What Can You Do in Doha, Qatar in One Day
The ideal one 24-hour interval in Doha itinerary for an extended stopover in Qatar. Sample local cuisine, shop the souq, stroll along the Corniche, visit the Islamic Arts Museum, and more than.
When I lived in Hanoi's diplomatic quarter, I walked by the Qatari Embassy on almost a daily basis. The state crest emblazoned on the front gate – a dhow boat and pair of palm trees intertwined atop two crossed Arab swords – fascinated me.
From the first time I saw that symbol, I've wanted to travel to Qatar. Then when the opportunity finally came up to accept advantage of the extended stopover with Qatar Airways on our mode back to Tbilisi, I jumped at the hazard to spend a few nights in the capital letter.
Much similar Oman, I found Qatar to exist 1 of the safest, most budget-friendly and like shooting fish in a barrel-to-navigate destinations in the Gulf. If you're considering a Doha stopover, I tin can wholeheartedly recommend it.
This post pulls together the highlights of our visit for a recommended 24-hour itinerary. If y'all only have 1 day in Doha, this will give you a expert overview of the highlights.
- For detailed advice about money, wearing apparel code, cultural etiquette and more, make sure you read upward on my Qatar travel tips.
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Check out my brusque Doha travel video!
Doha cheat sheet
Observe cheap flights to Doha: Utilize Kiwi to notice the all-time cost on Doha flights (they'll fifty-fifty give you lot a refund if yous miss your connectedness). Remember you may have to volume direct through Qatar Airways if y'all want to take reward of the free stopover.
Do you need a visa for Qatar? Qatar offers visa-gratuitous entry for citizens of more than 80 countries Check to see if you need a Qatar visa on iVisa.
On a short layover? This Doha transit tour starting and ending at the airport is a nifty mode to run across the city when yous take express fourth dimension.
Travel insurance for Qatar: Click hither to get a quote from SafetyWing, my preferred insurance provider for long-term travel.
How to get from Doha Airport to the metropolis: Take the newly constructed metro or organise a individual hotel transfer (recommended if yous're arriving late at night or early in the morning).
Doha car hire: Keen to explore more than of Qatar? Use Discover Cars to find the all-time price on a rental car in Doha.
5 essentials to pack for Doha: Universal travel adapter; an insulated water canteen and LifeStraw (Qatar is one identify you definitely want to stay hydrated!); a travel scarf with hidden pocket (handy for visiting mosques or covering up in the sun); lord's day protection gear – including a wide-brim chapeau and sunglasses at a minimum; a re-create of the latest Lonely Planet guidebook for Qatar.
Where to stay in Doha
One of the best things virtually doing an extended layover in Doha is being able to stay in a 4 or 5 star hotel at a heavily discounted price. This bargain is but available when you book your flights with Qatar Airways.
Nosotros stopped in Doha on our way from Sydney to Tbilisi and decided to stay at Saraya Corniche for two nights. Our room was comfortable but a little dated – however, nosotros actually loved the key location walking distance from the waterfront and souq.
If we had our time once again, we would choose either the InterContinental or Souq Waqif Boutique Hotel. The latter is set right in the heart of the souq and features roomier, more luxe suites than Saraya.
If you're on a shorter layover and you prefer to stay near the airport, Oryx Transit Hotel is the top choice. Certain fares are eligible for a discounted stay at Oryx so be certain to check with Qatar Airways at the time of booking.
How to get effectually Doha
Doha is surprisingly easy to navigate using a combination of public transport and taxis. The city's newly opened, ultra-modern hush-hush metro organisation has iii lines (red, green and aureate) that run between the airport, the Corniche, and Katara Cultural Centre in the due north of the city.
There are stops for Souq Waqif, the National Museum, and Katara, making it very convenient for tourists. Single fares cost simply 3 riyal (lxxx Usa cents) and tickets can be purchased from the like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use machines located within the stations.
The metro starts running at 6am and continues until 11pm. But if you happen to be visiting Doha on a Friday, annotation that the metro doesn't starting time running until 2pm.
Uber is widespread in Doha and an affordable alternative if y'all prefer to travel by taxi.
How to spend one day in Doha: Recommended Doha itinerary
This is the 24 hour Doha itinerary we followed on our recent layover in Qatar. Overall, nosotros felt the day was well-paced and gave u.s.a. a good feel for the city.
It's worth noting that we travelled in Feb, ane of the coolest months. If yous're planning your Doha layover for summer, you lot might desire to pare back a little and so you can take a break during the hottest part of the day.
