Visiting Doha for a few hours

[Longtoo]

Dear brain-trust,

Ms Longtoo and I have an upcoming flight with Qatar Airway via Doha with about 12 h layover. I plan to take Ms Longtoo to check out the city and would not want to join the transit tour. We have Aus passport. Do i have to pay for the 30 days health insurance to enter the country?

The info from Qatar Airway is confusing, it seems that because we fly with them, we will get a free transit visa for 72 h.

TIA

 

[SeanExile]

You get visa on arrival thats valid for 30 days usually (not sure why 72 hours if Australian citizen).
They don't check for travel insurance, no need to buy it. Usually though, your Australian travel insurance will be valid for stopovers (check fine print). Adding another country (not USA) also rarely affect the quotation.

Ensure you have an official boarding pass for your next leg (not a home printed one). That way no need for hotel-booking when you exit into Qatar. Qatar's immigration is fast and professional, nothing to worry about at all, and they speak good English.

Ensure you don't bring any duty free alcohol. After Qatari passport control, you go to an X ray queue and all hand-luggage is put through it.

When you exit into the terminal, either take the stairs up and walk 5 minutes to reach the metro station (a card to travel can be bought in machines at the station - one ride costs QAR 2) or walk outside and grab a taxi. Keep in mind that Ubers aren't allowed to do pick ups at the airport anymore, but they are allowed to so drop offs (and Uber is consioderably cheaper than taxis).

 

[Longtoo]

thanks SeanExile. it is very helpful.

 

[Mattg]

You get visa on arrival thats valid for 30 days usually (not sure why 72 hours if Australian citizen).
They don't check for travel insurance, no need to buy it. Usually though, your Australian travel insurance will be valid for stopovers (check fine print). Adding another country (not USA) also rarely affect the quotation.

Qatar does have a specific travel insurance requirement, and Australian policies don't count. But that seems to now only apply for longer stays, thank goodness.

Article: Qatar’s New Mandatory Travel Insurance Requirement

Qatar’s New Mandatory Travel Insurance Requirement is an article written by AFF editorial staff: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/qatar-travel-insurance-requirement/ You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Tiki]

The name escapes me but there is an amazing Persian restaurant in the middle of Souk Waqif, my preferred place for a few hours layover.

 

[Longtoo]

Thanks Tiki, great suggestion. Souk Waqif is in my to do list. I also want to go the the Katara Cultural village, the MIA, and taking a short walk along the Doha foreshore.

 

[jase05]

The name escapes me but there is an amazing Persian restaurant in the middle of Souk Waqif, my preferred place for a few hours layover.

We always get a good feed at Souk Waqif. Tried several places and all good. We were there during Ramadan recently and we left after midnight and the place was still buzzing. The pet market and sales was interesting to watch the bidding take place too

 

[ols]

The name escapes me but there is an amazing Persian restaurant in the middle of Souk Waqif, my preferred place for a few hours layover.

Would love to know the name of that restaurant if you can recall.
Will be in Doha for the first time 1st and 2nd of next month and also 19th, 20th, 21st

 

[AIRwin]

The name escapes me but there is an amazing Persian restaurant in the middle of Souk Waqif, my preferred place for a few hours layover.

This
Parisa Souq Waqif · Doha
or

Sindebad Restaurant · Doha

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[Longtoo]

Hi all, I have just done the self guided Doha transit tour. It went well, passed through transfer security to the Al Mourjan lounge, left our luggage at the lounge lockers. They have lockers at both the South and Garden lounge, just need to ask reception. Went back to transfer security to get to airside then baggage return for immigration clearance. Australian passports will be to be manually processed by an officer. The lady officer was friendly (we were the only passengers for a while for her), reminded us that we would need to buy some ice cream. no questions about insurance and hotel (because we showed her onward boarding pass).

we used the train for all of our journey. train tickets can be bought from the machine using credit card.

Doha was hot and humid, even in early evening. we had good time at the Qatari Kultura centre, the Souq Waqif, and the National Islamic Art Museum. It was too hot and thus we skipped the Corniche beach front walk.