| 
Art and culture. Adventures and sports. Shopping.
Discover Qatar for an unexpected holiday.
Whether it’s for a simple beach holiday, or for a romantic getaway. To travel with your family and children, having fun in theme parks, entertainment areas, planetariums.
Or, again, to cheer on your favorite team for the next FIFA 2022 World Cup.
Overlooking the Persian Gulf, Qatar is a place of great charm and seduction. A place to be discovered.
HOW TO GET TO QATAR
From Europe, America and the main world destinations you can easily reach Qatar by plane, with direct flight. Hamad International Airport, the only one serving the country, is well connected to the main destinations. In about 6/7 hours you can easily arrive, for example, from Amsterdam, London, Paris or Rome.
From Doha airport you can easily reach the city using the metro or taxis.
HOW TO MOVE
The main centers of the country, venues of the next soccer world cup, are the capital Doha, and the nearby Al Wakrah, Lusail, Al Rayyan and Al Khor. The maximum distance between the cities is 70 kilometers between Al Wakrah and Al Khor. All the venues of the stadiums of the next FIFA 2022 World Cup, except Al Khor, are part of the metropolitan area of Doha. You can easily get around by metro, tram and bus.
LANGUAGE AND RELIGION
The spoken language is Arabic, however you will not have difficulty conversing in English, since the latter is the second language of the country. The indications are in fact all bilingual (Arabic / English), including those of the Doha Metro. In the premises and in the accommodation facilities you can speak English peacefully. Same with taxi drivers.
In the country, 95% of the inhabitants are of Islamic religion. When you arrive in Qatar, therefore, it is good to respect local traditions, especially in the Mosques where clothing appropriate to the place is required. The inhabitants, for example, consider it impractical for men to wear shorts that leave the knees uncovered!
If you are traveling during the Ramadan period, keep in mind that while not respecting tradition, you may have a hard time finding dining options available during fasting hours (obviously hotels tend to be more flexible with their guests).
A separate discussion concerns homosexuals. Despite the latest claims, the country is not particularly tolerant in this regard. Far from it! Better, in this sense, to avoid loving demonstrations in public!
EVALUATE
The official currency is the Qatari riyal, indicated by the symbol “QR” (ISO code: QAR). At the current exchange rate (December 2021), 1 QAR is equivalent to €0.24. The riyal is available in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500. The dirham is a fraction of the riyal: 100 dirhams equals 1 QAR. Coins of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 dirhams circulate in the country.
Generally, in hotels, shopping centers, museums and international restaurants you can easily pay by credit card. It is always advisable to have a reserve of cash with you: taxis, for example, do not accept card payments but only cash in the local currency!
If you need to go to a bank, you will find plenty of them in Doha. Also in the main centers of the country there are numerous nacary branches. They are generally open on holidays, in the morning.
PRACTICAL INFO
HOUR
In Qatar, the clock hands are placed three hours ahead of the Greenwich meridian.
Time of Time Zone: UTC/GMT +3.
GMT time difference: UTC/GMT +3.
There is no daylight saving time in the country, and the same UTC offset is always applied throughout the year.
CURRENT AND ELECTRIC SOCKET
Throughout the country, the voltage is 240 volts, with a frequency of 50Hz. The electrical sockets are of type D and G (British socket). The latter, the most widespread, is the same one adopted in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by three contacts with a rectangular section. As always, we recommend that you use a special adapter during your travels. For the most provident, we recommend that you take a look at this link.
POSTS
Q-Post, is the company that manages the postal service throughout the country. The color yellow, or alternatively blue, identify the post office counters. In addition to the symbol and the sign in Arabic, the English indication QATAR POST is almost always present. Generally, post offices observe the same hours as banks. They are open Monday to Friday, early in the morning.
If you have to send postcards, the cost is really minimal, equal to about 0.50€. In the case of sending parcels, the outlay will be considerable, especially for deliveries to Europe or America.
TELEPHONE AND INTERNET
In the country, the mobile telephone network works with the same systems as the main operators in the rest of the world. You can, therefore, safely use your smartphone. To call from abroad, you must enter the international prefix +974, followed by the telephone number. The main telephone operators in Qatar are Vodafone Qatar and Ooredoo (formerly Qtel); the latter has the best overall coverage. With the reduction of roaming costs, you can easily call from abroad, taking advantage of your national rate. Alternatively, you can use the classic VoIP calls, or make video calls, using a free WI-FI line.
Free wifi is available in many museums and art galleries. Inside shopping malls and high-end hotels, the wifi line is available free of charge.