The 2022 World Cup may be nearing its end, but football isn’t the only reason to pay a visit to the stunning host country
World Cup Final Sunday 2.00pm (k/o 3.00pm) BBC1 & ITV1
Ed Grenby - 5 December 2022
Well, no one can say they’ve never heard of Qatar now, can they? The 2022 World Cup has not been without its controversies of course, but the tiny Arab country has certainly achieved one of its aims, by stamping its name firmly onto the world’s collective consciousness. The 2018 World Cup in Russia was watched by 3.57 billion viewers; Fifa president Gianni Infantino recently said that by the end of Sunday’s final, an estimated 5 billion people will have watched this year’s tournament on TV. And from now on, the Qataris are expecting 58 million people a year through Doha Hamad International Airport (following further expansion, capacity should increase to 70 million from 2025).
That puts the host nation in line with the Gulf region as a whole, where UK visitor numbers are increasing by nearly a quarter every five years, led by Dubai, now the world’s fourth most visited city. (Apart from India and its Arab neighbours, Dubai’s biggest market is sun-seeking Brits.) Those who make the trip to Qatar won’t find the fiesta they’ve seen on TV, of course: not only will there be a lot less booze (outside the tournament it’s illegal in Qatar except at major hotels), but also the country’s laws banning homosexuality, which were relaxed for the global party, will come back into force. But those who can live with such strictures will discover an otherwise very welcoming country, where Arab traditions meet a distinctly modern-day metropolis. The skyscrapers of West Bay didn’t exist when Doha was declared the nation’s capital in 1971.
But among its 64-storey giants you can now find some of the world’s most striking hotels (and, thanks to the glut of accommodation built for the World Cup, some very reasonable rates). Luxury lovers might follow the Dutch team to the St Regis Doha, or the USA squad to the central Marsa Malaz Kempinski, but if you want to kip where Harry Kane and the boys did, you’ll need to head for the suburbs. The Souq Al Wakra Hotel Qatar by Tivoli is a quiet place, arranged in traditional Arabic fashion around a series of peaceful courtyards – though what really commended it to Gareth Southgate, who visited no fewer than five times before confirming it as his choice for the team, was perhaps the fact that it’s one of the city’s few “dry” hotels, with zero alcohol on the premises. The England boss deliberately chose a base with few distractions: the hotel has a restaurant, a tiny pool (which was a fountain until the FA requested its hasty conversion), a gym, a spa and not much else.
Beyond its old stone walls is a restored market, a public beach (where both men and women must cover their top halves) and a promenade full of cafés. It’s a chance to see not just how the Three Lions lived during their stay, but also a slice of local life. Doha’s two main sights are its Museum of Islamic Art and the National Museum of Qatar. While both are marvels of modern architecture, it’s the Islamic Art museum that wows on the inside too, with a collection that ranges from the delicate calligraphy of a Moorish Koran to the fearsome solidity of a Mughal scimitar. The capital’s other chief attraction is shopping – though Wags take note, we’re not talking about its many malls, but its ancient market, Souq Waqif. Its maze of alleys is as Byzantine as Fifa’s voting system at first glance, but it’s actually several overlapping souqs: one for spices, one for animals, one for sweets, one for clothes and one for falcons. (Revered in Qatari culture, the birds can cost more than £250,000.)
But the loveliest way to see Doha is to leave it for a couple of hours. Traditional wooden dhow boats cruise the bay, and watching the sun set over the city’s mosques and minarets, glinting off the glass of the skyscrapers, is a good way to end a day. The only way to better it is to get right out of town. A key element of most Qataris’ weekend plans, desert camps can vary from a simple onefamily tent to a sprawling mini-resort. But all have the unforgettable view. Just an hour’s drive from Doha’s downtown, the dunes start to rise: an Arabian Nights fantasy of shifting sand mountains and vast emptiness. Ways to enjoy them include sandboarding (like snowboarding, but warmer), dune-bashing (careering around in an SUV driven by an expert), falconry and even swimming (at Khor Al-Adaid, the Inland Sea, an inlet of the warm Persian Gulf comes right up to the foot of the dunes). And then there are the sunsets. Among the silence and infinite horizons of the desert, they’re stunning. While not all the world’s footballers will be taking happy memories away from Qatar, holiday-makers certainly will.
