Travelers going to Qatar for worldcup

[vatanparast]

I wanted to start this thread to start sharing info for those who will be going to Doha for the games.
I have never been to Qatar but don’t think there is much to see. It’s pretty small and you can probably see the main sites in a day or two. Perhaps those that have been there can share more information.

Accommodations are very few. If you go to fifa.com it directs you to a site for accommodations. I only see apartments a 2 br runs $400-$600/night not bad at all, but you need fifa tickets to book. Other online booking sites show no availability for hotels. Possibly they’ve blocked them off for the world cup or they really are sold out. If in fact all hotels are booked, here are some ideas I thought of

Ideas:

1)Visiting family in Iran and flying for the game(s) there are direct flights from shiraz, isfahan, tehran and mashhad that I know of. Right now round trip tickets are ~$1000 I looked up Kish island but there aren’t any direct flights and traveling by sea takes too long. Maybe they will add flights from Kish
2)visiting UAE. Can check out Dubai and abudhabi, flying to Doha or renting a car and driving ~5 hours to doha from abudhabi. It seems most of the way is 3-4 lane freeway.

All Iran games stadiums are within max 35minutes of doha airport

November 21st Iran England 3pm doha time khalifa stadium where qatar national team plays 45000 seats (if I did the time conversion correctly)
November 25th Iran vs European playoff winner At Ahmad bin Ali stadium where AlRayyan plays rebuilt after demolition and opened 2020 game is noon 12pm Doha time 40000 seats
November 29th Iran USA al thumana stadium brand new 40000 built for wc at 9pm Doha time closest of the three to airport.
If we advance our round of 16 will be played on December 4th or December 5th depending on where we finish in our group.

I wasn’t successful in the first round to secure tickets and don’t know anyone that did. 2nd round lottery starts April 5th. Anyone able to get tickets?

Mods please edit as you see fit

[Under Lahaf]

Hey Vatanparast! It's been long time!

I was going to post this in a new thread and found your post, looks like Iran and Qatar have an agreement and staying @ Kish might be a possibility;

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...ent-with-qatar

But I would double check, I know there was another post in this forum that stated Iranian citizens might be forced to show proof of hotel reservation (in Qatar) to obtain entry visa at the airport. Anyways best of luck and hope you enjoy the games

[Babak_Shirazi]

Me and my brother will probably just stay in Qatar for one week and watch the Iran games and travel to Kish afterwards for another week of relaxation in the homeland 🇮🇷 Kinda wanna save the hassle of flying in & out for games, could be a bit tiring

[BacheLot]

Freaking flight tickets from usa to gutter hover around $25-3500 right now
Sounds like 3 times the normal $..!?
Do you guys think more (cheaper?)flights become available closer to nov. !?

Ftb im going it alone if i get TST iran tickets i ordered through the round of 16..! One of my nephews may join up ..!? Not confirmed yet
Ill be looking for anyone wanting to share lodging & transit between games & whatnot in gutter ..!
I looked into going to iran after some 38-40 years but too much paperwork & hassle… first i gotta get a Birth certificate & then chase passport etc. i might proceed with that tedious seeming process if I actually get game tickets ..!?
A little while ago they were talk of Iran possibly hosting some fans at the Kish island ..!
does anybody know if you can go there with an American passport just like a visitor for the duration of the tournament or two weeks or so?

[Babak_Shirazi]

Freaking flight tickets from usa to gutter hover around $25-3500 right now
Sounds like 3 times the normal $..!?
Do you guys think more (cheaper?)flights become available closer to nov. !?

Ftb im going it alone if i get TST iran tickets i ordered through the round of 16..! One of my nephews may join up ..!? Not confirmed yet
Ill be looking for anyone wanting to share lodging & transit between games & whatnot in gutter ..!
I looked into going to iran after some 38-40 years but too much paperwork & hassle… first i gotta get a Birth certificate & then chase passport etc. i might proceed with that tedious seeming process if I actually get game tickets ..!?
A little while ago they were talk of Iran possibly hosting some fans at the Kish island ..!
does anybody know if you can go there with an American passport just like a visitor for the duration of the tournament or two weeks or so?

It‘s really not that much of a hassle, just give them what they need for your passport dude. It will be weird as hell and super suspicious if you travel to your own country with a foreign passport only. You need that Iranian passport my man.

[Payam_Ali]

2)visiting UAE. Can check out Dubai and abudhabi, flying to Doha or renting a car and driving ~5 hours to doha from abudhabi. It seems most of the way is 3-4 lane freeway.

You have to go through Saudi to drive from Doha to Dubai. May be possible but who knows what to expect at those borders

[Bladsville]

A little nerve racking that I have tickets for all the group stage matches and 1 round of 16 match (if we get by) and I don't even have a flight or accommodation booked.


It seems like all big name hotels are unavailable or booked. The "official" accommodations are slowly trickling in on the official Qatar site. As of now, the only one I can afford is a efficiency apartment with a shared common area for $140 a night, do 14 nights thats ~$2000 USD. This is an apartment in the labor housing district which is quite a ways away from the stadiums, but i believe it will have free public transportation (all public transport is free when you have the Hayya card). The next step up is a single bed apartment in the old muesum district, at $380 a night would put my total at around $5000 USD. Which is absurd because the pics of the room don't look much better than the labor camp one. I wouldn't mind sleeping in a tent in the desert, but since im bringing my wife along, i would prefer to stay some where decent. Doesnt look like its going to happen in my budget.


Flights are a whole other ball game. Like another member said, they are floating at around 2000-3000 for the base economy flights to Doha from US. It almost would make sense to stay in dubai with some family that lives there and fly in to Qatar for every match. Sounds ridiculous, but then again look at the prices for accomodation and flights to Doha from US. Flights to Dubai are almost 1/3 of the cost of going to Doha.

Driving to Doha from Dubai is an option, but only if I can borrow a family car from Dubai. 99.9% of car rental places do not allow their vehicles to be driven past international borders. The 6ish hour drive to Doha isnt anything for me as I lived in Texas and that is nothing for us. This would be my favorite option, but seems like logistically it would be the most difficult.

I am also looking into renting a car when I am in Doha, since I like the independence and would like to tour the country on my own in between games. Im more than willing to pick up some members if they want to so we can do some dune bashing/rental abuse.

If anyone has any good ideas or options or input that would be great!

[Babak_Shirazi]

I think they will unlock the accommodations in time and they are going to make them somehow affordable for tourists. I‘m sure there will be some hostels etc as well. Not everyone traveling to Qatar is a billionaire so they will work out something