Qatar Travel Guide

Entry requirements

Citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) do not require a visa to enter Qatar, and may use National ID Cards to enter the country. They may also stay indefinitely with no restrictions including on employment.

Qatar can be expensive (an espresso in National Library is QR15), but it can also be very cheap (a good meal in a local restaurant is the same price). Touristy areas tend to be more expensive. Petrol is cheap. Prices are generally lower than in the United Arab Emirates.

Public transport comes in three forms in Qatar: buses, taxis and limousines, all of which are owned by government-owned Mowasalat (Karwa) apart from some private limousine companies. Within the capital, Doha, there's also a metro.

Arabic is the official language of Qatar although the majority of residents do not speak it. Expatriate workers from other parts of Asia and Africa far outnumber Qatari citizens, particularly in Doha. English is the lingua franca, and most Qataris speak it to communicate with the foreign workers who work for them. Most retail workers are South Asians or Filipinos, not Qataris. Nevertheless, if you can learn to speak some Arabic, it would undoubtedly impress the locals. Qataris speak the Gulf dia…

The emergency phone number for police, ambulance or fire department is 999. Qatar is generally a very safe country for tourists, with crime rates among the lowest in the world. Western women travelling on their own sometimes experience staring from local men, along with other unwanted curiosity. However, this is more of an annoyance than a threat, and Qatari police deal harshly with any complaint of harassment. If you want to fit in better with the locals and attract less stares, a long, black cloak and headscarf worn by local women called the abaya can be purchased at a variety of places in D…

The quality of Qatari hospitals is generally on par with Western standards. Qatari citizens are provided with free healthcare under the government's national health insurance scheme, but this is not available to foreigners. Foreign residents are generally required to purchase private health insurance as part of their visa conditions.

You can get by for a few days without a SIM card. Free WiFi is available at many of the museums and art galleries. Download the map of Qatar in Google Maps for when you are on the move and offline.

By phone

When calling from abroad, the country code of Qatar is 974. There are no city or area codes. When calling overseas while within Qatar, the international access code is usually 0. Qatari phone numbers now have eight digits. Previously, they contained seven, but this was changed by the go…

Qataris share a common culture with Arabs in North Africa and other Middle Eastern countries; therefore, what is considered good manners in the rest of the Arab world is applicable to Qatar. Qataris are neither Bahrainis, Emiratis, nor Saudis; referring to a Qatari as either of those will demonstrate that you have no idea what continent you're on. Also, do not compare Qatar to Bahrain, the UAE or Saudi Arabia.