DOHA, QATAR : AN HONEST REVIEW / WHY I WAS SHOCKED

DOHA, QATAR : AN HONEST REVIEW / WHY I WAS SHOCKED

Doha we’ve all heard about it the capital of Qatar and the host of the recent FIFA World Cup and one of the most wealthy and Progressive cities in the world but is it all superficial and what can you really expect when you’re here for the first time as a tourist

Join me on a weekend in Doha as I share my guide and honest review to steer you in the right direction for your next trip Doha is not what I expected and safe to say you’ll be surprised too let’s start our day on the Cornish the capitals jaw-dropping 7 km Waterfront

Promade with the most Instagram worthy views what’s amazing about walking along the corese is the view that you’re going to get of the city right opposite it is so so so special to be looking out on something that was built in the last few decades virtually that’s partly what

Doha and Qatar excels at it’s setting that vision for the next 20 30 40 years and really achieving it to the last minute detail well when you’re walking along the cornes it’s not all just admiration for the beautiful skyline of modern Doha it’s also this look there’s a bunch of

Traditional Wooden Boats and I have to say that stark contrast between the foreground and the background over here is a pretty cool site and not only that there’s also a mosque right over there so look at that you get the three sides of Doha Allin one in the spot you’ve got religion and

Tradition historical traditional wooden boats that have been made for hundreds of years and then way back over there is Super Ultra Modern and futuristic Doha I think one of the uh more pressing questions that female tourists have when they come here aside from safety which I

Can confirm is very safe by the way that question would be how conservative is Doha how much do you need to worry about things like covering your knees covering your shoulders at the beginning of the day I was without my cardigan and I walked around and I sort of saw the

Reactions from other people and let’s just say that yes it is better to go out with your shoulders covered possibly your knees covered although I have seen a few people wearing long shorts I did get a few looks they weren’t mean looks but just like surprised basically mostly

From men not going to lie I would still strongly recommend to follow those guidelines just as a sign of respect very early on in the day I realized that it’s pretty impossible to cross between roads here because you’re kind of in the middle of Highways you need to use

Underground passageways have a lookout for stairs that go down there are underground passageways every 5 to 7 minutes or so time to do some shopping come to a parking so the underground system that I described is so easy is not as easy in reality says sou I’ll probably have to take another

Look so stand By made it to the suuk honestly first impressions are I expected it to be very very touristy but there’s a lot of locals around as well and obviously this is not something that they’ve taken effort of modernizing which is kind of cool because it feels authentic still I

Think the last soup that I went to was in Dubai which is a video you can see right here uh this one I feel might be a little bit different not sure why it just gives me a feeling that it might be gear towards locals more than towards tourists but let’s go and

See so so so cute and tiny I don’t know if you guys know this but I actually used to have a bunny rabbit when I was little and his ears flopped all the way down wish I could take all of them not sure I like this part of the

Soup I would much rather see like PS of spices I guess I really do like all of these colorful benches outside of the souk but if you’re asking yourself is it worth seeing the souk should you spend time and really go around it and see what’s available for sale there my personal

Piece of advice to you would probably be that your time is better spent exploring the rest of Doha so I kind of wish that I had gone straight into the downtown area which is where I’m heading right now and explored more of the infrastructure and the architecture there the world’s smallest

Escalator the downtown area and Doha unexpectedly left a big impression on me and if you’ve been enjoying this video so far and Want More Travel content please feel free to hit the Subscribe button down below this place is like a little Universe condensed into something that’s

In the center of Doo without you ever knowing unless you explicitly go there it’s kind of surreal if you think about it because all of this was constructed when a 5 billion 5 billion that’s right you heard me right5 billion dollar budget quite recently and they’ve done so much to promote eco-friendliness to

Promote a green lifestyle for example you won’t see a single trash bin because all of the Trash Disposal system is underground they’ve promoted indoor outdoor living they’ve promoted a sustainable approach to people walking instead of using their cars as you can see it’s fully pedestrian this for me is

What a city should be about to be honest and I’m just really shocked because this is not what I expected from Doha I expected something that was a lot more backwards and a lot less futuristic but this for me is probably what cities are going to look like from now 20 30 40

Years Ahead not a single scrap of dirt not a single chewing gum cigarette butt everything else that you see in Europe on the streets laying around here you’re not going to find that how they do it is beyond me but they’ve managed so yeah I think that’s something that’ll

Definitely take you by surprise when you come here in a good way going to test out the local Metro System only going to go a few stops to reach the uh National Museum which I think is worth seeing but is the Metro worth taking we yet to find

Out the grand reveal of Doha Metro okay I mean this is this is pretty simple there’s only three lines to take we are where are we now oops what we take two I’m right here going right here so only two stops but that’ll get you straight to the National Museum

Which judging by the photos I saw is pretty spectacular even the Metro is so clean it’s actually disgusting how clean it is I could lick these floors Got My Ticket that was about $2 for a day pass so actually not that expensive at all oh my gosh excuse me where am I this is like one of those super luxurious first class airport trains and like the nicest airports in Europe you would have to pay big big big monies for trains like this now that I’ve got an empty train let’s do a little bit of a tour because something like this you’re

Definitely not going to see where I’m from like in Europe if we say we have to go on a subway it’s something that you really don’t want to do you’re going to be elbowed by people it’s going to be dirty you know you’re going to have to

Wait agent for a train you’re going to be uncomfortable but look this is luxury look at these seats they’re so plus you have all the space you need you got these handles look at this this is leather by the way absolutely insane okay so we’re approaching the national