At the end, yous'll find my suggestions for a shorter or longer stay in Doha.
Start with Breakfast at Halul Cafe
If your flight into Doha arrives late at night like ours did, your first repast volition be breakfast the following morning time. There are two kinds of Qatari breakfasts you tin can endeavor: Either a huge spread of staff of life, yogurt, cheese and olives (non dissimilar a Turkish breakfast), or something more than uncomplicated. If you desire to save room for luncheon and dinner, I recommend the latter.
Halul is a workers' cafe and the perfect identify for an piece of cake, affordable morning meal. In that location'south outdoor seating with views of the h2o, and the kitchen opens prissy and early at 6am. If you become there early enough, you lot tin can watch the sunrise from your table.
The all-time matter to lodge for breakfast hither is chapati. There are several varieties on the menu – our favourite was the very thin egg omelette version rolled up in a crisp, flaky chapati breadstuff. The cheese chapati was also pretty good. The rolls are quite small so I recommend ordering at to the lowest degree ii per person.
You should too endeavor a glass of karak tea or crepe tea. Like a lot of Qatari food and beverage, the milky tea has Indian and Pakistani roots. This beloved tea potable is a huge part of the local culture. Information technology's spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, cloves, ginger, and depending where you get, a heaping of sugar.
Karak tea is traditionally simply served in the morning (although some tea houses are open 24 hours).
Terminate by the Corniche Fish Marketplace & docks
While nosotros were eating breakfast at Halul, we noticed people had started congregating on the waterfront nearby. Nosotros walked over for a closer look and realised it was a modest hole-and-corner fish market.
Boats dock at a tiny harbour here and unload their take hold of – fish, crabs, prawns and other seafood – straight into the market stalls. Everything is sold fresh – there's non an water ice cube in sight – and weighed out for customers using erstwhile-fashion scales. The quality must be pretty good, because there were dozens of men and women doing their shopping.
Exercise a quick walk along the market to see the different offerings and then wander out onto the pier, where groups of fishermen sit on the boardwalk repairing holes in their turquoise-coloured nets.
Visit The Museum of Islamic Art
With merely one twenty-four hours in Doha, we decided to pick just one museum to visit. Nosotros chose the Museum of Islamic Art over the National Museum of Qatar, mainly because we enjoyed the IAMM in Kuala Lumpur and wanted to encounter how this i compared.
With a piddling bit more time, you could comfortably exercise both. A dual pass costs 100 QAR, otherwise entrance to the Museum of Islamic Art alone costs 50 QAR. (Note that both museums open late at i.30pm on Fridays.)
But a short walk via the Corniche from the Fish Marketplace, the palm tree-lined archway to the Museum of Islamic Art is very impressive. Within, exhibits are sparse but beautifully curated. The collection spans i,400 years and features objects from throughout the Islamic earth. Highlights include a full fix of Ottoman stallion armour and a precious stone-encrusted falcon.
I particularly enjoyed the Iranian ceramics and tiles, the manuscripts, and the Syrian wood inlay. It took the states most 90 minutes to go through the museum, but you lot could easily spend longer here.
Fifty-fifty if you aren't interested in the exhibits, I still recommend taking a walk around the museum's exterior. The spliced cube-like edifice is a work of art itself; plain the architect, I. M. Pei, spent vi months travelling throughout the Muslim world looking for design inspiration (impressive, given that he was 91 years old when the museum was completed).
The interior architecture is equally cute, especially the atrium with its five-storey window. An open courtyard on ane side of the building offers sublime views of the Doha skyline framed past stone arches.
Note that you need to buy a ticket for the museum to access the atrium and the courtyard.
City views from the Eastward Mound, Al Corniche & Old Dhow Harbour
Afterward the museum, accept a walk through the bordering IAM park that hugs Doha Port. The gardens are quite beautiful – we saw dozens of people sweeping, scrubbing the pavement and manicuring the hedges.
To the west, you'll see the Quondam Dhow Harbour crowded with wooden boats. They look picture-perfect assorted against the skyscrapers in the distance. Keep walking north to the Westward and E Mound Skyline Viewpoints, both of which beget impressive vistas (we thought the view from the East Mound was slightly ameliorate).
Once you've taken a few photos, you can cut through the park back to Al Corniche and walk a department of the long promenade that runs for 7km along the seafront.
Consume Dejeuner at Shay Al Shoomos
Shay Al Shoomos (AKA Shai Shamoos) is one of few restaurants in Doha that'south endemic past a woman. Shams, the matriarch, is a Qatari mother of five who gets rave reviews for her traditional recipes.
