UA Fan

Another airport that has something like this. I guess it is following the likes of SIN, ICN and IST. Did I miss out any?

diamantaire

the free city tour?

virtualaris

Just read it on another website. One of the traveler said that it won't require any visa at all ! Which is a great news !!!

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...nsit-Doha.html

iolairemcfadden

FYI: I was looking into this an one trip advisor post linked to this blog post:
http://reflectionsofaviolinist.com/2014/03/14/qatar/
sounds ok

zehbra

Does anyone have any idea how strict they are with the 5-12 hours transit? I'll be there in transit for about 14 hours or so during the day (due to fully booked earlier connections, so no STPC). From previous experience I know that Doha in Summer isn't the best place to walk around randomly, so a tour would be nice..

Anyone think I still have a chance of getting the tour? Doesn't really make sense to me to impose a 12 hour transit limit..

iolairemcfadden

Shoot I have a 12:45 layover! I'll try on Aug 27th and report back.

zehbra

That would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm actually there on Aug 18th though, but late at night; I doubt there's anyone at the desk then

arabiamark

Does anybody know if it's possible to leave the tour in the middle? For example, get off at Souq Waqif, stay as long as I want, and then go back to the airport on my own in a taxi or something? It sounds like the tour only stops for 20 minutes or so. I have a longer layover and wouldn't mind killing more time having a leisurely coffee/hubbly bubbly.

iolairemcfadden

Did the tour on Thursday 7:30 pm. Guy was not there from 6 until 7 pm. Only looked at outbound ticket at that point we had under 12 hours left.

Re leaving early, maybe but talk to the guy and don't show immigration the free pass so you can pay for the visa. We were not able to ask in advance because of the missing person. Had we asked in advance and paid for the visa they would have dropped is off at the Marriott after the tour. Instead we went back to the airport and ate in the lounge then did immigration again, which intails going the wrong way through transfers security.

zehbra

Thanks for your report. Where is the guy? before or after transit-security? Breakfast in the lounge before the city tour would be great

iolairemcfadden

After transfer security, within view of the circular desk near big bear, but back towards the escalators down from the transfer security area. As you come down from transfers and walk up to the bank of TVs with gate info, it's directly behind you.

zehbra

Superb! So lounge breakfast before city tour Thanks a lot for all the info!

zehbra

Sorry for the double post in this old-ish thread, but this might be useful to some here:


The time given at "Tour Starts" means that you should be at the desk around half an hour beforehand so you can be lead through passport check and meet the tour guides.

The first tour in the morning is usually full we were told, with the other two being pretty empty (2 to 4 people) and the evening one being a bit fuller again.

If you have the choice, go for the evening tour, since it won't be as hot and the Souq waqif will be more lively.
Avoid the 1pm tour if possible since it'll be blistering hot and the souq waqif will be closed most likely.

Make sure to check in early enough - and be prepared to go to the desk a few times/be patient, the guy there likes to take breaks from time to time

arabiamark

To answer my own question, no you can't leave the tour in the middle. It's because of not having a visa. If a passenger ever went missing the people who run the tour would be in big trouble.

I did the 7 pm tour. At this time, immigration is quite busy. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly for those of us familiar with this part of the world), the tour hasn't coordinated with immigration to fast track people through. So it's possible that a large part of the 3 hours allotted for the tour could get eaten up standing in the passport line. In our case the tour guide found a friendly immigration officer who opened up a special booth for us.

It can also be a problem if the bus gets stuck in traffic. In our case we had to cut out one stop and the last stop at Souq Waqif was very brief.

Anyway, it's a good diversion if you have a long layover.

zehbra

Oh, I didn't think about that when I advised to take the 7pm tour - sorry! When we were there around 10 am, there was no one at immigration, so it was a very quick affair.
I do agree though that there's a lack of coordination in this process. We were told this is because this whole city-tour thing is very new and not everyone working at the airport is familiar with it yet.