Qatar Travel And Expat’s Guide
Qatar (the full name in Arabic “Dawlat Al Qatar”, translated to “State of Qatar”) is a small peninsula in the Arab Gulf (Persian Gulf) region. It is 11,586 Sq Km (4,440 Sq Mile, smaller than Connecticut the third smallest state in the US)
The 50-mile (87Km) land border with Saudi Arabia is the only land borders Qatar has. Iran, Bahrain, and the UAE are other countries close to Qatar separating them from the Arab (Persian) Gulf. Qatar is 100 miles (160 Km) in length and 50 miles (80 Km) in width.
Qatar is a flat desert country, with no major fresh surface water rivers or lakes. When you drive, you will not see any naturally grown trees, or any greenery aside from the planted and well-maintained gardens and trees on the streets.
Quick history of Qatar
Who rules Qatar?
The “Al Thani” family ruled Qatar since the 1878, however the country was like most of the region under the British rule. In the 70s along with the other Gulf countries (except Saudi which had King since the 1930s) begun separating from Britain and like the other countries in the region begun the power struggles and Amir Khalifa Bin Hamad was appointed as the Amir of Qatar in April 1970.
When is Qatari independence?
There was great deal of power struggle between Bahrain, Saudi, Abu Dhabi and Dubai to see how these countries will shape up. Bahrain was the first to declare independence and broke from the plan of joining the UAE in 08/15/1971, then Qatar on September 1st, 1971, then 7th of October UAE declared independency without these two countries. The official Qatari independence is September 3rd when it was officially recognized as independent country.
Who is ruling Qatar now?
June 1995, the Deputy, the son, and the crown prince Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani became the Emir of Qatar then declaring Qatar and Monarchy after a bloodless coup on his father Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani. The father wanted to restore power but failed in 1996.
What is Qatar’s legal system?
Since 1878 when Al Thani family took over the state then declared Islamic Sharia law as law of the land with total authoritarian rule. However, after 1995 coup, Hamad Bin Khalifa modified the political system and now there is parliament (called “Majles Shura”, meaning Al Shura Council with 45 seats), and since, the law of the land is a mix between Islamic Sharia and Civil Laws.
What is the capital of Qatar?
Doha is the capital of Qatar and the place where the 2022 world cup is planned to happen. It is by far the biggest city and cluster of populated land. Doha grew amazingly fast to become one of the major sport, cultural and educational hubs in the region. With its huge capital, rapidly started to be competing with Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Some Information and statistics about Qatar
What does the population of Qatar look like?
Like most gulf region countries (Gulf Council Countries GCC, Saudi, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait), the population of the local Qataris are only 12% of the total 2.4 million population. The rest are expats from different parts of the world flocked to Qatar for job opportunities.
Much of the population are Indian nationals with total of 25% of the population. Between the Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lanky and Bengali nationals constitute more than 45% of the population then comes the European with 14%, the local Qataris 12% and Filipino 10%. The rest 15 to 18% are from other Arab countries, Russians, Americans, Canadians …etc.
What is the religion and the language of the country?
Islam is the religion of the country and Islamic Sharia is partially law of the land. All Qatari nationals are Muslims (mostly Suni, with minority Shia due to proximity from Iran). However, Qatar is open country, and you can find at least (per my knowledge) a Catholic church, and another Orthodox church, and a Hindu and a Buddhist temple in a designated controlled development on the outskirts of Doha (I remember it was half hour drive from the downtown where I was living).
The last statistics indicates that 2/3 are Muslims, and the 1/3 are evenly distributed between Christianity and Hindu religions with very small minority of Buddhist and others. However, the local Qatari population is 100% Muslims.
The Official Language is Arabic, and like UAE and other GCC countries, the English comes as second language and it is the language that everyone speaks and communicate with.
Why Qatar is a rich country?
In 2007, Qatar attained the title of the highest income per capital in the world. all that due to its Oil and Natural Gas production. Qatar is a very small country and rank the third largest Natural Gas producer with estimated total 13% of the whole Natural gas reserve
How to become Qatari national?
