After landing in Doha aboard our Qatar Airways A350 Q-Suites flight, we knew that our next flight wouldn’t leave for another 8 hours. Our original plan was to just hang out in the new Qatar Airways lounge, because we figured we would be absolutely exhausted. However, once we landed, we were actually pretty refreshed (#lieflatseat). We had done some research beforehand in case this happened, and we had discovered the Discover Qatar Doha Transit Tour.
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This is a 3 hour tour that hits the highlights of what Doha is like. You’ll stop at 3 culturally significant places within Doha: the Museum of Islamic Art, the Katara Cultural Village, and the Souq Waqif (the central market).
What’s even better is that this is in conjunction with Qatar Airways, so they are aware that people are actually going to be taking this tour. I don’t know if they’ll automatically rebook you if there’s an issue getting back to your gate, but I would think your odds are better if that happens.
Requirements, Booking, & Cost for the Doha Transit Tour
For our tour, you must have a layover of 6 hours. This is the requirement to make sure that you can go through immigration in both directions. (You do get your passport stamped…which is really cool!) On a related note, you must be able to have legal entry into Qatar as a tourist, even though it is only for a short time.
You can book online before you get there, but I would caution against this for two reasons. First, you don’t know if your flight will be delayed, causing you to miss your check-in time. Second, there are no cost savings by booking in advance – it costs the same either way.
As of publication, the cost of these tours are 115 QAR (or about $32 US dollars) per person. I paid with my Capital One Venture X so that I would not pay any foreign transaction fees.
Note that we took this tour at night, but the experience should be the same if you take the tour during the day.
Meeting Place and Immigration
As with many things in the Doha airport, the Discover Qatar booth for the Doha Transit Tour can be difficult to find. The best way to visualize where to go is to begin by looking directly at the front of the famous bear. Turn around 180 degrees and walk forward. You’ll pass the information desk and walk towards a little food court. Right before you get to the food court, you’ll see a booth on your right.
This is where you both buy your ticket and is where you meet. We got there about 15 minutes before the meeting time, and, after a long flight, went and got a Coke and a small snack.
You have to buy your ticket at least 2 hours in advance of your official tour start time. Why? If you are an economy passenger, going through immigration takes quite a bit of time.
Once the whole group is there, they walk you through a series of escalators and elevators to reach immigration.
As we had flown business class on Q-Suites, we had access to a special first and business class immigration. It seems like it was much less busy. We were through immigration and a security check in about 10 minutes. I did not take pictures during this process.
From there, we were told to meet at the Discover Qatar desk at the stated time after making our way through immigration. We had about an hour to kill, so we hung out and had a real snack in the Qatar Airways arrivals lounge. We met a really cool couple from the Midwest who were on their way to Bali, so we enjoyed a light meal alongside them and got to know them. Hello if you are reading!
Doha Transit Tour Transportation & Luggage Logistics
After meeting at the Discover Qatar desk, we were lead to our transportation through Doha. On this particular excursion, we rode in a 46-passenger bus.
You may be familiar with something like a Greyhound or Flix bus. This was basically a smaller nicer version of this. There was a set of stairs in the front and a set of stairs in the middle of the bus. Bottled water was available as a part of your ticket, and you could pick it up at any time during the tour. Our tour guide (a lovely Turkish woman) sat at the front, and we sat about 3/4 of the way back.
Now, one thing I did want to mention: luggage. You likely have at least a backpack and maybe a small cabin-sized rolling suitcase. Two things to note. First, in terms of your rolling suitcase, you put it under the bus, where it is safely locked for the duration of your trip. My wife and I left it in the business class lounge in their storage lockers. However, I’m 99% sure that we actually weren’t supposed to do that. If you do that, make sure to get a key from the front desk before trying to go into the locker room and open a locker. It was quite confusing how to put our luggage in the lockers.
Second, if you have a backpack or similar bag, you can absolutely leave your backpack on the bus, and it is locked the entire time you are not on there. The driver is with the bus the whole time as well. I took my small Fjällräven hipbag with my wallet and phone. However, that’s all I took when we got off the bus.
