After centuries connecting the desert and the sea, Qatar’s star is rising fast as a modern-day gateway to the Middle East. Take your seat on award-winning Qatar Airways, enjoy a comfortable overnight flight to Doha, then awake in one of the Middle East’s most exciting capital cities, ready to discover its culture, fashion, cuisine, art, history and ambition.
Why Doha is your new favourite layover in the Middle East
Until the World Cup 2022, Doha kept a relatively low profile among Middle Eastern hub destinations. Now, the cat is out of the bag, but Qatar’s capital is just getting started. With at least a half-day stop, you can enjoy a layover tour exploring Doha’s souqs, the eye-catching Museum of Islamic Art, a living cultural village including one of the world’s most beautiful mosques, and of course, have time to enjoy a little luxury tax-free shopping.
If you’d rather stretch the adventure beyond Doha’s urban powerhouse, hit the dunes on a 4x4 tour until you reach Qatar’s famed Inland Sea. This tidal embayment cuts into the desert landscape, offering a haven for colonies of flamingos and other birds. It’s also a fantastic place for taking in Qatar’s desert landscape and will almost certainly whet your appetite to return for a longer stay.
An even more luxurious layover can be arranged, either through a private tour, with a luxury vehicle at your disposal, a sightseeing flight to take in Doha’s skyline including the impressive Pearl Island from above, or three hours of blissful chill time at the airport, including a massage treatment tailored to your individual needs.
Stay a while in Qatar’s charismatic capital
Now that Doha’s got your attention, we don’t blame you for wanting to stay a few days. This gives you time to enjoy the beauty of the Corniche or waterfront, explore Qatar’s history as a key player in the history of the Persian Gulf, and find your own favourite discoveries within Doha’s galleries and museums. It also gives you time to explore Souq Waqif in depth, ideally with a guide at your side who can give you a greater appreciation of the Souq’s role in day-to-day life. Visit areas devoted to gold, carpets, spices, and even falcons, another essential part of Qatari culture.
You’ll have time to opt for a desert adventure too, but if you’d rather discover Qatar’s cultural side, there are two museums you can’t miss. The Museum of Islamic Art, an ideal way to spend a few hours surrounded by unabashed beauty, and the National Museum of Qatar, where Qatar’s history, geography, nature, and culture come together in displays designed to enchant all ages.
Keep your camera ready as you explore Katara Cultural Village. Opened in 2010, it serves to bring together many disparate aspects of Qatari culture and its interactions with the wider world, with shopping, entertainment, and public park spaces that make it a pleasure to explore for a few hours. Take in the colours of the stunning Katara Mosque, or the iron work and stained glass of the gourmet-specialized SNAN Food Hall. If you’d rather someone else did the cooking, hit up one of the 40 pop-up restaurants on aptly named Tasty Street. Katara Cultural Village also boasts an amphitheatre, cinemas, a planetarium ideal for a family day out, a museum devoted to Qatar’s seafaring ventures, and much more, including a wide variety of rotating exhibitions. It doesn’t take long to see why Katara plays a key role as a cultural hub in today’s Doha.
Your Gateway to the Middle East and Beyond
Rated 5 stars by Skytrax (with a Business Class rated 10/10 by businessclass.com if you want to splurge), Qatar Airways offers more than just a great stopover hub. They’re an ideal carrier for those far-flung destinations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Regular services connect passengers to popular destinations like Egypt, Jordan, India, South Africa, Kenya and Australia. They also service more unusual destinations like Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and the ‘stans’ of Central Asia. In fact, there’s a Qatar Airways service to at least one destination on every inhabited continent. That makes Doha your ideal gateway to the world, and might just make Qatar Airways your new favourite way to get there.
Christian’s first globetrotting adventure saw him get lost exploring the streets of Saigon. Following his nose to Asia’s best coffee, two lifelong addictions were born. A freelance writer and novelist, Christian’s travels have since taken him around his native Australia, Asia, Europe, and much of North America. His favourite trips have been through Japan, Spain, and Brazil, though with a love of off-beat, artsy cities, he’ll seize any opportunity to return to Paris, New York, or Berlin.
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