1. Museum of Islamic Art: Antiquity's Masterworks In A Modern Masterpiece
Before Qatar tapped into its vast offshore natural gas reserve, Doha was a quiet seaside village where a largely impoverished population made a living diving for pearls. The precious gem today is Doha itself. With the highest GDP per capita in the world, Doha's lustrous portfolio shines with hip boutiques, glitzy malls, gorgeous beach resorts, a burgeoning arts scene, and a firm foothold in major global sporting events - the 2022 FIFA World Cup. While Ferraris and Lamborginis on the road are common, Doha is known for the very uncommon art and artifacts found at the Museum of Islamic Art - the largest collection of Islamic art in the world. Drawn from three continents, its treasures include ceramics, glass, textiles, inlaid metalworks, and antique manuscripts spread over three floors. Built of limestone to reflect the daylight's varying shadows and shades of color, the iconic, 377,000-square-foot museum with its domed, five-story atrium seemingly rises from the sea in Doha Bay - an architectural masterpiece for the masterworks it contains.
2. Souq Waqif: Doha's Old Economy, Charmingly Renovated
As the economic and social hub for Arab peoples for centuries, the souq was where sheep and goats were once bartered for essentials in an open-air marketplace humming with commerce. While the sheep and goats in Doha are gone, the redeveloped Souq Waqif still bustles with activity in the shops, cafes, and restaurants that line its snaking labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways. Meander through its mud-rendered shops and bargain for jewelry, incense, spices, antiques and traditional Qatari dress. Then relax at a cafe to sip chai-karak - the local tea, or puff on shisha - a molasses-based tobacco concoction smoked with a hookah.
3. The Pearl-Qatar: The Arabian Riveria
A popular destination by way of its elegant extravagance, the Pearl-Qatar is an artificial island spanning almost two square miles of new residential towers, marinas, luxury shopping, five-star hotels, villas, cafes, promenades, and fine dining. Built over a former pearl diving site, Pearl-Qatar when complete will encompass 13 islands along 20 miles of new coastline, including 18,000 new dwellings and marina moorings for up to 200 yachts.
4. Doha Corniche: The Gulf's Most Attractive Promenade
Taking in most of Doha's key landmarks, this palm-fringed, pedestrian boulevard extends more than four miles along the city's seafront with the glistening waters of the Persian Gulf to one side, and the breathtaking modern skyline of Doha on the other. The attractive promenade winds in a crescent shape through monuments, ornamental wind towers, a green grassy park, and lazy dhows moored from their all-night fishing trips.
5. Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art: Modernism's Arab Perspective
With over 9,000 works celebrating modern and contemporary art from Qatar, the Middle East and regions connected to the Arab Peninsula - such as Iran, Turkey and India - the Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art showcases the largest specialized collection of its kind. Founded in 2010, the museum provides a rare comprehensive overview of modern Arab art from the 1840s to the present.
