beyond the Horizon, revealing how life thrives in total darkness, from bone-eating worms to hydrothermal vent creatures that have never seen the sun. A journey into a world we are only just beginning to understand.

• Date: Every weekend in August
• Time: 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM & 5:00 PM
• Location: Our World Gallery - Deep Sea Biome & Beyond the Horizon
• Registration at the registration desk
• Free with every ticket

OCEAN LAYERS

Participants build a visual 'slice' of the ocean, placing layers from the sunlit surface down to the deep sea and matching animals to the zones where they live, discovering how life changes with every metre of depth.

• Date: Every weekend in August
• Time: 1:00 PM & 4:00 PM
• Location: Gallery corridors
• Registration at the registration desk
• Free with every ticket

LIGHT IN THE OCEAN - BIOLUMINESCENCE ART

Participants explore how deep-sea animals create their own light, then design glowing-inspired artwork of their own, taking home a small piece of the ocean's magic.

• Date: Every weekend in August
• Time: 2:30 PM & 5:30 PM
• Location: Gallery corridors
• Registration at the registration desk
• Free with every ticket

UAE'S COASTAL TREASURES X STARDUST BAR

Discover the seashells that wash up along the UAE's own coastlines. Participants explore real shells found across the country, learning to identify their types, characteristics, and the habitats they come from, before joining a creative workshop with Stardust Bar to design and embellish marine-inspired accessories using what they have discovered.

• Date: Friday, August 28
• Time: 6:00 PM
• Location: Nayzak Café
• Price: AED 300 per person, includes one drink
• Registration at the registration desk

MINDFUL MUSEUM

The museum's wellness series continues this August beneath the sauropods in the Atrium, offering moments of stillness and strength surrounded by 4.5 billion years of natural history.

Ladies-only Microformer Lagree sessions bring a high-intensity, low-impact workout that strengthens the core and sharpens the mind, while mindful morning yoga, open to all, invites participants to unwind, breathe, and reconnect with the natural world. Closing the month, the Sound Meditation Experience lets guests lie back beneath the dinosaurs as resonant instruments guide them into stillness, tracing the slow rhythms of a planet that has been shifting, breathing, and changing for 4.5 billion years.

• Microformer Lagree (ladies only, semi-private): Monday, August 3 & Monday, August 17 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM & 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM | Limited to 10 spots per session | Register at www.formstudio.ae
• Morning Yoga (open to all): Tuesday, August 11 & Tuesday, August 18 | 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM | Register at www.opencircleyoga.org/schedule
• Sound Meditation Experience (open to all): Monday, August 31 | 7:00 PM | Register at www.opencircleyoga.org/schedule
• Location: Under the Sauropods, museum atrium
• Pre-registration required

AUGUST AT NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ABU DHABI

• Location: Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi
• Opening Hours
  Monday - Thursday: 10:00 AM - 6:30 PM
  Friday - Sunday: 10:00 AM - 8:30 PM
• Website & Tickets: https://nhmad.ae

TICKET PRICES

Tickets are AED 70 for adults, while children aged 18 and under visit for free, making it easy for families and school-aged learners to explore together. Concessions are available for UAE students, teachers, military, Fazaa/Esaad cardholders and eligible groups, with complimentary entry for People of Determination and UAE-based seniors aged 60+.