If you are in Doha for business or for fun, you can do a hell lot of things to make your trip exciting and memorable. But what you need to do first is STOP underestimating this beautiful capital and the largest city of Qatar that has incredible potential for business, investment, cultural and social activities, and that boasts dozens of awesome sightseeing options. Here are our chosen Doha tourist hotspots for you:
MARKETS
Doha is home to dozens of world renowned traditional markets or ‘Souqs’ offering everything from gold to general items such as clothing and grocery to animals and birds.
Souq Waqif: Doha’s Souq Waqif is one of the city’s most interesting finds. The souq has been at its present location for centuries serving as the city’s major marketplace where the Bedouins used to bring their cattle and wool to trade for essentials. The market is undergoing a major facelift but despite its partial ‘Disneyfication,’ Souq Waqif still reflects its status of Doha’s most traditional market place.
Animal & Bird Market: This market of Doha accommodates the traders and buyers of cattle and birds of all sorts. Besides goats, camels and sheep, the market trades in a variety of exotic and domestic birds such as cut-throat zebra finches, African Greys, ring-necked parakeets and spotted guinea fowl etc.
Gold Souq: This traditional gold market of Doha is one of Qatar’s, and probably the world’s, most traditional gold souqs. The market starts to bustle with buyers and window-shoppers as the evening approaches. Gold Souq is the hub for gold jewelry shopping in Doha, especially the bridal jewelry.
MUSEUMS
Doha houses some of Qatar’s finest museums, some of which are as follows:
Qatar National Museum: Reopened in April 2006 after a major renovation, Qatar National Museum features exhibits on archeology, natural history, traditional costumes, jewelry, folk medicine, and other aspects of Qatari culture such as weddings and coffee. The museum, housed in the beautiful building of an old palace, is one of Doha’s major tourist attractions.
Museum of Islamic Arts: Serving as home to the world’s largest collection of Islamic arts, Museum of Islamic Arts rests on its purpose-built island. The renowned architect IM Pei gave the museum the shape of a postmodern fortress that comes with an avenue of palm trees. Some other features of the museum include exhibition halls, a restaurant, a gallery as well as a library.
OTHER EXCITING PLACES
Corniche Beach: Jog, walk around, or simply sit back and relax at the Corniche beach area and ingest the wonderful views of the sea and modern cityscape of Doha.
Villaggio Shopping Mall: Villaggio’s Italian name translates into ‘village’ in English, and reflects the theme of this awesome mall. Dubbed as Doha’s best shopping mall, Villaggio is themed like a small Venice even offering tour of the mall in small gondolas. The shopping mall is Doha’s major tourist attraction.
City Center Doha: The name well known as the Middle East’s largest shopping complexes, City Center Doha is not only the city’s but also the entire country’s major shopping hub. Hundreds of apparel, accessories and other brand stores, huge food halls, major Western fast food outlets and on-site theaters showing the latest world flicks make up this gigantic shopping palace. Some other features of City Center Doha include 350 shops, tented architecture, marble flooring, glass elevators, ice skating rinks, bowling alleys and a lot more.
Interested in finding more hot places such as restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping malls and nightclubs etc in Doha? Browse the Doha Hot Listings on YaDig.com right now!
YaDig.com users don’t whisper sweet nothings into our ears. What they say, they say out loud to the world using YaDig’s platform! They’re free to share their experiences and that makes them the opinion makers. And most of the time, they say the sweetest things about YaDig’s top rated places. In fact, it’s their honest reviews and ratings that bring certain places to the top listings while pushing away the places that stink to the less prominent positions on the site. Here are some of the things that YaDig.com users say about our top-rated places in Doha, Qatar.
Bo Sun: “I don’t think twice when it comes to staying in Doha. The accommodation option in the city for me doesn’t get any better than Ramada Encore. The hotel is excellent value for money and is not even too pricey as compared to other hotels of such class. Everything about the hotel is great including its downtown location, spacious, well decorated and well equipped rooms, and a broad range of onsite recreation options. I frequent to the city both for business and holidaying and always stay at Ramada Encore.”
