‘What to see in Doha in one day?’ This is the question that many travellers passing through Doha’s Hamad International Airport ask themselves if they have a few hours between flights!
If you have also asked yourself this question, you are in the right place! On one of our last flights, we happened to have a stopover in Doha of a few hours and took the opportunity to explore this beautiful city.
Here’s what to see in Doha in one day!
Doha’s Hamad International Airport is one of the busiest airports for travellers to/from Africa and Asia, mainly due to the many routes offered by Qatar’s national airline, Qatar Airways.
Often, the connections between one flight and the next could be a few hours, as happened to us during our trip to the Maldives, and in this case you could take the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Doha! There are various things to see in Doha in one day or less, which can be easily reached using Uber, which is very popular in the city.
Before we tell you about what to see in Doha in one day, let us give you a few tips to better manage your time during the stopover:
To be able to use Uber’s app you will need to have a data connection, so we recommend getting a cheap SIM card from one of the retailers you can find at the airport.
Now that we’ve given you some useful information to make the most of your time, let’s talk about what to see in Doha in a one day!
If you’re in Doha for a few hours, you should definitely check out the National Museum of Qatar. It’s one of the best museums in the city, and it’s close to the airport. It’s about ten minutes away.
The National Museum of Qatar (or NMoQ for short) opened in 2019 and is a striking building from the outside. Its shape resembles a desert rose, symbolising Doha’s close connection with the desert. This particular design, created by French architect Jean Nouvel, was built around the Palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, which has been incorporated into the interior, maintaining its original features. This creates a beautiful contrast between the ancient and modern buildings, so we highly recommend that you also take a stroll around the outside of the building and the park that surrounds it.
Tickets to the National Museum of Qatar cost about €12 per person and the visit lasts from about an hour to up to three hours, depending on how long you linger on the exhibition. There are lots of fun, interactive experiences along the way inside the museum, so it’s suitable for children too.
National Museum of Qatar
Palace of Sheikh at the National Museum of Qatar
National Museum of Qatar
The exhibition at the National Museum of Qatar is spread across 11 galleries, divided into four sections. These cover the history of this country from its distant past origins to modern times:
If you are wondering what to see in Doha in one day, one of the answers is definitely the Museum of Islamic Art. In fact, not far from the National Museum of Qatar is the Museum of Islamic Art, which you can reach in a few minutes by Uber.
Like the previous one, this museum also stands out for its aesthetics: a long avenue lined with palm trees leads you up a slope to a terrace overlooking the sea where this beautiful modern building is located. The view from the terrace is incredible: you can admire the entire waterfront of Doha and the skyline of the modern skyscrapers. Of course, with the darkness of the evening the view becomes even more impressive, so we recommend visiting this museum in the late afternoon and enjoying the view in the evening if you have the opportunity.
The Museum of Islamic Art, also known by the acronym MIA (Museum Islamic Art), was founded in 2008 and was designed by Chinese architect I. M. Pei.
Its silhouette is made up of several parallelepipeds oriented in different ways, so as to create shadows that change throughout the day.
This museum houses one of the largest collections of Islamic art, with exhibits from all over the world and dating from the 7th century to the present day.
The museum is organised in 18 thematic exhibition galleries, such as the one dedicated entirely to the Koran, the one concerning the Islamic world of Iran and Central Asia, and the one dedicated to Egypt and Turkey.
To visit this museum in depth you will need at least a couple of hours and the entrance fee is about 12 € per person.
Museum of Islamic Art
Once you’ve visited the Museum of Islamic Art, we recommend that you continue towards the historic centre of Doha by taking a nice walk along the Doha Corniche, the city’s 7-km-long waterfront.
This beautiful promenade will give you a view of the entire city and the sea and along it are some of Doha’s famous monuments, such as the Pearl. The promenade runs alongside the sea and is surrounded by a green space that separates it from the street. It has very wide spaces and is the place where many Doha residents go to stroll, jog or simply relax lying on the grass on the promenade.
One of the things to see in Doha in one day is definitely the Souq Waqif, Doha’s traditional market, which forms its historical centrepiece.
The Souq Waqif is a real neighbourhood, made up of alleys overlooked by small white buildings housing many shops where you can find products of all kinds, from clothing to jewellery, from spices to fruit, from handicrafts to parrots and birds. This market is not as chaotic as other famous markets in countries such as Egypt and Morocco, there are no pushy sellers and it is extremely clean.
There are also several hotels and restaurants in the Souq Waqif, where we recommend you stop for lunch or dinner if you have the opportunity. We opted for an excellent restaurant serving typical local cuisine, the Damasca One Restaurant, and we absolutely recommend it!
Souq Waqif
Souq Waqif
Doha Corniche
If you’re in Doha for a few hours and have some time to kill, we suggest checking out Hamad International Airport. It’s won the best airport award for several years in a row, so it’s definitely worth a visit. There are plenty of shops in the airport, from super luxury brands to more affordable stores, so you’re sure to find something that interests you! There are lots of shops at the airport, as well as a gym and a spa. But there are two places we really recommend you check out.
The first is the Lamp Bear, a giant yellow teddy bear with a lamp on its head. It’s located in the main departure hall, from which the three terminals branch off. It’s a symbol of our childhood memories that we must always have in mind!
Another great spot for a bit of relaxation is the indoor garden, The Orchard. It’s a real rainforest located in Terminal C. This beautiful tropical garden has an area of over 5,000 square metres where you can find hundreds of trees and thousands of different plants.
Lamp Bear at the Doha International Airport Hamad
The Orchard at the Hamad International Airport of Doh
With this article, we hope we have given you some interesting answers to the question ‘What to see in Doha in one day?’. Perhaps you could ‘purposefully’ plan a longer stopover during your trip to visit this beautiful city! As always, stay connected with us via the newsletter and social channels and above all… trip to try!
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