AsiaQatarQatar
Qatar is one city and the desert around it, and a stopover that costs less than the taxi to the hotel. Four serious museums within a few kilometres, a souq on its original site, and dunes that run straight into the sea. One night makes it a trip; two gets you to the desert.
QatarQatar in a nutshell
Where to go in Qatar
Turn these stops into a Qatar route
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Routes that work
Qatar itineraries, one week to three
Qatar is loved by culture seekers and backpackers alike. We recommend several routes through this country, here they are in full!
3 nights3 days, the race weekend
Lusail · Doha
Formula 1 at Lusail International Circuit, 27 to 29 November 2026, with Katara and the Corniche around it. Book months out: the race empties the country's hotel stock and the airline's stopover packages disappear with it.
4 nights4 days, the north and the mangroves
Doha · Al Khor · Madinat Al Shamal
the quiet half of the country, and the one almost nobody plans. Kayaking the Al Thakira mangroves at sunrise and the pearling ruins at Al Zubarah are the two things here that exist nowhere else in the Gulf in this state.
5 nights5 days, city and desert
Doha · Inland Sea Khor Al Adaid · Sealine Beach
the standard first visit. Three nights covers the museums, the souq and the Corniche; the fourth is the 4x4 run south to the dunes at Khor Al Adaid and a night in a desert camp. The desert leg is unavailable in practice from June to September.
7 nights7 days, the whole peninsula by car
Doha · Al Khor · Dukhan
the only version that uses the country rather than the capital, and it needs a hire car from day four. Nothing on it is more than 110 km from Doha, so every leg is under ninety minutes. Umm Salal and the Barzan Towers sit on the road north and add an hour.
Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Written by the Stippl editorsOne city, and land around it: Qatar is 11,586 km² with a population near three million, and the overwhelming majority of both the people and the things worth seeing are in or beside Doha. Everything else is a day trip.
Fifty years, not five thousand: this was a pearling and fishing coast until gas money arrived. The skyline is post-1990, the museums are post-2008 and the metro opened in 2019. What is old here is the trade, not the buildings.
Expatriates are the majority by a wide margin, so the street-level country is South Asian, Filipino and Levantine as much as it is Gulf Arab.
Who Qatar is for
Stopover travellers
the country's core competence, and the airline sells the hotel for less than the taxi to it.
Museum and architecture lovers
four serious buildings within a few kilometres of each other in one small city.
First-timers to the Gulf
small, safe, English-speaking and far less overwhelming than the UAE.
Luxury travellers
a deep hotel ladder, much of it built for an event that has been and gone.
Desert travellers
the Inland Sea is a UNESCO-recognised place where high dunes run into the sea, an afternoon from the capital.
Sport travellers
Formula 1, MotoGP, tennis and the 2022 stadium legacy, nearly all of it in the cool months.
Families
beaches, parks, an indoor theme park and a metro children ride free on.
The best time to visit Qatar
- November to March is the season and it is also when the events calendar sits. Everything outdoor works, and hotel prices reflect it.
- Summer is above 40°C daily: June to August, with coastal humidity near 90%. Outdoor life moves to after sunset and the desert trips stop.
- Rainfall is under 100 mm a year, almost all between December and March, arriving as brief heavy showers that flood roads.
- Dust is the weather event: a hot dry southerly can lift it at any time of year and is most common in spring. Sandstorms are the one weather event that disrupts plans here.
- National Day, 18 December: parades on the Corniche, fireworks, and the busiest single day of the Qatari calendar.
- Ramadan 2027: about 8 Feb, it ends 8 or 9 March, confirmed only by moon sighting. Daytime eating, drinking and smoking in public are prohibited for everyone, visitors included.
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Things to do in Qatar
Souq Waqif after dark
Walk the restored market on the site of the original trading souq after dark, with the spice and textile lanes, the shisha terraces, and the Falcon Souq with its falcon hospital alongside. Free, and the restaurants around the square are the dinner.
The Museum of Islamic Art
Spend two hours in I. M. Pei's last great building, on an island built so nothing could be put against it, about €12, closed Wednesdays. The view of the skyline from the park behind it is free.
The National Museum of Qatar
Walk Jean Nouvel's desert rose wrapped around the original royal palace, about €12, closed Tuesdays. Two hours, and the pearling galleries are the ones.
The Inland Sea
Take a four-wheel drive to Khor Al Adaid in the south, where dunes up to forty metres run straight into the sea, about €70 for a half day with the dune bashing or an overnight in a desert camp. Sunset is the slot.
Al Zubarah
Drive an hour and a quarter to the UNESCO-listed ruins of an eighteenth-century pearling town on the north-west coast, with its restored fort, free. A morning, and the mangroves at Al Thakira on the way back.
A dhow cruise off the Corniche
Take an hour on a wooden boat from the Corniche for about €15, the cheapest way to get the skyline from the water. Sunset, and the dinner cruises are the long version.
What to eat in Qatar
The national dish: spiced rice with chicken, lamb or fish and loomi, dried black lime
Slow-cooked wheat and meat beaten to a porridge, a Ramadan staple
Sweet saffron vermicelli under a thin omelette, eaten at breakfast
Strong sweet milk tea, the everyday drink, sold from kiosks for small change
Fried dough balls in date syrup
A fragrant meat and vegetable stew
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Qatar customs and what not to do
Cover shoulders and knees
men and women alike, enforced strictly in government buildings, hospitals and banks, where you can be refused entry. No headscarf except inside a mosque.
