Doha Airport Layover
Our Qatar Airways flight from Rome to Jakarta included a lengthy 10-hour Doha airport layover.Ā ThereĀ was really no way of avoiding this when we booked the flight.
If we had arrived early in the day, we could have enjoyed one of Qatar AirwaysĀ complimentary 3-hour tours of the city.Ā However, we would be arriving at 10:30 in the evening, so that option wasn’t available.
Our plan therefore had been to fork out for one of the available comfort lounges, and spend most of our stopoverĀ time there.
Since this was our first visit to Hamad International Airport in Doha, we weren’t sureĀ what to expect.Ā As it turned out, the public areas of the airport were comfortable, clean and spacious, with plentyĀ of soft-seating areas.
Plenty of soft seats, but you won’t find many with leg extensions
There is a wide choice of shops, cafes and restaurants open 24 hours.The food on offer is varied and not overly-expensive considering you’re paying airport prices.
All of the outlets accept credit cards, so there’s no need to take any local cash from the ATMs.
Doha airport layover
I checked out the 2 pay-for-entry lounges.
Both charge around $55Ā per person. For this,Ā you can use the lounge for 6 hours. They provide comfortable seats (but not recliners), shower facilities, computerĀ and internet access and snacks and drinks.
The Onyx lounge is the more spacious and comfortable of the two, but only provided coldĀ snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.
The Al MahaĀ lounge is smaller, with less comfortable seating. However, it did provide hotĀ and cold food and alcoholic beverages. The trouble was, it was so busy we would have had difficulty finding 2 emptyĀ seats.
In the end, we decided to save ourselves $100, and skip the lounges. That $100 would go a lot further spent on our upcoming travels through Indonesia.
Instead, from the Food Court, we shared a tasty Asian meal of seafood soup and sweet and sour chicken with rice forĀ QAR 95Ā (ā¬24).
Doha airport layover – Make your coffee last…
We then hunkered down for a sleep on a couple of quite comfortable padded leather seats.
An hour or so before our ongoing connection, we had breakfast of cappuccinos and turkey cheese and egg sandwichesĀ for QAR 84 (ā¬22).
Doha airport layover
10 hours is a long stopover, and we were pretty jaded by the time we boarded our connection.
Having said that, Doha airport is probably the most comfortable we’ve experienced, even without using their pay-to-stay lounges.
Have you got a layover in Dubai? See our article on the Marhaba Lounge.
If you enjoy a Doha airport layover, check out our Central Java Travel Plan. You may also like:
