5 answers about Qatar

Just an hour by plane from Dubai, and a different East opens up before you: with original mosques, architecture from Pritzker Prize winners, “little Paris” and “Venice”. Qatar has a lot of unusual things – natural and man-made. Let’s talk about what surprises this country has.

“Qatar Airlines”, repeatedly recognized as the best airline on the planet, will fly to Doha from Vienna, Dubai, Riyadh and many other cities. Qatar is also worth including in your yacht route. This country is original and, despite its compactness, diverse.

What to do
Qatar has wonderful water parks with water slides from the Guinness Book of Records, a planetarium and an oceanarium, KidZania, fountain shows, sports centers, promenades, fashionable beach clubs, illuminated golf courses, equestrian clubs and a camel racetrack. Even a simple visit to Souq Waqif guarantees a memorable experience: there you will see falcons, camels and Arabian horses, visit an art gallery and attend creative workshops, learn the secrets of pearl mining.

Qatar is great for beach holidays and water activities. Here you can learn kitesurfing from scratch, go diving and sailing, kayak among the mangroves at dawn and under the moon, get acquainted with the traditions of dhow construction in a family museum, where sketches and equipment are displayed that allowed you to navigate the sea at night before the invention of modern navigation. You can also enjoy helicopter and paragliding excursions, skydiving, boarding from 40-meter dunes and quad biking.

What to see
Qatar, especially Doha, resembles an encyclopedia of modern architecture. Pritzker Prize winners and local architectural firms participated in creating the appearance of the capital. The Qatar National Museum and Burj Doha are both by Jean Nouvel. The Museum of Islamic Art was designed by I.M. Pei, and the Qatar National Library with a million books was designed by Rem Koolhaas. The Qatar National Convention Center was designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki: the facades of this building are decorated with installations in the shape of cider roots, one of the national symbols of Qatar.

The legacy of FIFA 2022 is seven designer stadiums. Lusail Stadium was created by Foster + Partners, and Al Thumama by the outstanding local architect Ibrahim M. Jaidy.

The Katara Heritage Village has an amphitheater and two beautiful mosques: a golden one and one with mosaic facades. The mosque in the “City of Education” is built without a single corner, and its minarets are decorated with oriental calligraphy.
There are attractions literally at every turn.

Panoramas of the capital open up from the Three Sixty restaurant on the 47th floor of the 300-meter skyscraper The Torch. The city is also perfectly visible from the water – from the Nobu restaurant – the largest of all Nobu Matsuhisa’s establishments in the world – part of the Four Seasons Hotel Doha.

Where to stay
Qatar’s hotels are extraordinary. For example, Raffles Doha has a library with 7,000 rare books, including an illustrated edition of Robinson Crusoe from 1785, a limited edition of Moby Dick with a preface by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and illustrations by Leroy Neumann, The Iliad and Odyssey from 1707, and the first edition of Treasure Island. The general idea of ​​the selection is the mutual influence of Qatari and world cultures over the centuries. All the books were sought out in family collections and bought individually, each of them can be read and enjoyed. The library is located in the Blue Cigar Writer’s Lounge. Raffles Doha is designed for connoisseurs of: quality music (soul and jazz performed live in the two-story Acoustic Music Penthouse bar on the roof), haute cuisine (Alba truffles are served in the Italian restaurant Alba) and wellness (Dr Burgener, Subtle Energies, marocMaroc).

Raffles is one of two hotels in the Katara Towers complex, built in the shape of crossed sabers. And this is symbolic, because the saber is an attribute of Eastern culture. Nowadays, you can see a saber during the traditional dance "ardy" or at diplomatic receptions - this is the most beautiful gift from Qatar. You can also buy one: ready-made or created for you according to an individual design, with carvings and engravings, patterns of gold and silver and precious stones.

Art lovers will enjoy staying at the Mondrian Doha hotel designed by Marcel Wanders: with a giant spiral staircase in the lobby, a stained glass dome over the pool, massive columns and lamps. Here is the first restaurant in the Middle East by Masaharu Morimoto, a rooftop bar, a nightclub and a cigar lounge, an ESPA spa with a hammam.

In the new hotel Our Habitas Ras Abrouq, you can master the ancient technique of Al-Sadu weaving, which every Bedouin woman used to know, as well as the basics of oriental calligraphy, pottery and the creation of oriental incense. And all this on the edge of the Er-Reem reserve on the west coast of Qatar. Situated an hour’s drive from Hamad International Airport, the hotel was created in partnership with Qatar Airways and aims to introduce guests to the national traditions and culture of the country. The program includes morning yoga on the shores of the Persian Gulf, sound therapy, breathing practices and meditation, oriental rejuvenating and restorative rituals. Here, practically one on one with nature, you can do SUP, go kayaking and meet white oryxes in the desert.

What animals to see
Qatar will also not leave wildlife lovers indifferent. The world's second largest population of dugongs lives in the country's waters - 840 individuals. It is believed that they have inhabited the Persian Gulf for 7,500 years. Dugongs weigh an average of 550 kg, and they are the only vegetarians among marine mammals. They eat up to 40 kg of algae per day. There is also a record number of whale sharks off the coast of Qatar, and you can watch them during a boat trip.

Flamingos fly to Qatar from November to April. There are especially many of them in the mangrove thickets of Al-Thakir. In the nearby city of Al-Khaura there is a zoo where, for the first time in the Middle East, you will see pandas in conditions as close to natural as possible.

What to visit
Qatar is also interesting for its events. In November 2024, the Winter Wonderland theme park will open in Lusail with more than 50 attractions for children and adults: carousels, slides, a 51-meter Ferris wheel... It is especially beautiful here at night. This is one of the newest theme parks in the country and the first of its kind in the region. Its vast territory can accommodate 6 thousand guests at a time.

The Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix will be held from November 29 to December 1. The Qatar Hot Air Balloon Festival will be held on the territory of the Katara Ethnographic Village from December 12 to 21. At dawn, you can watch a parade of balloons controlled by pilots from 17 countries, fly over the capital, dunes and the bay, and after sunset, visit a musical extravaganza with a show of shining balloons.

From May 5 to 11, 2025, an exhibition of jewelry and watches with more than 500 brands from 15 countries is planned in the capital. And now it is worth thinking about visiting the Geneva Motor Show in Doha in November 2025.

Season: from November to mid-May