Qatar Airways offers a free Doha City tour and I was really excited to take advantage of it during my long layover at Doha Hamad International Airport. It gave me the opportunity to check off another country on my list without having to pay for the expensive Qatar Visa. The tour is about 4 hours long and covers the essential parts of Doha. The itinerary includes the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village, the Pearl-Qatar, and finally the Souq Waqif.
Booking the tour
The tour booth is located on the main level of the airport at the beginning of concourse B between the WH Smith and the Mont Blanc shops. The tour is run on a first come first serve basis. The check-in time is 6am for the three morning tours and 4pm for the evening tour. I arrived at 6:05am and there was already a line.
I also wanted to clear up some ambiguity on Qatar’s website regarding the specifics of this program, so I asked the agents running the tour.
- The tour is available to all nationals, regardless of whether you are eligible for visa on arrival.
- You must be flying both the inbound and outbound flights on Qatar Airway, regardless of class of service.
- The tour guide leads you through immigration as though you are an arriving passenger and your passport will be stamped.
- You can bring your luggage with you and store it underneath the tour bus.
- No food is provided, nor is there a stop for food on the tour. Bottled water is provided however.
Overall Thoughts
The tour was very well run by an independent tour operator which is hired by Qatar Airways. We stopped for 5-10 minutes at each place on the itinerary, with the exception of about 30 minutes for shopping at the Souq Waqif. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t go inside the Museum of Islamic Art since, but merely stopped for 5 minutes to take pictures of the building from the outside. But overall, I can’t really complain about a free tour and a free visa. It covered what there is to see in Doha, which isn’t saying much, and it’s a great way to spend a long layover.
Nice review. Slightly off topic but I noticed you said the guide leads you through immigration. Does this mean once you are in departures at DOH you can leave by going through immigration or was this only because you were on a tour? I have a day trip to Doha from Dubai and would quite like to grab some breakfast on arrival using my first class boarding pass for the evening and then head through immigration. Do you think this would be possible?
So once you’re on the tour, you can’t leave the tour group. The visa is only good for the day. If you have a QR First boarding pass, then visit the Al Safwa Lounge.
Hi, What do you mean by “The tour is available to all nationals, regardless of whether you are eligible for visa on arrival.”
Qatar offers visa on arrival to several countries. The tour is available to you even if you’re not a national of one of those countries.
Oh so glad to hear that because I’m a filipino citizen and as far as i know we can’t have visa on arrival in Qatar. Will be flying from Dubai going to Philippines with 10 hours layover in Qatar. Hopefully we can have this free city tour without having any problems in Visa. 🙂
One more thing, for the whole city tour it will be only maximum of 3 hours right? orw will it be more than that? and the tour guides are aware of the depature flight of the tourists? I’m just worried because maybe will going to be late with our flight. 😀
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING OUR COMMENTS!! This blog will help a lot of people 🙂
Yes, the tour is around 3 hours and the tour guide is aware of everyones departure flights.
Hei. Just wondering. A similar package is offered at Istanbul by Turkish airlines but one of the eligibility criteria are that the layover must be more than 6 hours long but not longer than 24 hours. Is there any such criteria in this package?
You obviously need enough time to complete the full tour and clear security/immigration to make your flight. Not sure what the cutoff is.
As far as I can tell, it must be a minimum of 8 hours to get the complimentary tour to ensure that you will be able to get on to your connecting flight.
Hello,
Thank you for the review. One thing to ask, what is the maximum people that they take for the tour in one trip? Is there any chance of getting the next slots available?
They take about 24 people on a first come, first serve basis. If you don’t get the slot you want, you can try for the next one.
Hi do they except USD currencies at the market? Or I need to exchange before taking the tour?
Thanks,
They accept USD, no need to change.
How much price of souvenir (magnetic/postcard) in Souq ?
I have a flight with Confirmation Number:( Qatar Airways 3L7VCA) . From Doha to Istanbul , the time between flights is 4:15. So can I use free tour service.
According to Qatar Airways website they now have 4 city tours throughout the day. We arrive in Doha around 16:45 and fly out at 02:20 and the last tour of the day is now at 20:00. If check-in opens at 16:00 and we don’t land until 16:45 will we have any chance of signing up for the tour before it books up? And do you have any idea if they cut the Musuem of Islamic Art out of the evening tour? I believe I read the museum is closed during evening hours.
I have a flight that lands at Doha at 5:10 pm and my connecting flight is at 12:20 pm
The tour that I can take is the one that starts at 8 am and since its around 3 hours that means Ill be done by 11am.
Im wondering if that is enough time for me to make to my connecting flight?