Swimwear is for private beaches
and hotel pools, never a public beach or the street.
Alcohol is a hotel-only thing
only licensed hotels, restaurants and bars may serve it, the legal age is 21, and original photo ID is checked. Residents buy from a single licensed warehouse on a permit. You cannot bring it.
Drunk in public is a crime
up to six months in prison or a fine of up to QAR 3,000 for drinking or being drunk outside a licensed venue.
Ask before you photograph
taking or sharing images of people without consent can mean prison or a fine up to QAR 100,000, and photographing military, government or religious sites has led to arrests.
Public affection is arrestable
and cohabitation and sex outside marriage are illegal for everyone.
Vaping is illegal
using, importing or selling an e-cigarette can bring a fine, prison or deportation.
Keep criticism offline
insulting people, companies, the country or its authorities is a crime, online included, and people have been prosecuted for posts.
Bargain in the souq only
30 to 40% below the asking price is a normal opening offer in Souq Waqif; malls and supermarkets are fixed price.
Greet before the point
small talk comes first, salam on entering. Family and children are safe subjects; religion, politics and a man's wife are not.
Do
- Dress modestly in public, including while driving.
- Carry your passport or a copy; the original may be demanded at a police station.
- Take your shoes off in prayer halls and keep your voice down.
- Accept the first cup of tea or coffee that is offered.
- Use the metro in Doha and hire a car for everywhere else.
Don't
- Don't drink or be drunk anywhere but a licensed venue.
- Don't photograph people, especially women, or any official building.
- Don't show affection in public, and know the law before booking one room as an unmarried couple.
- Don't bring a vape, alcohol, pork or anything codeine-based without approval.
- Don't eat, drink or smoke in public during Ramadan daylight hours.
- Don't join or film a protest; organising one needs Ministry of Interior permission and joining one is an offence.
What a Qatar trip costs
Shoestring
€55
Airport-district or Lusail room, metro everywhere, museum entry, eating in Al Sadd
Mid-range
€110 to €170
Four-star room in central Doha, taxis when it suits, a desert half-day, a restaurant dinner
Comfort
€350+
Five-star bay-view room, private transfers, a chef-name dinner with wine
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Visas, SIM cards and getting around
Entry & visa
A free waiver on arrival
Over a hundred nationalities are issued one at the airport at no cost.
Health
Medication needs approval
The Ministry of Public Health publishes a list of controlled narcotics and psychotropics and runs an electronic permit system for travellers.
Money
The riyal is pegged at 3.64
To the US dollar, so dollar prices convert exactly and the euro runs near 4 riyals.
Connectivity
The visitor SIM is cheap
Ooredoo sells a Visitor SIM at QAR 75 for 6 GB and 7 days, or QAR 100 for 10 GB and 14 days.
Water
Tap water is desalinated
Kahramaa monitors it and calls it safe, though our own data flags it unsafe and most residents drink bottled.
Tipping
Service charge is on the bill
10 to 15%, usually already added.
Power & practicalities
Sockets are type G
The British three-pin at 240V, 50 Hz, so UK visitors need no adapter and everyone else does. Type D turns up in some older buildings.
Language
Arabic, and English everywhere
Arabic is the official language and English works everywhere a visitor goes.
Arabic worth knowing
Nobody expects you to speak the language, which is exactly why a handful of words goes so far.
As-salamu alaykum
Peace be upon you (greeting) · السلام عليكم
Wa alaykum as-salam
And upon you peace (the reply) · وعليكم السلام
Shukran
Thank you · شكراً
Afwan
You're welcome · عفواً
Min fadlak
Please (to a man) · من فضلك
Kam al-si'r?
How much does it cost? · كم السعر؟
Yalla
Let's go · يالله
Inshallah
God willing, and used constantly · إن شاء الله
Qatar questions, answered
Three nights covers Doha and five adds the desert and the north. Our own travellers plan a median of one night, because for most of them Qatar is a connection rather than a destination.
November to March, when the daily maximum runs 22 to 30°C. May to September is above 40° every day.
Over a hundred nationalities get a free waiver stamped on arrival with a passport valid six months. How long it lasts depends on your passport: the UK says British citizens must extend beyond 30 days, the US says Americans need nothing under 90.
Yes, in licensed hotel bars and restaurants from age 21, with original photo ID. Not in public, you cannot buy it in a shop as a visitor, you cannot bring it, and being drunk in public carries up to six months in prison.
Crime is very low and the everyday risk is small. The real risks are legal, because several things that are legal at home are offences here, and the summer heat is a physical danger. There is also an active regional conflict; see the safety section.
Shoulders and knees covered in public, which applies to men too. No headscarf except inside a mosque. Swimwear only at hotel pools and private beaches.
It is what the country does best. Eight hours is enough for Souq Waqif and a museum, the airline will often give you a hotel and a transfer for nothing, and our own data shows just over half of Qatari trips have Doha in the middle of a longer journey.
The bed and the bar are; almost nothing else is. A whole day on the Doha metro is QAR 6, the two big museums are QAR 50 and QAR 25, and the Corniche, Souq Waqif and Katara cost nothing.
The Inland Sea in the south, the UNESCO pearling ruins at Al Zubarah in the north, the Al Thakira mangroves by kayak, and Richard Serra's desert sculpture in the west. All are day trips from the capital.
Not in Doha, where the metro covers most of what you came for. Everywhere else, yes: there is no intercity rail and the buses serve workers rather than visitors.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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