pronounced like KUH-TAAR not cutter
Following up my last post on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, we flew to our next destination: Doha! Unfortunately, we were not there in time for World Cup. We just felt like suffering through desert heat in the middle of summer.
We took this leg of our trip in a more laid-back manner, sleeping in every morning and not having anything strictly planned.
Trip duration: 4 days in July
Climate: around 40C/104F+
Attire: similarly to the U.A.E., fellow women do need to be mindful with clothing as this is also a a Muslim country.
I got a lot of incredibly uncomfortable stares for baring a bit of skin. Bless Don for always trying to shield me. Conservative by Western standards is not the same as conservative by Middle Eastern standards!
Budget breakdown (divided between 2 people):
- Flights: $75 USD each, one way AUH -> DOH
- Hotel: $155 USD for 3 nights, 4 days at Four Points Doha
- Food: did not keep track, but prices varied greatly depending on where we ate
- Transportation: my local bestie has a car so we hardly spent on transportation but used their metro (2 Riyals/trip) or Uber when needed
- Shopping:
I still don’t want to talk about it.
DAY 1
Got picked up from the airport by one of my main ride-or-die college besties LM, also known as the reason for selecting this trip destination. ❤
Special shoutout to the Buendia family for the home cooked Filipino breakfast we’ve been missing, and for your hospitality during our trip!
After wrapping up our morning at the Buendia household, we checked into our hotel and went off onto our Qatari adventure!
First stop: CAFFEINE FIX! At % Arabica in downtown Msheireb
Katara Cultural Village
Dubbed as a cultural beacon and a lighthouse of art within Qatar, this place is definitely worth the visit. Since July was off season, and we went around a holiday, not that many spots were open. Thankfully they offer free golf cart service around the village so we didn’t have to suffer too much through the heat!
As weird as it sounds, it has air-conditioning outdoors? You can stand over one of the vents outside to cool down since they all have cold hair blowing out of them.
Doha Festival City
Walked around the mall, which surprisingly is attached to an Angry Birds World Theme Park. Us being us, we hit the food courts to get a meat platter and some good ole McD’s.
DAY 2
Started our day off by walking over to the Metro, which is conveniently located across the street from our hotel, for our morning caffeine fix (matcha with coconut cream for me) before heading off to activity #1!
Can’t comment on all metro stations, but the one nearest us was incredibly convenient with all the cafes with many to go options located inside the station. For only 2 QAR/trip I’d say it is worth it especially since it is very well kept and clean.
National Museum of Qatar
Ticket prices:
- Residents – free
- Non-resident adult – 100 QAR
Spent a good chunk of our day wandering around the national museum! Both the interior and exterior were gorgeous. The building itself is shaped like a desert rose crystal.
Marina Food Arena
Since it was about time for a good snack after we toured the museum, we drove off to Marina Food Arena which is a food truck park in Lusail City. We came here looking for one specific desert: Cerelac soft serve ice cream.
Not sure what we expected, but it really just tasted like Cerelac.
The overall ambiance of the food park was nice! You could also enjoy a beautiful view of Lusail Katara Hotel – a crescent shaped building inspired by Qatari swords.
Dinner: Afgan Brothers
Meal of choice: Bukhari and majboos rice, mixed grill(ed meats), lamb chops, hummus, GARLIC SAUCE
Would I recommend? 9999/10 GOD YES. I’d call this the most memorable and amazing meal of our entire trip. Shoutout to Paps and LM for taking us here!! I’m still living off the high from this meal.
DAY 3
Checked out some cool rocks forts.
- East-West/West-East – a 4 steel monolith art installation in the middle of the desert by Richard Serra
- Film City
- Zekreet Rock Formation
- Al Zubarah Fort
- Al Jumayl
- Al Ruwais
DAY 4
Brunch: Gahwetna – local Qatari food
Meal of choice: hommous garangaou, mjaknama salad, lamb teka, mufarfat majguzi, and pasta zaafarana
Would I recommend? I thought it was a pretty decent meal. Worth trying for sure.
Souq Waqif
Since we weren’t allowed to enter the Qatar National Library due to dress code restrictions, we made our way to explore Souq Waqif which is a marketplace filled with restaurants, souvenir stores, traditional garments, spices, etc.
There is also a large part of this market that hosts pet shops and supplies. Admittedly I’d have to say a good amount of animals for sale here are not kept in the best conditions.
Falcon Souq located adjacent to Souq Waqif
Being from the US, this was a pretty unique experience for us. I’ve never seen so much dedication to falconry, even their hospital was phenomenal.
Corniche Ferry
To end our trip, our friend took us on a ferry around the city to see this gorgeous skyline of Qatar’s downtown.
bonus: during our walk to the ferry, we encountered a camel on the run! We saw it running right towards us as soon as we rounded the corner and had absolutely no idea what to do in a situation like this!
Don’s camera was cracked, thus the glare.
travel blog, minus the bull$hit 
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