Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Doha
The National Museum and Katara in six hours
The desert rose building, the restored Msheireb houses, the cultural village and the pearl-diving coast.
The three-hour route does the souq and the Museum of Islamic Art. This is everything else Doha has built, and it is a lot: Jean Nouvel's national museum in interlocking discs modelled on a desert rose, four restored heritage houses in Msheireb that deal directly with Qatar's slave-trading past, and Katara, a purpose-built cultural village with an amphitheatre on the water.
The route, stop by stop
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National Museum of Qatar
Three hundred and sixteen interlocking discs and 1.5 km of galleries inside. The film work is unusually good and the building is the exhibit.
95 min here Walk here → -
Msheireb Museums
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
Four restored heritage houses, one of which — Bin Jelmood — is a full and unflinching museum of slavery in the Gulf. Free.
70 min here Walk here → -
Souq Waqif Falcon Souq
Hooded falcons on perches, sold for sums that make no sense until they do, with a falcon hospital next door. In the souq the short route already passes.
30 min here Walk here → -
Katara Cultural Village
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
A purpose-built village of theatres, galleries, a Greek-style amphitheatre on the sea and two mosques, one covered in gold mosaic.
50 min here Walk here → -
Katara Beach
Calm Gulf water at the end of the village, with the Pearl-Qatar skyline across the bay.
40 min here Walk here → -
The Pearl-Qatar
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
Four square kilometres of reclaimed island with a Venetian-styled marina quarter. Artificial in every sense and a fascinating walk for it.
35 min here Walk here →
More in Doha
Every walking route in Doha, or the full Doha guide for where to stay and what a day costs.