There is no way I know that any expat can become Qatari, the only was is by decent and that is only if you father is Qatari. Now there are laws gives you eligibility to apply to nationality if you have 15 years (for Arab nationals) and 20 years (for non-Arab nationals) of uninterrupted legal residency, but I never heard anyone got that type of nationality. I know people born and spent more than 35 years in the country without nationality.
How to get around in Qatar
The currency in Qatar is Qatari Rial (QAR) and it is almost 3.65 QAR per dollar (almost the same as UAE Dirham). There are many ways to travel around the capital or one of the other major cities.
Uber
Uber is available in Doha and most major cities, they work just like in the US, you have the option of paying cash or Credit card. Please note that most Uber drivers are employees for some local Qatari sponsor, and they have low salaries, so if you want to leave a tip preferred to pay tip in cash not on card.
However, if you are trying to get an Uber from the airport to the city, that might be problem sometimes, because the Taxis in the airport might harass and not let Uber drivers to operate.
You also have the option to call Uber if you don’t have smart phone or don’t have Uber app.
Taxis on call or from the street
Most taxis in Qatar are working for a company. The company owned taxies are clean and safe. There are many companies operate taxies, but the best (per my knowledge) would be Karwa. They are available at the airport, and you see them on the streets, and on call as well.
The rate starts with 25 QAR (Qatari Rial around $7) and the meter calculates based on distance and waiting time. Average taxi cost to move around the city is between 40 to 75 QAR ($10 to $20)
Buses
There are Bus system, but I never used it and I don’t know how to use them, and I don’t think with the Metro available any Expat would use the bus. However, they can be used to travel outside Doha to other cities if you don’t want to rent a car, pay lot of money for Taxi or take a touristic tour.
Metro
The Metro system in Qatar is very new and sophisticated and comfortable. They are safe, and clean and almost empty (especially the Gold ticket ones). They can reach everywhere (except the airport terminal not yet available when I left). There are three lines defined with colors Red, Yellow, and green (the fourth is blue not yet open).
I would think for normal tourist (not going to sport arenas) the red is the one you would use most. The yellow and the green serve more for the 2022 world cup in my opinion. there are maps and help desks to help you know which line to take and at which station to leave.
To ride the metro, you need to buy a card and fill it with credit. They can be bought from many places, but the metro station would be my choice. There are the standard cards, the family cards (if you are a female and don’t want to stand next to a guy) and it cost the same like a standard card, and of course there is the Golder card (another name for first class)
Rent a car
Like in any other country, you can easily rent a car and drive. I was able to rent a car using my US driving license and the cars comes with total insurance policy as well. I rented my car from a small local agent and it was few years-old Hyundai Sonata, the car had few dents and the interior was not very clean and I was renting it for one month at a time. I was able to get it for almost $10 per day all inclusive. You can find all type of cars by searching online.
What is Qatar famous for?
Qatar is a new and small country, they are famous for being one of the richest countries in the world, no tax, they are the first country in the region dared to compete and indeed won the competition to host the world cup 2022. They have many museums, big buildings, nice malls, cheap and very expensive stores, cheap and good quality gold, beautiful beach, very hot and humid 4 months summer (mid-May to mid-September), and very nice winter, very nice food varieties and especially seafood.
Why people go to Qatar
People I saw go there for the following main reasons:
- Work: most people go to Qatar to work with lucrative and tax-free contracts.
- Relatives of expats: people who have family member or friends working in Qatar and they invite for free couple of weeks trip.
- Events: there are many sport, educational and other type of events and seminars in Doha, and people go to attend or participate in these seminars or events.
- Tourism: this is new thing in Qatar, and I will elaborate more about it below.
Why and how people go to work in Qatar
Qatar work situation is exactly like UAE, please check my UAE posts. However, there are few exceptions. UAE (Dubai) is more open society and Dubai locals due to longer exposure to expats are more friendly and approachable than Qatari (of course there are exceptions everywhere, I am talking in general).
How does opening a business in Qatar look like?
Qatari government is extremely aggressive in encouraging foreign businesses and investments into the country, even more aggressive than Dubai in some cases.
