Doha for luxury travelers
Somerset West Bay Doha: Apartment-style living with resort-grade grounds including golf, beach, and tennis. Doha has 13 luxury-tier hotels in the Trip.com pool from US$200 a night. The St. Regis Doha: 9.6-rated beachfront in the Katara cultural zone at a restrained nightly rate.
Doha for luxury travelers, in numbers
- Picks on this page
- 12 places across 1 lists, led by Somerset West Bay Doha, The St. Regis Doha, Raffles Doha
- luxury-tier hotels
- 13 in the Trip.com poolfrom US$200 a night
Questions luxury travelers ask about Doha
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Where to stay
Stay near Souq Waqif or in West Bay for a first visit to Doha. Souq Waqif puts you within 800 meters of the Museum of Islamic Art and the Corniche, with rooms from $80 per night. West Bay has the big-chain towers at $150-350. Both connect to the Red Line metro, which runs to Hamad International Airport in under 25 minutes.
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Must-see
The Museum of Islamic Art, I.M. Pei's last major commission, opened in 2008 on a purpose-built island off Doha's Corniche. The collection spans 1,400 years of work from Spain to China, but the building itself is the real draw. Go at 5pm when the limestone catches the low Gulf light. Free entry on Saturdays.
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Food culture
Doha eats late and eats communally. Dinner rarely starts before 9pm, and the best food splits between two poles: the ground-floor restaurants around Souq Waqif serving 15-QAR machboos and the hotel dining rooms in West Bay where a tasting menu runs 500 QAR. Karak chai, a cardamom-heavy milky tea sold for 1 QAR at drive-through windows, connects both worlds.
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Cultural etiquette
Doha runs on conservative Islamic customs that visitors can navigate with a few concrete rules. Say 'As-salamu alaykum' first, cover knees and shoulders in malls and public buildings, never photograph Qatari women without permission, and avoid eating or drinking in public during Ramadan daylight hours. Alcohol is legal only in licensed hotel venues. Tips of 10% are appreciated but not expected.
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Airport to city
Take the Doha Metro Red Line from inside Hamad International Airport (DOH) to Msheireb station. The ride takes 20 minutes and costs 2 QAR ($0.55) with a 30 QAR travel card from the station vending machines. After the metro closes around 11pm, Karwa metered taxis to West Bay or Souq Waqif run 50-70 QAR ($14-19).
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