The Doha Transit Tour
We left on time and began making our way around the city. During the whole trip, the tour guide went over the fundamentals of the demographics of Qatar, as well as a brief history. I really appreciated that much of it was contextualized in the formation of the modern Qatari state. The tour guide spoke completely in English, and she was quite easy to understand throughout the entirety of the tour.
On the bus, to be honest, I couldn’t really hear, as we were close to the engine. If you’re interested in what the tour guide is saying, sit up closer to the front of the bus.
Museum of Islamic Art
Our first stop was at the Museum of Islamic Art. Others have described this museum as the Louvre for Islamic art, and it is quite beautiful.
Note that you don’t actually get to go into the museum, but, rather, spend about 10 minutes exploring the area. We got lots of great pictures of the walkway up to the museum, and you have a great view of the Doha skyline. After our long flight, it felt great to get our, walk around, and be able to say, “I’m here. I’m traveling for my vacation!”
Katara Cultural Village
After 10 minutes, you get back on the bus and drive about 15 minutes to the Katara Cultural Village. Once you get there, you begin the true walking tour portion of the overall experience.
This is really the most informational section of the tour, as you get to see several cultural sites associated with Doha and the Qatari state. The most interesting to me was the discussion outside of the Katara Mosque, where we learned about how the Islamic faith was incorporated into the state of Qatar.
We also visited the Katara Multi-Purpose Hall, which is built to resemble the Colosseum of Rome. We unfortunately were not able to go inside, as there was some ceremony with the 2024 Asian Cup, which was hosted in Qatar.
I really enjoyed this stop, as I was able to ask the tour guide a ton of questions about the cultural and economic life in Qatar. It was really interesting to hear her experiences and perspectives.
There was also a bathroom break at this point right outside the mosque. I took this opportunity to take my shoes off and check out the inside of the mosque. Out of respect for those worshipping there, I stood in the back and did not take any pictures of the inside.
Souq Waqif
Finally, we made our way to the Souq Waqif, which is the central market within Doha. Here, you have about an hour or so to walk around, walk into shops, get a coffee, etc. While this market is styled after a centuries-old market that had been there, it was actually only about 20 years old or so. The original had burned down in a fire, and some wealthy donor gave to have it rebuilt in the traditional style.
You’ll find a HUGE variety of shops and restaurants. In one area, they even have falcons for sale! I was very tempted to get a tea set, but, given that I really have no need for it, I decided against it.
What I did find interesting was that there was also a protest concerning Palestine there. We didn’t really pay too much attention to it, but it did seem like this was a meeting place for protests of some sorts. Additionally, there was a news show filming there as well. I believe it was with Al Jazeera, but I’m not 100% sure.
We spent most of our time walking around looking at various shops, which was really fun. We did get some Turkish ice cream, which also included a little “show” where they actually trick giving you the ice cream with their long ice cream scoop. It was a ton of fun!
One thing that I was surprised about was how chilly it got. I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and my favorite pair of sneakers. However, I wish I had brought my jacket with me. It wasn’t freezing, but it was cold enough to want a light jacket. I didn’t realize it got cold enough for a jacket in Doha in February, and it would have been nice at this point in the tour.
Back to the Airport and Security
Once we had finished up at the central market, we headed back to the airport. To be honest, everyone was quite tired, which is likely due to a combination of the previous long flights and the tour itself.
When we got back to the airport, we were directed to first and business class security. The security lines were non-existent (as Doha is more of a transit airport more than anything). We were on our way back to the lounge in The Orchard for a shower and dinner. The total time of the Doha Transit Tour was indeed 3 hours long, and we had about 2.5 hours left until our flight to Male!
One brief note here: I normally tip very little outside of the US. However, I always try to tip tour guides. I tried to tip our tour guide $40. She politely declined it, even when I insisted. So take that for what it is.
Conclusion
During our layover in Doha, we partook in the Discover Qatar Doha Transit Tour. It was a great way to kill some time during a long layover. It also got both of us excited to visit the Middle Eastern countries in the future. I highly recommend taking the Doha Transit Tour to get a brief taste of what Doha & Qatar has to offer!
Does the Discover Qatar Transit Tour seem like something you are interested in? How do you feel about transit tours in general?
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