Conveniently located on the edge of Souq Waqif, just one block back from the Corniche, the eatery is unproblematic with ample outdoor seating for people-watching. The menu is extensive and features near must-try Qatari dishes including baid o tomat (eggs with tomato), aseeda (wheat porridge), macboush (rice with well-baked hicken, lamb or goat), and balaleet, a sweet omelet made with vermicelli noodles and turmeric.
We took our cues from the Qatari families seated effectually us and ordered a couple of dishes to share – khobiz regag (a thin crepe-similar breadstuff) and a sweetness crepe with honey.
Wander Souq Waqif
Souq Waqif, Qatar's largest outdoor market place, was the place I was most looking forrad to visiting in Doha. It did not disappoint.
A maze of double-storey shops and houses synthetic from bamboo, mud and palm fronds, the souq has been in utilise for well over 100 years. (If you're wondering why it looks so new, a large part of the area was lost to fire in the early on 2000s and information technology was almost entirely reconstructed in 2008.)
The hugger-mugger function of the market feels a lot like the Muttrah Souq in Muscat or a much smaller version of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.
Officially, the market is divided into different specialty sections (gold, spices, carpets, and the famous Falcon Souq), simply in reality it all kind of blends together. The souq was traditionally a gathering place for nomadic Bedouin tribes to trade livestock and other goods. You can still run into horse stables out the back.
Souq Waqif is open every solar day except Fri from 8am until midday, then again from 3pm until effectually 10pm. I advise visiting twice – one time after dejeuner when everything is airtight, then again in the evening.
It may seem foreign to visit when everything is shut, but we discovered that most shopkeepers get out their stores set upward while they take their siesta. Substantially, you can meet everything without the crowds. You're not probable to get hassled in the market, but information technology's nice to accept the place to yourself and non have to worry near getting in anyone'south way while you're taking photos.
The lights will exist off in the interior part of the souq, so relieve this (and the Falcon Souq) for later in the evening.
Carpets, antiques, sweets and spices seem to be the most popular products on sale. You'll too notice small repair shops and lots of cafes and tea houses.
During the busy menstruum, porters (known equally hamali) weave wheelbarrows loaded up with shopping charily through the crowds. As you can encounter, they brand for a great armchair substitute come nap time!
I should as well mention that pets (rabbits, puppies, cats) are sold at the souq. I really detest seeing animals kept in cages then I tried to steer clear of this expanse. If yous find this sort of thing distressing, avoid the section marked 'Birds Market' on Google Maps.
Ride the metro to the Katara Cultural Centre
Once you've walked through the market, duck into the metro station under Souq Waqif and grab a loftier-speed railroad train north to Katara Cultural Centre.
Katara is an arts precinct that houses creative studios, offices and public performance spaces. It kickoff opened in 2010 for the countdown Doha Tribeca Film Festival and now hosts a slate of events throughout the year.
Entrance is free. If in that location's goose egg on, the only thing to exercise is wander effectually the complex. It looks like a fleck like a Hollywood motion-picture show fix and feels quite surreal – a vibe reinforced past the swarms of golf game carts that ferry people around.
The main allure at Katara (apart from the huge outdoor stadium) are 2 pieces of traditional Qatari architecture that have been recreated on the grounds: A mosque decorated with painted tiles, and a pair of Dove Towers (pictured above left).
The latter are tall sandy mounds punctuated with holes and wooden perches. In times gone by, farmers used the towers to collect pigeon debris for fertiliser. They still practise a practiced chore of luring birds.
When you've seen enough of Katara, there's an option to exit straight onto the seafront and walk along Katara Beach.
Head back to the heart to Visit the Grand Mosque & Al Koot Fort
The souq becomes re-energised at dusk, and so I recommend heading dorsum to this area before sundown. Doha's Grand Mosque and Al Koot Fort are both located adjacent to the souq, and then you can do a walk-by to see the architecture while you're there.
The foursquare-shaped fort is relatively new, having existence built as a constabulary station in the 1920s. Information technology'due south currently closed to visitors, only you can visit the mosque outside of prayer times.
Another choice is to visit the nearby Abdulla Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Center where visitors (even non-Muslims) are welcome to observe daily prayers.
Eat Dinner at Bandar Aden
Yemeni cuisine is hugely popular in Doha and Bandar Aden Restaurant is i of the go-tos for accurate dishes. I highly recommend the mandi, a Biryani-style dish of chicken or lamb served on a bed of fragrant rice. You should as well order a serve of oven-baked Yemeni bread or karse bread with butter and black bean.
