When Nathan and I flew with Qatar Airways, we had a 16-hour layover. We went to the Doha City Tour desk located in the main arrival hall (where the big yellow bear is) and asked for info. The 3-hour tour is completely free, and you don't need a visa to enter the country. At the time we arrived, there were tours at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., but the person at the desk recommended us to go with the night tour since it was over 40 degrees Celsius outside. As a result, Nathan and I had to hang around the airport for 6 hours before the tour started. The tour was first-come-first-serve, so we had to go back to the desk at 4 p.m. to sign up for the tour. No early sign-in.
New Doha International Airport is very nice. It has a lot of seating areas with comfortable chairs or sofas. There is also a big playground for kids and free WiFi for adults to surf on the internet. If you are hungry, there are many restaurants and a food court. Food was kind of expensive, e.g., a simple meal for more than US$ 10. If you are tired, there are "quiet rooms" with reclining chairs. The entire airport is quiet during the day time, so you can find a quiet spot to rest, but it can be very crowded and noisy at night.
Around 6 p.m. we all had to meet at the Doha City Tour desk and get our "ticket" to go through immigration and enter the city without a visa. Then we all were picked up by a mini bus and our tour guide was from Nepal. He said Qatar has only 2 millions people and that already included immigrants! Most residents make over US$100,000 a year and pay no taxes, and the government provided free education, healthcare, and utilities! However, food is very expensive because all food has to be imported from other countries.
The tour took us to The Pearl-Qatar, Katara Cultural Village, and Souq Waqif where we could walk around and take photos. Souq Waqif is a traditional market for handicrafts and we could freely walk there for half an hour. It's important to meet the group at the designated time and place because we (tour group) are in the country without a visa, and Qatar Airways takes responsible for this. If there is anyone missing, this program might be completely canceled.
In my opinion, Qatar is a very developed country. Everything looked nice and pretty. People dressed well and seemed to have a luxurious lifestyle. It's worth a visit to experience a new culture. It was my first time in the Middle East and I really want to see more of it!
New Doha International Airport
Doha City Tour
