Things to do in Qatar || Shopping Malls

Shopping in Qatar

 Most expats enjoy a good bit of tax-free shopping, when you go shopping in Doha it's also tax-free.  Sounds great?  Well, due to the cost of importing you might find the prices are substantially more or a little bit more, and only occasionally, less, so don't get too excited!  

For Example:

Make-up Remover Wipes
Johnson's 25 wipes - 24QAR / £4.17p.........................Boots UK £3.05

My suggested alternative:
Johnson's baby wipes - 4.75QAR / £0.82p .................Boots UK £0.99p

Where can I shop in Doha?

Food / Clothes / Make-up / Electronics

My favorite mall has to be Villaggio on Al Waab Street.  It has everything I need in one place, it's pretty and has good stock levels too.  I've never walked out of Villaggio empty-handed!

Website:  http://www.villaggioqatar.com/

Shops: H&M, Boots, River Island, MAC, Footlocker, Zara Home, Mango,Virgin Mega Store - the list is rather large!

Here are some pictures i've taken with my iPhone

Villaggio Mall - Gondola Ride

Villaggio Mall - Venice Decor

Villaggio Mall - Bridge over Gondola Ride

City Centre

Based in the heart of West Bay, City Centre was one of Doha's first malls.  City Centre is handy if you work in West Bay and would like to go to Carrefour and grab a cheap sandwich (6QR!) or need to do your weekly shop during your lunch break.

City Centre shopping Mall has clothes stores too, such as: Mango, Monsoon and Debenhams. But if you want to do a clothes shop, City Centre isn't the best place to go, you will want to go to Villaggio, Landmark, Lagoona, or Izdan!

There is usually ample parking, so long as you arrive at the correct time.  Avoid Friday afternoon, go Saturday at 10am when most people are still in bed after partying the night before!   Fitness First can also be found in City Centre, and should you need to top up your Protein supplies, GNC is on the 2nd Floor.

For kids, there is a huge ice rink in the middle of the center, an arcade on the top floor and a cinema too.  Overall a good place to go to for a little bit of everything.

City Centre Mall Location Map

City Centre's Ice Rink!

Landmark Mall

A bit further a field, with a building that looks like a circus, is Landmark Mall.  I usually go to Landmark mall when I want to visit Sephora, Body Shop, Boots, The White Company, Zara Home and MAC.  I would say that this is the best place to go to for Make-up as the staff in MAC are the friendliest and most helpful here than any other location.  I would say every make-up you require can be found in Landmark Mall.  But note, NARS is not something that appears to be sold in Qatar at all.  

There are resturants here too and the parking is a little sparce sometimes but if you apply the saturday am rule, you will be fine!

Landmark Mall Location Map

Izdan Mall

Relatively new and houses the only Forever21 store, Izdan Mall is located opposite Landmark Mall.  As it's very new, I have been there on a busy Monday during Eid and it was as if I was the only person in the mall !  I recommend going before it gets too popular!  I went for Jane Norman, Forever21, Tommy Hilfiger (sale!) and there were a couple of other nice clothing stores i've not been into before which had some good stock too!  

Ezdan Mall Location Map

Lagoona Mall

Lagoona Mall  Source: Google Images

Perfect place and only place to purchase a KitchenAid!  Lagoona Mall is expensive with has luxury shops to keep you entertained.   Nice cafes and Carrefour Supermarket to do your groceries.  Located within close proximity to The Pearl and beside Zig-Zag Towers, Lagoona Mall is a handy place to go to should you be lucky enough to live on that beautiful man-made island! 

Lagoona Mall Location Map

Things to do in Qatar || Logos Hope

Logos Hope

This afternoon I was lucky enough to have the chance to go aboard Logos Hope.  

Logos Hope is a very large ship, which houses the world's largest floating book store!  Each year Logos Hope docks in the harbour at the end of the Corniche and for one week only, offers free entrance and books to purchase.  Logos Hope is run by 400 volunteers from all around the world and houses 5,000 books.  There is a cafe which sells: coffee, soft drinks, cakes, muffins, popcorn and ice cream!

I parked up, and walked to the booth where you have to pay 2QR for a bus to take you to and from Logos Hope.  From there, ladies will walk into a nice air-conditioned tent to be searched and then proceed to board the bus.  Males will be searched outside.

Tip:  Do not walk with your handbag; speed up the process by taking your ID, money / card and car key!

You are then driven to the ship!

Once inside the first thing you will do is take a seat and watch a 2 minute video about Logos Hope and the history behind it.  Once that has finished, you are free to go to the shop!  The books are priced in units, which then converts to local currency.  It is done this way because Logos Hope travels the world, and rather than re-price 5,000 books, they just advise you how much the book will cost in your currency.  This year, 100 units = 12QR.  

After looking through many, many, many cookery books, I decided to purchase this book which has recipes from breakfast through to dessert - yum!

Once paid for (either by cash or card), I stopped off at International Cafe for a coffee (5qr) and popcorn (3qr) before jumping on the bus back to the car park.

Overall a lovely way to spend a couple of hours, you can experience all of this for just 2qr (the price for the hopper bus).

Key information:  

Logos Hope comes to Qatar once every year, usually around the second Eid.

This current trip operates until 20th October.

Opening hours are 2pm till 9pm.