Annotation that portions here are admittedly huge. One serving is more than than plenty to share between two people.
Run into the famous Falcon Souq
Qatar is one of the few countries where falconry is nevertheless commonplace. Birds of prey are absolutely revered here, as evidenced by the fact that there's an entire market in Doha dedicated to them.
The famous Falcon Souq, part of Souq Waqif, consists of a dozen or and then shops that face onto an open-air parade ground. Each of the shops has a large open floorspace covered with sand and lined with elevated perches. Falcons dressed in hand-stitched leather hoods sit on the perches, tethered down for prophylactic and waiting to be appraised by potential buyers.
Shops as well sell a range of falcon accoutrements. We walked past a few camping ground supply stores advertizing inflatable falcon perches.
A falcon can fetch upwards to 250,000 USD. Apart from sport hunting, they serve a deeper purpose: In Qatari civilisation, parents employ falcons to teach children values of patience, backbone and self-discipline. Upward to eighty percent of Qatari men will own a falcon at some point in their lives. Like traditions are observed in the UAE.
As nosotros wandered the Falcon Souq, nosotros noticed a group of teenage friends, 1 with a falcon perched on his wrist like a Rolex. His two buddies were admittedly enamoured with the bird.
(Given what I said above regarding the pet market, I want to point out that this is another identify where living creatures and bought and traded.)
If yous practise determine to go to the Falcon Souq, the best to visit is in the early evening when shoppers are out and handlers are feeding their birds. You should also drop by the Falcon Infirmary, a government-subsidised medical facility purely for falcons (x-ray department and all).
There's a small anatomical museum at the forepart of the hospital, and in the waiting room, you can find vending machines that manipulate various falcon vitamins and salves.
See Doha at nighttime
Stop your solar day in Doha by walking dorsum along the Corniche. Every bit you lot can imagine, the city skyline looks all the more than spectacular when illuminated.
The spiral-shaped minaret of the Islamic Cultural Centre is particularly pretty at night.
Doha map
You lot'll find all the above-mentioned landmarks and restaurants plotted out on my Doha map. Click here to open the interactive map on Google Maps.
Less time in Doha?
If you lot have less than 1 solar day in Doha, I recommend sticking to the height half of this itinerary. Head straight for the souq, catch lunch, walk the Corniche, and then finish upwards at the Islamic Arts Museum.
If you lot're actually on a time crunch, consider signing up for this four-hour Doha transit bout. It includes airport pickup and drop off.
More time in Doha?
With another day or two in Doha, you could visit the National Museum of Qatar, spend some time at The Pearl – the human-made island in the city's northward – or ideally take a mean solar day trip to explore the desert mural outside of the metropolis.
Doha travel FAQ
When is the all-time fourth dimension to visit Doha?
Fall (September/October/November) and spring (February/March/April) are the all-time times of twelvemonth to visit Doha and Qatar in general.
The unforgiving climate makes summer (May/June/July/August) stifling hot, while wintertime (December/January) can exist wet and very cold at night.
Is Doha rubber?
Doha is consistently ranked among the safest cities in the globe. Numbeo'south Safe City Index for 2022 ranked Doha as the second safest city (subsequently Abu Dhabi).
Fiddling offense is extraordinarily rare in Qatar, even in the capital. Aside from exercising normal circumspection every bit you lot would in whatever other city, there is goose egg in particular you need to watch out for in Doha. It'south known to be safe and friendly towards solo female person travellers and families with young kids alike.
Road safety is really the only business organization: As a pedestrian you lot should watch out for cars. If you decide to travel beyond Doha, take care on the roads.
Is Doha expensive?
We found prices a lilliputian higher than in Oman – but overall, Doha was non nearly every bit expensive as we were anticipating. If you stick to public send, eat at local restaurants and limit the number of museums you lot visit, then you lot can quite hands continue your costs down.
We spent twoscore USD per person per day on our Doha layover. That included meals, museum tickets, transport, and lots and lots of karak tea.
Accommodation volition always be your biggest expense, so endeavor to take reward of the drome layover deal offered by Qatar Airways if you lot tin can.
For more than Doha travel communication, see my list of things to know before you visit Qatar.
For showtime-fourth dimension visitors who want to go a sense of taste of Qatar, one twenty-four hours in Doha is plenty of time to see the highlights. I hope this itinerary comes in handy for planning your own Qatar stopover!
I mean solar day in Doha itinerary: Pin it
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Source: https://wander-lush.org/one-day-in-doha-stopover-itinerary/
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