Museum now so time to get out let’s see if the station is as spectacular as the train okay so that may have been the VIP Carriage but it’s still amazing don’t tell anyone lo and behold the national museum this was constructed by the same architect who actually designed the Louver in Abu

Dhabi it is spectacular in so many ways inside once again it takes the same concept as we saw downtown which is indoor outdoor spaces that bring air inside of the buildings are seen throughout its very much nature coming into architecture so I’m really excited to go in and see that yeah I’m

Impressed I headed out just on time for a beautiful sunset and a night drive through Doha and before I knew it it was time to greet another day full of surprises good morning morning today I am starting my day with exploring the cultural Village followed by the connect

Qus just got an Uber it’s just arrived now by the way taxis here are really easy to get and there’s an app called carwa and Uber as well thank you so much so I’m just getting in right now and off we go so I’ve explicitly come early in the

Morning while there is still no one I do think that this place gets pretty busy and crowded towards the afternoon and definitely in the evening I can imagine when this is a little bit busier it definitely adds more life to it where I’m going now though is the mosque and I

Do think you guys are going to enjoy this it’s supposed to be really Beautiful Okay so you come in and there is the men’s section and the women’s section and if you come in from the women’s section you actually have to put on an Abaya so we pray here shoulder to shoulder we Muslims have five times drill because you might be knowing that

Muslims pray five times a day this Masjid has been designed by a Turkish woman only one thing that is common in every Masjid is that you won’t find any statues or any images nothing but the decor or the decoration or Aesthetics or all these things might differ all right

Well first impressions are on the outside it’s probably more spectacular than on the inside but that doesn’t change the fact that you should still see both outside and inside just to have a better picture overall I do like the fact that uh you have to respect the

Traditional dress code when you walk in here that’s actually the case in most mosques around the Middle East it’s not like they impose their values on you but they’re definitely there and people are happy people are calm the energy is a lot more peaceful than some place like

Dubai and honestly if I had a choice of where to live between here and Dubai I would probably choose here I know that opinion might be an unpopular one that’s just my personal feeling that I get from this place while I wait for my Uber to go to the

Next stop I just wanted to talk to you guys about traveling here as a single female because today I did go out without my cameraman and the experience was slightly different in the sense that I did get a lot more male attention be it looks or car windows being rolled

Down and Men yelling you’re very beautiful or at the mosque I was asked if there was a man with me or if I was alone so just stuff like that you know it’s not in any way invasive or aggressive but just keep that in mind that the intention is good they just

Mean to compliment you but you will probably get that if you are a single female traveler even if you are all covered up as I’ve done today but it is perfectly safe and that’s definitely what I felt here not once that I feel that I can’t go out with my belongings

On show I’ve worn all my jewelry even in crowded spaces I felt like I can be myself and that I don’t constantly have to be on guard which is definitely a very good thing and if you’re still looking for the perfect Instagram shot in Doha I’ve got just the place for You I have come to the KET quor this is about a 7 minute drive away from the cultural Village and this area is mostly known for water shows during the FIFA World Cup daily water shows up that and now it’s just a colorful place to walk

Around with a bunch of places to chill a bunch of places to eat I feel you can just spend hours wandering around here obviously it was built inspired by Venice now is this all superficial probably in a way it is but coming here you have to expect man-made Beauty as

Opposed to Natural Beauty and it was partly made to entertain people during the World Cup and now it remains as this wonderful Oasis that both locals and tourists can come to speaking of locals and tourists I seem to be the only person here once again but it is still

Early around 10:30 in the morning so I think Qatar might be one of those places that wakes up later especially because Friday is a weekend here it’s not like in Europe where Saturdays and Sundays are holidays in the Middle East it’s Fridays and Saturdays so Friday being

Today I think everyone else is still asleep looking out onto the perfectly constructed canals and admiring the city on my way to the airport made me realize that everything in Qatar is intentional and perfectly balanced including my last surprise in Doha well well even though

It looks like I’m in a dense jungle I am actually inside Doha airport which has been the last amazing surprise to my already wonderful stay here Doha has surprised me in so many different ways and if you’ve enjoyed this video and if you also fell in love with Doha and have

Been slightly shocked at some of the things that you’ve seen in this video head over to this one next which I guarantee is another place that you will absolutely love in the Middle East how do people do that am I getting it even a little bit

I take you on a tour with honest reviews of sights and activities in Doha, Qatar. You’ll see why Doha might not be what you expect and why I was shocked. Should you visit Doha, Qatar? What are the best things to do and things to see in Doha? Is Doha worth it? Find out in this video!

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Notes: A long weekend was enough in Doha and the only thing I didn’t get to see because I was short on time was the Box Park.
Doha is walkable in the central areas but you should still download either the Uber or Karwa app in case you need it.
Everyone speaks English.
I stayed in the Four Seasons West Bay hotel and it was amazing.
Public transport is cheap but food is generally expensive so be prepared!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:35 Doha Corniche
1:46 How conservative is Doha?
2:33 Getting around in central Doha
2:51 Souq Waqif Doha
4:40 Downtown Meshreib Doha
6:43 Doha Metro
9:06 Doha National Museum
9:52 Nighttime Doha
9:56 Taxis in Doha, Qatar
10:25 Katara Cultural Village
10:55 Katara mosque Doha
12:23 Single female travellers in Doha
13:32 Qanat Quartier the Pearl Doha
14:55 Doha airport

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