Doha

[turbo]

I think we used to have a poster who lived in Doha but I don't know if they're still active here and I can't for the life of me remember their screen name, so posting here.

Next year we are taking our boys on safari in Africa. I'm looking at routing us home on Qatar Airways, because we have to do a really janky trip (first stopping in Europe for a wedding). 

It's a long flight so I'm thinking I'll add a 1-2 night stopover in Doha, just to break it all up a bit. Problem is, we are traveling in August, so it will be HOT. 

If you've been to Doha, could you let me know what *indoor* activities there are that might fill a day or two there? It looks like maybe the souk is partially indoors and / or has AC? I also saw an indoor amusement park so I have that on my radar, but would welcome other suggestions. Are there good hotels with indoor pools? I know the timing is not ideal for a visit, and this is not so much a trip to visit Qatar as it is a way to break up the long travel, but still trying to figure out if it's worth adding like 2-3 nights, or if we just do a one-night stopover. FWIW, my kids will be 6 and 8 at the time of travel. 

[mrsukyankee]

jennybee1018 - hopefully she's still on here.

[Waytob]

Hey - not the poster you were probably thinking of but happy to reply here, am currently based in Doha and have been here since Jan am originally from Kenya.

August activities - The souq is expected to have outdoor AC by next year and will be comfortable to visit especially once the sun is down. There are lots of museums, all indoors though for a 6 and 8 year old may not be ideal. There's lots of indoor/ AC venues like the planetarium, angry birds world in festival city, kidzmondo in mall of Qatar and alot of the malls have a variety of kids entertainment and activities

The water parks are outdoors but still ok to visit in August - just factor in how much time to be in the sun itself.

There are a couple of hotels with indoor pools, although I find that using outdoor pools as long as there is shade cover is fine - depends on your budget as the best indoor pools are at the high end places (Ritz, four seasons etc)

The heat is less of a disruptor than the humidity - factor that in as well

Last thing - Qatar airways has just recently launched huge promotions for stopover - it now can actually work out cheaper to book a 2-3 night stopover in Doha on one of your flying legs instead of just going to destination - worth checking directly on their site to book this (a friend of mine saved 400USD by stopping for 48 hours between NY-BKK of the outbound leg)


Hope this helps

[turbo]

Waytob, very helpful - thank you so much! This was incredibly helpful. I would of course prefer to visit Doha / Qatar during a less miserable time of the year but the school schedule is such that the only time we can sneak away for a safari is in the summer, and so here we are. Still, sounds like there is plenty to keep us occupied and we could do some outdoor things like the pool / water park, as long as there's some shade.

Would walking the Corniche after the sun goes down be miserable still? I assume trips out into the desert and to the beach / ocean (I can't remember the name of the one spot) don't operate and / or aren't worth doing in August?

[Waytob]

I've been to Sealine in July and it wasn't great, similarly Banana island you can't really optimize your time there

Corniche is ok, still hot, but on days when the humidity is lower and breeze is up its actually ok to walk - was there last weekend and it was fine to scooter down the Corniche. I haven't been to WBB/ Doha sands this August so cant really say how the experience will be but they are all open, and quite busy

One more thing - not sure where you are going on Safari in Africa but both Kenya and South Africa will be the opposite - cold enough to need some good warm clothing