Doha

Doha, Qatar

The modern skyscrapers of Doha's West Bay seen from the Corniche at sunset with a dhow boat in the foreground.

Doha pairs a sea-facing skyline with serious museums and a restored traditional souq, making it a sharp stopover or a short city break.

The place

Doha is the capital of Qatar and its main commercial centre, on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country. Most of the population lives here, and the suburbs around the core are usually grouped together as the Doha Metropolitan Area. The city is also Qatar's fastest growing, so new towers, roads and waterfront projects keep changing the skyline, and a map from only a few years ago can look out of date.

The old centre was shaped by the sea. Dhows once worked the harbour, and Souq Waqif, the traditional market, has been restored into a maze of covered lanes, spice shops and cafés where people gather in the evening. The Corniche runs along the waterfront and is the easiest walk in the cooler months, with the skyline visible across the bay.

Beyond the old quarters, the city has invested heavily in learning, culture and sport. Education City, in the neighbouring municipality of Al Rayyan, is devoted to research and higher education, while Hamad Medical City provides the country's major medical care. Doha Sports City, also called Aspire Zone, combines a large stadium, an aquatic centre and an indoor dome. The city has also hosted international trade diplomacy, including talks under the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Round.

Doha is compact enough to explore on foot in the cool months, and the air-conditioned malls and museums offer refuge when summer heat rises. Public transport has grown with the city, but taxis remain the simplest way to cover longer distances.

Its story

Doha did not begin as a capital. Its roots lie in the older settlement of Al Bidda, a coastal town on the same shore that appears in records from the late seventeenth century. A Carmelite account from 1681 mentions a ruler and a fort there, one of several settlements in Qatar that it describes. Early maps show the place under other names. The German explorer Carsten Niebuhr labelled it Guttur on a map from 1765, and in 1801, David Seaton—who served as a British political resident in Muscat—penned the first English account, referring to it as Bedih.

Seaton's description is vivid. He described the town's defences and the tribe that had recently settled there, whom he regarded as pirates. He tried to bombard the place from his warship, but gave up when the shallows kept his ship out of range. Pirate is a loaded word in colonial writing, and his account is worth reading with that in mind.

By 1820, when the surveyor R. H. Colebrook visited, Al Bidda had lost many of its people, and he noted the depopulation. Doha grew out of this shrinking world, founded in the 1820s as an offshoot of Al Bidda. The shift of people and power along the coast set the pattern for what followed.

Doha's status changed later. It was declared the national capital in 1971, the year Qatar gained independence from its position as a British protectorate. Since then the former trading settlement has become the centre of government, banking and commerce. The city's historic core now sits among modern districts, and its earlier history survives largely in maps, documents and museum collections.

What to see

Culture

Doha takes its cultural life seriously, and its role in regional arts has grown steadily. In 2010 the city held the Arab Capital of Culture title, and the Ministry of Culture ran weeks of events from April to June that brought Arab and non-Arab traditions together. That programme set the tone for the years that followed.

Much of the cultural investment runs through the Qatar Museums Authority, which oversees the city's main museums. The Museum of Islamic Art, opened in 2008, is often described as among the region's finest, and the Arab Museum of Modern Art sits under the same umbrella. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the emir's sister, heads the authority and has steered its museum programme.

Film is another strand. The Doha Film Institute was set up in 2010 to support film projects and to build a lasting filmmaking base in Qatar, running funding schemes and festivals that bring local and international directors to the city.

Daily life follows Islamic custom. Friday is the weekly holy day, and during Ramadan working hours shorten and many restaurants open only after sunset. Public displays of affection are frowned upon, and alcohol is sold only in licensed venues. Ask before photographing people, especially women and families, and when you visit a mosque, dress modestly and ask before entering any prayer hall.

What to wear

Doha's traditional dress is shaped by the heat, the desert and the pearling and trading past of the Gulf coast. Men wear the thobe, a long, loose robe usually white in summer and in darker tones for cooler evenings, cut from light cotton or sometimes wool. It is worn with the ghutra, a square headscarf, held in place by the agal, a black cord. Women traditionally wear the abaya, a loose black cloak, with a shayla, a headscarf. Embroidered or coloured versions show family and regional style.

What people wear now is more varied. Many Qataris still wear the thobe and ghutra for work and prayer, and the abaya is common among women, though Western dress and mixed styles are seen in malls, offices and the expatriate community that makes up much of the city's population.

For a visitor, the main considerations are climate and modesty. Summer temperatures are very high, so pick loose, breathable cotton or linen in pale colours. In the souq, government buildings and mosques, cover shoulders and knees, and carry a light scarf or shawl for religious sites, where women are often asked to cover their hair. Comfortable closed shoes suit the souq's uneven lanes and the walk along the Corniche, and sandals are fine in most cafés and malls.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. December to February, when highs of about 29 to 33°C make walking the Corniche and the souq comfortable. The summer months are very hot and humid, so plan museums and malls for the middle of the day then.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. Hamad International Airport is the arrival point for most visitors, with taxis and the metro for the final leg into the centre. Qatar Airways connects Doha with many European, Asian and African cities, and it is often the most economical route for travellers coming from outside the Gulf.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources