Qatar airways was our company of choice when booking the tickets to the bucket list destination, Japan. We were considering and reconsidering whether to go with Turkish or Finnair or should we even take the extra mile and travel to Frankfurt in order to take AirChina flight, but finally the decision was done. It was not the cheapest, but it was best value for money / hours provider.
Once this was done, I was curious tho check out how the stopover is working. Even though I didn’t click directly on the page that I want a stopover flight, I chose one totalling 37 hours (the flight back was cca. 18 hours for comparison), which lead us with almost a full day in Doha, from 6AM to 02AM.

Once you have flight with Qatar airways, if there is no earlier connection than 6 hours, you can apply for a free hotel, but in case there is earlier connection you are entitled to book a 4 or 5 star hotel, for peanuts of a price. The first ones are around 14euros, and the later one 21. If you want direct access to the beach, the ultra 5 stars hotels were around 35 euros per person.
We’ve decided for a five star hotel across the street from Souq Waqif, the old part of Doha. We thought the city would be walkable, and that all the points of interest would be accessible on foot. Reality was a bit different.

Passport check was quite smooth, and very soon we were buying our metro tickets. Daily metro pass costs 6 Qatari Riyal, which is around 1.5 euros. The city has three metro lines green, yellow and red, easy to get around with, and very very clean.
There were three types of cars, standard for men, family, mainly for women and families, and VIP for holders of separate type of ticket. Exiting the metro and crossing the street to our hotel Al Najada Doha Hotel by Tivoli you realize that there is no way, anyone would walk, because even though 7AM, and 37 degrees, the real feel was 57, and as if you are walking with your head inside an oven.

Hotel: Al Najada Doha Hotel by Tivoli
Recommendation: Great location nice pool area, spacious rooms.
Breakfast included: NO, you can add breakfast for 20euros per person
Price: $$
Payment: directly via the stopover portal discoverqatar.qa

First I had on my mind visiting only the souq, the Museum of Islamic art and the National Museum of Qatar, along with seeing the skyline of the city, but then on the flight I saw the beautiful National Library building, and the Katara Cultural Village so we added that on our list as well, and my companion suggested we could visit the Pearl as well.

After a nap, we were on a coffee hunt, in Downtown Doha. I was ambitious that we could stroll, but that was not an option, even though, we were fully protected against sun and heat. When I saw %Arabica coffee, I felt saved. The downtown is full of coffee and pastry shops, design stores, and also general shops, but everything happens indoors.
Then we walked towards the metro station, and took the green line, to reach the National Library of Qatar. It is a modern building designed by Rem Koolhas, beautiful both in and out. Inside there is a canteen and a nice cafe. A must visit if you ask me.
Around this area is the Education City along with other cool buildings, like the University of Islamic Studies. These two buildings are connected by free of charge tram with available free water on the stations. The last stop of the green line was the Al Riffa Shopping Mall, but that was not a point of our Interest.

Next we wanted to “eliminate” the second furthest point of the city, and that was the Pearl island, once you get off at the metro station there are free shuttle busses taking you around, but even though free, you need to register your ride with the Karwa Journey app. If you are planning to move further than the city centre, you might want to download it in advance.
The Pearl was, nice, interesting, and weird at the same time. Al the buildings were different from one another, and there was Little Venice point with Rialto Bridge and all the details. So you get to experience Venice without the crowds. In this area there are a lot of restaurants and eateries so if you come when the sun starts to set, it can be enjoyable. Here we stopped for snack at a sandwich place called Caccia -Sandwiches and Juices.

The next decision was do we want to see Katara village, or should we rush to the museums before it gets dark and before it gets 5PM when they close. We’ve decided to go to Katara village, which is self-proclaimed cultural village, consisting of shops, restaurants, nice view of the skyline, amphitheater, the Katara Mosque and the Golden Mosque. It is also the place where I first time in my life experienced outdoor area being chilled by AC, and it felt good I must admit.

It was already getting dark, the sky had the most amazing colours, the sunset left us speechless, but we also reached the National Museum of Qatar just before closing. so we’ve enjoyed it on the outside. The desert rose as it is called, was designed by the french architect Jean Nouvel, and it was finished in 2019, it is one of the most stunning buildings I’ve seen.

From here we’ve decided to walk towards the Museum of Islamic Art, in order to have a look at the skyline of the city, turned out to be a mistake, because it isn’t getting chillier, nobody is walking, and the wait on the traffic lights was 10 minutes straight. The museum looked stunning on the outside, the colourful lights made the skyline super attractive, and even though, we had a metro ticket, by this time, we had more than 30K steps, and felt pretty much done.

Another 15 minutes walking from the Museum of Islamic art to the Souq Waqif and we were happy that the hotel is just here.
The souq is closed between 12:30 and 15:00 and that is why we left it for the end. It was, bustling and colourful and it was the only place in town where I could see tourists. There are many little shops and tiny alleys, stalls selling Karak chai and many restaurants and cafeterias. Too tired to do anything else, we took one chai on the go, went through art gallery alley and ended our trip in the city.

I was surprised that there is actually more to see that I was expecting, and even though I was not planning on returning to Qatar, I wouldn’t mind for another stop, even a shorter one in order to try some of the restaurants, particularly the one in the souq area – Danat Al Bahar BBQ Fish and definitively visit the National Museum.
Going further than the city for a dessert trip would also be an option, but lets not get too ambitious.
In any case, one more country off the list.