The Doha Bucket List — Trip Planner

What's actually worth your time in Doha

I.M. Pei came out of retirement at ninety-one for the Museum of Islamic Art and had an artificial island built so nothing could ever be constructed against it; the building outranks a good deal of what is inside. Souq Waqif is a careful reconstruction rather than an old market, and its falcon souq and adjoining falcon hospital are the genuinely strange part. The Pearl is a marina and a photograph.

Doha's museums, and which one to pick

The Museum of Islamic Art closes on Wednesdays and does not open until half past one on Fridays, after prayers. The National Museum of Qatar occupies Jean Nouvel's stack of interlocking discs, modelled on a desert-rose crystal, wrapped around the old Emir's palace, with the pearl-and-ruby Baroda carpet inside. The Msheireb Museums are four restored courtyard houses, free to enter, and Bin Jelmood House confronts Indian Ocean slavery directly.

Doha after dark

Alcohol is served only inside licensed hotels, so there is no bar street to find and no bottle shop a visitor may use. What replaces it is pleasant enough: Souq Waqif's shisha terraces and Turkish-coffee stalls fill after nine, families walk the Corniche once the heat drops, and the malls trade until midnight. Friday begins in the afternoon, because the morning belongs to prayers.

What to eat in Doha

Karak anchors the day here, strong tea boiled with evaporated milk and cardamom, sold for a couple of riyals from roadside stands where people order without leaving the car. In Souq Waqif, Shay Al Shomous does balaleet at breakfast, sweet vermicelli under a plain omelette. Machboos, rice cooked with dried loomi lime and mutton, is the feast dish, and Yemeni mandi houses handle the rest of the appetite.

Doha with kids, realistically

Between May and September the outdoors is unusable for most of the day, so plan around air conditioning. Doha Festival City has an indoor theme park, Villaggio a gondola canal and an ice rink, and the Olympic and Sports Museum is built for restless ten-year-olds. The metro is spotless, cheap and runs designated Family carriages. Aspire Park and the Corniche only come alive after four, once the sun drops.

When to go to Doha

The month to avoid is July — around 41°C (106°F) with roughly 1 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: February is the sweet spot, July the month most people skip.

Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.