Irvin Homem: “Caravan is undoubtedly the finest buffet in the entire Doha. No matter of your taste is Chinese, Thai, Filipino or Indian, all types of cuisines are offered here with no compromise at all on taste and quality. The environment of the restaurant exemplifies fine dining making the diner feel at home. I invited my boss and his family to dinner at Caravan and they loved the food, service and the soothing ambiance of the restaurant. I’m definitely coming back here to try Thai food and I’m quite sure my boss has something quite similar on his mind too : )”
Cihan Franciz: “I didn’t even know what gem the Mercure Grand Hotel was hiding on its precious 12th floor until last weekend when a friend of mine took me to La Villa Bar. In addition to awesome range of fine drinks and scrumptious food items, the place offers breathtaking views of the bay and the marvelous skyline of the city. We sat back and relaxed for a long time at La Villa Bar while enjoying our drinks and ingesting the eye-popping views of the bay.”
Yiannis Kakavas: “I was pleasantly surprised when I learned how reasonably priced Dunes Cocktail Lounge was for a place of such class. The décor and environment of the club are simply superb making you forget everything outside the vivid Dunes walls. The ambiance is coupled with mouthwatering delicacies and good quality music that always goes perfecto with the club’s changing themes. I came here last weekend and have already made up my mind to come again this weekend.”
Daniel P: “I’m a globetrotter and no matter what country or city of the world I’m in, the mere sight of a Starbucks brings an inexplicable glee to my face and heart. I love the place from the very core of my heart and this love affair is a very old and ripe one. Vanilla latte and pastries of Starbucks are simply divine for me and sort of double the amount of intoxication that I get when stepping into the coffee shop and inhaling the sweetest aromas.”
Do you also have some sweet (or bitter) words to say about certain places in Doha? Get a free YaDig account today and start writing your own reviews for the places you love or hate.
Adding up a little swank to the much anticipated weekend dining plans of our Dubai readers, we’re featuring The Gramercy, a classy Dubai restaurant/gastro-pub in DIFC, this week.
Located at the renowned Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in the cool and cozy little corner of Dubai, The Gramercy is the perfect venue for fine dining in Dubai. Although gentlemen in smoking jackets and ladies swathed in furs is a common sight at this classy venue, the place still makes you feel at home for striking a conversation with friends or family and enjoying delicious cuisine in an easy going atmosphere. The wafting scents emanating from the kitchen or the lingering echo of a saxophone truly add up to the exquisite dining experience that The Gramercy offers.
Claimed to be Dubai’s number one Gastro-Pub, Gramercy’s food specialties include scrumptious offerings in raw bar, soups, salads, cold starters, hot starters, main courses, sandwiches, side orders and desserts. The drinks menu is equally rich with wide varieties in champagne and sparkling wines, white wines, red wines, rose wines, sweet wines, fresh juices, draught beer, RTD’s, soft drinks, coffee and tea.
For its food quality, environment and service, Grmaercy enjoys an average 4-star rating by YaDig.com users, while its mid-range price rating shows that the fine dining, taste and food variety offered by the restaurant don’t come with an extortionate price tag.
The restaurant interior enjoys rich shades of chocolate brown and bronze accentuating the atmosphere of old-school decadence. The restaurant’s minimalistic furniture and table settings prevent the scene from feeling overbearing making it a homely place for diners both casual and formal. The service staff is smart and attentive surely deserves a straight four to five star rating. The restaurant also serves as a spectacular sports bar screening major sporting events on huge LCD’s that descend from the ceiling at the start of the game.
What YaDig Users Say About The Gramercy
The Gramercy’s business page on YaDig has witnessed a remarkable rise in traffic and page views since it got uploaded to the site. Users have written many reviews for the venue, mostly very positive bringing The Gramercy to YaDig’s top listings. Here’s what some of our reviewers say about the place:
Mark Chandler
“The decor changed a bit since my last visit. The place had a jazz band playing, and a decent crowd. I was assuming a bigger crowd for being in the DIFC. The steak sandwich was outstanding. The mac n cheese was decent”
Isabella Young
“It is located at one of the trendiest district. Good decor and ambiance. I ordered sea-bass that was served with the perfect consistency sauce..The food was good but was little pricey”
Decker Stanley
“Tomato, pesto, mozzarella panini was pretty solid. They conveniently left off the fact that it also has eggplant and zucchini, but no worries. Mac & cheese definitely takes the cake, though. Cool atmosphere and some great DIFC-type people watching. Beers are a little pricey, but I’ll go back.”