Well, no one can say they’ve never heard of Qatar now, can they? The 2022 World Cup has not been without its controversies of course, but the tiny Arab country has certainly achieved one of its aims, by stamping its name firmly onto the world’s collective consciousness. The 2018 World Cup in Russia was watched by 3.57 billion viewers; Fifa president Gianni Infantino recently said that by the end of Sunday’s final, an estimated 5 billion people will have watched this year’s tournament on TV. And from now on, the Qataris are expecting 58 million people a year through Doha Hamad International Airport (following further expansion, capacity should increase to 70 million from 2025).
That puts the host nation in line with the Gulf region as a whole, where UK visitor numbers are increasing by nearly a quarter every five years, led by Dubai, now the world’s fourth most visited city. (Apart from India and its Arab neighbours, Dubai’s biggest market is sun-seeking Brits.) Those who make the trip to Qatar won’t find the fiesta they’ve seen on TV, of course: not only will there be a lot less booze (outside the tournament it’s illegal in Qatar except at major hotels), but also the country’s laws banning homosexuality, which were relaxed for the global party, will come back into force. But those who can live with such strictures will discover an otherwise very welcoming country, where Arab traditions meet a distinctly modern-day metropolis. The skyscrapers of West Bay didn’t exist when Doha was declared the nation’s capital in 1971.
But among its 64-storey giants you can now find some of the world’s most striking hotels (and, thanks to the glut of accommodation built for the World Cup, some very reasonable rates). Luxury lovers might follow the Dutch team to the St Regis Doha, or the USA squad to the central Marsa Malaz Kempinski, but if you want to kip where Harry Kane and the boys did, you’ll need to head for the suburbs. The Souq Al Wakra Hotel Qatar by Tivoli is a quiet place, arranged in traditional Arabic fashion around a series of peaceful courtyards – though what really commended it to Gareth Southgate, who visited no fewer than five times before confirming it as his choice for the team, was perhaps the fact that it’s one of the city’s few “dry” hotels, with zero alcohol on the premises. The England boss deliberately chose a base with few distractions: the hotel has a restaurant, a tiny pool (which was a fountain until the FA requested its hasty conversion), a gym, a spa and not much else.
Beyond its old stone walls is a restored market, a public beach (where both men and women must cover their top halves) and a promenade full of cafés. It’s a chance to see not just how the Three Lions lived during their stay, but also a slice of local life. Doha’s two main sights are its Museum of Islamic Art and the National Museum of Qatar. While both are marvels of modern architecture, it’s the Islamic Art museum that wows on the inside too, with a collection that ranges from the delicate calligraphy of a Moorish Koran to the fearsome solidity of a Mughal scimitar. The capital’s other chief attraction is shopping – though Wags take note, we’re not talking about its many malls, but its ancient market, Souq Waqif. Its maze of alleys is as Byzantine as Fifa’s voting system at first glance, but it’s actually several overlapping souqs: one for spices, one for animals, one for sweets, one for clothes and one for falcons. (Revered in Qatari culture, the birds can cost more than £250,000.)
But the loveliest way to see Doha is to leave it for a couple of hours. Traditional wooden dhow boats cruise the bay, and watching the sun set over the city’s mosques and minarets, glinting off the glass of the skyscrapers, is a good way to end a day. The only way to better it is to get right out of town. A key element of most Qataris’ weekend plans, desert camps can vary from a simple onefamily tent to a sprawling mini-resort. But all have the unforgettable view. Just an hour’s drive from Doha’s downtown, the dunes start to rise: an Arabian Nights fantasy of shifting sand mountains and vast emptiness. Ways to enjoy them include sandboarding (like snowboarding, but warmer), dune-bashing (careering around in an SUV driven by an expert), falconry and even swimming (at Khor Al-Adaid, the Inland Sea, an inlet of the warm Persian Gulf comes right up to the foot of the dunes). And then there are the sunsets. Among the silence and infinite horizons of the desert, they’re stunning. While not all the world’s footballers will be taking happy memories away from Qatar, holiday-makers certainly will.
ED GRENBY