Qatar was the first GCC country to allow 100% ownership of businesses for foreigners and that was in 2018. All the surrounding countries require at least 51% majority of locals (sponsors). However, recently Dubai started implementing a law allowing 100% ownership without the need to be a free zone company.
Business tax is as low as 10% and no income tax for individuals working in Qatar. Due to these laws that aggressive encourage forging investment, half of the Qatari huge GDP now became not related to Oil and Gas, which is an impressive achievement.
I did not open any business in Qatar, my companies were in UAE, which at the time was the only reasonable place to be. but since then, things changed, and Qatar is aggressively competing with UAE, but competition in the local market is also extremely high.
What to eat (and how much it cost)
Eating in Doha can vary from cheap to awfully expensive depending where you want to eat and what do you want to eat. There are very exclusive 5 star restaurants that can cost a small fortune to dine there, and there are local places that can cost almost nothing for a good authentic Indian, Nepali, Filipino, Chinese, Egyptian or other Arabic cousin.
Although authentic local food can be found everywhere, but if I was not feeling to eat at the hotel, I use to go to the more common Souk Waquif type areas where you can find authentic and reasonably priced food. For example, a sandwich or a plate of falafel can cost anywhere from $1.5 for a sandwich and $3 for a plate, a Shawerma from $2.5 for a sandwich up to $7 for a plate.
You can also find all international brands in Doha, for people like to stick to their known brands, like KFC, McDonalds, Subway, the Filipino Jollibee and Chowking …etc. these places are more or less the same price like in any other country with slight adjustments in price and menu to cater the working population there.
Are there any Authentic Qatari food?
Qatar like most other GCC countries, have local food, but all these foods are influenced by Indian, Persian, and other Arabic foods, with small twists to accommodate the more locally available ingredients (I will do another Blog focused on the food and their origins).
All GCC countries 80 years ago were very modest, only in the 70s (except Saudi since the 30s) became independent countries and start benefiting from the vast oil and Gas income and became rich countries. With that, people started to focus more about their heritage, and food recipes they eat changed and became richer and more luxurious.
The Qatari food that I will mention below can be found in many other Arabic countries, India, and Yemen with slight variations based on the local taste and more availability of ingredients, some might add more expensive ingredients, and some keep them simple as originally was intended.
So, for example, if you like the lamb Kabsa (or some call it Machbus or Makbus) in one restaurant, you might not like it in another. By the way, in some Arabic dialects the sound “k” becomes “ch”, I use both depending the person I am talking to and which region of the Arab world they are coming from.
Below are some of the most popular foods, with my personal opinion.
Machbus or kabsa
It is basically rice and lamb, chicken, or beef in some places. The lamb is one of my favorite dishes, the chicken also tastes great.
Hareesa
This food is usually served in the Eids (the Islamic religious holidays) and special national or religious occasions. It takes long hours to cook, but it worth the effort. There are some restaurants have this on their menu, if you are in a restaurant with Hareesa, check it out. It also comes with chicken or lamb. I have never tasted Hareesa with beef.
Thareed
It is the Arabic bread, soaked in Murga (it is a Lamb or chicken-based soup) and vegetable. The ones I use to have was called Tashreeb (in Iraqi restaurants) the same concept but the soup is much less and the bread and the meat are the dominate ingredients of the dish, and with one type of vegetable (ocra, beans 4, or eggplant)
Kuzi or Ghuzi
This is the king of all middle eastern foods. The one in the picture is one type, some others cook the lamb with the rice which make the rice more oily. Usually it is served the whole lamb or some times they serve it as the thigh only and the plate would have the rice with all the rich ingredients plus a generous piece of meat, usually you can ask the waiter which part of the lamb you like your meat to be from.
There are many other type of foods, such as Emgalgal, Madrouba, Jareesh, in addition to the incredibly famous Shawerma, Kabab, Shikaf, which are more Iraq/Lebanese/Jordanian food than Qatari, and now it is considered international food. The only distinction that in GCC you can find the kabab in Kamal meat also (just be careful where you buy that from, it was banned for a while during the MERS outbreak).
How about sweets?
For sweets, there are many, but the king on sweets in Qatar, like most GCC countries, is Um Ali (literal translation is Ali’s mother), I have no clue how it got the name, but it is worth trying.
