How We Spent a One Day Stopover in Doha
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On our way home from our trip to the Maldives, we booked a flight with a 19 hour stopover in Doha, Qatar.
So here’s my thinking: I figured I would probably never travel that far again, so we might as well take this opportunity to see a new country. Also, this wasn’t somewhere that I felt like I would need a few days to see all the things I wanted to see, so one day was just enough.👌🏼
Getting Around
✈️ Our flight from Malé landed in Doha around 12:30 in the afternoon. We made our way through a very slow customs line, purchased our visa (for $22), and made our way to the metro station that was connected to the airport.
We had heard the Uber was very convenient in the city, but we liked the idea of navigating the city by public transit and it ended up saving us quite a bit of money too!
We purchased a a single day pass so that we could use the ticket to ride as much as we wanted for our entire day there which worked out perfectly. The day pass only cost about $2.50! 👏🏻 Such a deal!
Our ride to the hotel only took about 10 minutes since we chose a location that was close to the airport (which was especially helpful since we had an early flight the next morning).
Our Hotel
We only had one night in Doha, so my priority for our hotel was:
☝🏼A clean/nice hotel with a good point price and
✌🏼Close to the airport so we had a short commute for our 8 AM flight the next morning!
The Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha was a perfect choice for our quick stopover.
One night cost just 3,500 Hyatt points, it was a very nice hotel and had friendly service, AND it had a free airport shuttle. 👌🏼
Our Itinerary
After we dropped our bags at our hotel, we set off for the metro to go explore the city! The metro made it super easy to hop on and off at our destination and saved us a TON on Uber/taxi costs.
Katara Cultural Village
Our first stop of the day was the Katara Cultural Village. I had read about the village on our flight from the US to Doha (since I had absolutely no itinerary planned ahead of time 🙃) and it looked like a great place to visit! Katara Cultural Village is a big square that backs right up to the coastline and has a huge variety of art, history, and cultural sites.
We spent about an hour and a half wandering through the little alley ways and side streets. There was amazing architecture and artwork throughout the entire village. You’ll find an amazing amphitheater, gorgeous mosques, and even a planetarium.
This would also be a great spot for lunch or dinner and there are plenty of restaurants that are right by the water front! We opted for a quick ice cream stop on our walk since we had already eaten lunch and it was quite warm out that day. ☀️🍦
There is so much there to see and we barely scratched the surface, so you could easily plan a few hours there if you want to spend more time in the museums, galleries, or mosques.
Souq Waqif
We knew we wanted to spend the evening at Souq Waqif, so we hopped back on the metro and it only took us about 30 minutes to get to our destination in total.
Souq Waqif is on the site of an old marketplace, and it’s still a bustling city attraction today! This was our favorite stop of the day as we felt like we were more immersed in the Qatari culture and history. There were amazing vendors with everything from candy, to spices, to artwork, to antiques. We spent about 2 hours just walking through the shops and stalls to see what they had to offer.
🧲And we picked up a new magnet for our fridge along the way, of course!
This was also where we decided to stop for dinner since there were SO many different restaurants and cuisines! It was amazing to see all they had to offer. We eventually settled on The Village which serves fantastic Indian food and we had a lovely outdoor patio to sit on and watch everyone shop and enjoy the evening.
We knew we had an early morning the next day so we took the metro back to our hotel around 8 PM and we felt like we had accomplished a lot in just half a day!
Final Thoughts
Since the stars aligned perfectly for our flight booking, we were so happy that we were able to make a stop in Doha! If you find yourself heading out to the Maldives like we were, I do think it is worth the stopover to see a new country and explore for a day. I don’t feel like I left wishing we had more time there, so this quick stopover was perfect for us!
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EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
