Doha during Ramadan?
July 30, 2012 3:41 AM Subscribe
Have a LONG layover in Doha tomorrow (Tuesday) and just realized it's Ramadan. What's there to do if I get out of the airport and explore?
Totally forgot Ramadan just started and this probably affects the hours of many places in Qatar. I checked the hours for the Museum of Islamic Art and it's closed Tuesday during Ramadan. (according to Wikitravel, this is the only museum that allows walk-ins -- is that true?)
What are some foreigner-friendly activities and places I should check out? I'm not a Muslim; how would this limit my options? I'm pretty ignorant about the Middle East so anything will help. (otherwise I will likely stay at the airport for over 24 hours.) Thanks!
Totally forgot Ramadan just started and this probably affects the hours of many places in Qatar. I checked the hours for the Museum of Islamic Art and it's closed Tuesday during Ramadan. (according to Wikitravel, this is the only museum that allows walk-ins -- is that true?)
What are some foreigner-friendly activities and places I should check out? I'm not a Muslim; how would this limit my options? I'm pretty ignorant about the Middle East so anything will help. (otherwise I will likely stay at the airport for over 24 hours.) Thanks!
Response by poster: I didn't read your reply in time, but thanks anyway. Unfortunately for me, my transit connection time was over 24 hours so I didn't qualify for the Transit Accommodation service and I didn't want to pay $100+ for a hotel.
Eating at the airport wasn't disapproved of, though I wasn't too obvious. But my experience at Doha Airport was yes, pretty miserable. The staff were sympathetic, though not particularly helpful. Though hotels and the international terminal cater to non-Muslims and offer food, Qatar Airways wouldn't let me into the international terminal until eight hours before my flight (which meant it was night anyway). So I just didn't eat for sixteen hours and struggled to get through that time - the airport barely has any tvs or outlets to charge my laptop with.
Doha was hot but the airport was freezing. Basically, if you don't want to shell out any money, a layover at Doha during Ramadan will be pretty boring and uncomfortable. I should've just booked another airline even if costed me a little more.
posted by myntu at 12:48 PM on August 3, 2012
Eating at the airport wasn't disapproved of, though I wasn't too obvious. But my experience at Doha Airport was yes, pretty miserable. The staff were sympathetic, though not particularly helpful. Though hotels and the international terminal cater to non-Muslims and offer food, Qatar Airways wouldn't let me into the international terminal until eight hours before my flight (which meant it was night anyway). So I just didn't eat for sixteen hours and struggled to get through that time - the airport barely has any tvs or outlets to charge my laptop with.
Doha was hot but the airport was freezing. Basically, if you don't want to shell out any money, a layover at Doha during Ramadan will be pretty boring and uncomfortable. I should've just booked another airline even if costed me a little more.
posted by myntu at 12:48 PM on August 3, 2012
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The hotels ought to have enough non-Muslim guests to be very accommodating with regard to food and activities, which may be quite limited. But being in a hotel is going to be a lot better than being in the Doha Airport, which is a terrible, terrible airport in the best of circumstances. There are Ramadan fasting exceptions for travelers, but in Doha it's quite possible that eating in public at the airport would be very frowned upon, among other things. You also can't buy access to the business class section of airport, which apparently has wonderful lounges with showers, etc. So if you can swing an upgrade, it might be worth it.
Also keep in mind that it will be ludicrously hot in Doha and you probably won't want to do much outside.
If you're up for a little adventure, it might be worth it to hop over to Dubai for the day since you're stuck for so long. The flights are cheap and frequent, and there's a lot more going on in Dubai in general.
posted by charmcityblues at 5:49 AM on July 30, 2012