Another famous sweet is called “Lugimat” (is like small doughnut in different chapes and dipped in an extremely sweet syrup) it is also called “Dutly” in some places.
Khabees is another sweet, traditional for GCC, I have not seen it other places (Khabees means mess or chaos in Arabic)
How about drinks and juices?
If you hear Karak or Karak tea, it is basically Indian or Pakistani tea, which is a black tea and they brow it by boiling the tea in a water from all sides so gives burned taste and serve it with sweetened concentrated milk (the way I like it) or normal milk and lot of sugar.
Another thing typical of the GCC region is the Arabic coffee, which is very light coffee usually dark green in color and served in small cups and no sugar. Originally it is served with dates.
Of course, there are all type of coffees, teas, juices, and everything you can find in the western world you can find them in Qatar and with even more varieties.
How about alcohol?
Alcohol is something can be found, but in only selected restaurants and some hotel bars. Usually alcohol is awfully expensive because there is a big import tax on them. You can buy alcohol from some special markets or the airport duty free shop. However, never take your drink and walk in public, drink it in your room and then leave. Preferably do not drive because there is a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to alcohol.
Where to go in Qatar
As mentioned above, Qatar it a small and new country. Before the discovery of Oil and gas, all GCC countries were small oases in middle of a huge deserts, the life of Bedouin was the normal way of life. There were lot of wars and invasions between tribes competing on resources.
There is some history of course and they can be found in the many museums in Doha and small fortresses in some areas of Qatar. The best Qatar can offer is the new buildings, luxurious hotels, expensive lifestyle, and the unbelievable developments that look amazing engineering wonders.
Zubarah Fortress
This is the only UNESCO recognized site in Qatar, I put it the first, because it is worth seeing. It is 105 Km (60 miles) from Doha, to the very north of the country. It was built in 1938 as coast guard fortress then became a museum. Below are some pictures of the fortress. You can drive there or use one of the tours which are half day tour or offered as one day package called norther Qatar tour. There is also Bus system can take you to the site and back, but I have never tried it and can not recommend it.
National Museum of Qatar
It is a unique structure designed by French architect, Jean Nouvel. It is really a place to visit, if not for the content of the museum, at least for the structural and architectural marvel.
This site and all the other sites below are in Doha can be reached by Taxi or metro.
“Katara” Cultural Village
Katara is the historic name of Qatar, so as the name suggest, it is a place where highlights the Qatari culture. The design is majestic and worth visiting.
The Pearl Island
Very luxury hotels and restaurant on a manmade development looks like pearl.
The Villaggio Mall
There are many malls in Doha, like Al Khor Mall, City Center in West Bay, but the Villaggio mall by far is the best in my opinion. It is designed based on the Italian city of Venice or the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas.
Shortly after the opening it was closed again due to a huge fire consumed big portions of the mall, but shortly after that, the mall was evaluated and opened back to public.
Al Fanar (the Islamic Cultural Museum)
It is one of the structures that you can not miss especially if you are going to souk Waquif.
Souq Waquif
It is a local Bazar, souq (in Arabic mean market), you can walk, eat, shop and see authentic hand made crafts. I used to go there every Friday night.
The Corniche
Last but not least is the long and beautiful walk around the Gulf beach, it starts from West bay and all the way to the other side where you can see the West Bay skyline from far. It is beautiful during the day as well as the night. I will leave some pictures below which explain what I mean. It is a must see and there is no way you can miss it.
Conclusion
If you visited Qatar for work, to opening a business, for tourism or join a tournament, there will always be something you can do in Qatar. The country is a very rich, but the country have something for every budget. You do not need to spend great amount of money to enjoy the beaches, the food, or shopping.
Anyone can enjoy the tasty street food; at the same time, you can have the very lavish and luxurious 5-star dinning. You can find great bargains on top of the line brand merchandize due to tax exemptions. Also, there are the local Souks with amazing local products which are extremely well prices.
In addition, Doha is a very modern city with long history, hence you can find the old with the very new and modern. It is a great mix of cultures and architectural tastes.
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