THE AIRPORT
Hamad Worldwide Airport (DOH)
THE FLIGHTS
QR70 from Frankfurt, financial system; QR909 to Sydney, financial system
THE ARRIVAL
Hamad Worldwide has simply been topped the World’s Finest Airport by Skytrax for the second yr in a row, so that you anticipate issues to be fairly fantastic whenever you arrive right here, and by and enormous, they’re. No annoying safety examine upon entry into the terminal: at Hamad you disembark the aircraft and also you’re straight into the principle concourse, strolling round, taking all of it in. (Or at the very least you’d be in case your aircraft, like mine, wasn’t parked on the tarmac someplace that requires a bus switch.)
THE LOOK
Hamad Worldwide is regularly lauded for its fashionable, spacious design, and it is no shock to search out that this complete facility is lower than 10 years outdated. Maybe probably the most memorable a part of the Hamad look is the inclusion of a number of large-scale artwork installations, together with “Lamp Bear”, a large yellow bear by Swiss artist Urs Fischer, and “The Playground”, a collection of bronze sculptures that double as kids’s play gear. There’s just one terminal at Hamad, with 5 concourses, making it very simple to navigate.
CHECK-IN
As with many passengers visiting Hamad Worldwide, I am transiting right here, arriving from Frankfurt after which boarding a flight to Sydney a couple of hours later, so I need not use the airport’s check-in amenities.
SECURITY
One of many nice issues about transiting by means of Hamad is that you simply aren’t instantly subjected to a safety queue and a rescreening of the whole lot that was simply checked on the different finish of your flight. Right here you enter the concourse straight, after which there is a small wait, perhaps 10 minutes or so, to undergo a safety examine to enter my boarding gate.
FOOD AND DRINK
For the world’s primary airport, Hamad Worldwide would not precisely have a humiliation of meals choices – definitely not in comparison with, say, Tokyo Haneda or Singapore Changi. There are a couple of high-end sit-down eating places, and two meals courts, one in the principle procuring plaza (close to Lamp Bear), and the opposite on the far finish of concourse C. I am choosing one of many few conventional, native dishes accessible right here: lamb shank machboos from Azka, in the principle meals courtroom, which units me again the ungodly sum (for meals you eat with plastic cutlery) of about $40. Nonetheless, it tastes good.
RETAIL THERAPY
No scarcity of locations to spend up large at Hamad Worldwide. Wander the principle procuring plaza with bank card in hand and you may end up the brand new proprietor of Dolce and Gabbana garments, Bulgari jewelry, a Hublot watch, a pair of Jimmy Choos, a Mont Blanc pen and a Hermes bag to retailer all of it. Or you may simply head to the duty-free retailers and feed your face with goodies and sweets.
PASSING TIME
There’s free wi-fi at Hamad, and myriad energy factors to cost units. Haven’t got a telephone or laptop computer? The airport additionally has a number of free desktop computer systems to make use of. Alternatively, you may rent a “Sleep Pod” or a resort room for a sleep, calm down in a “quiet room”, guide in for a therapeutic massage or a bathe, or head to the Vitality Wellbeing and Health Centre (entry payment 175 QAR, or AU$70), and use the lap pool, fitness center, bathe room, and even a squash courtroom.
THE VERDICT
The world’s finest airport? Hamad Worldwide is definitely up there. My private desire is Tokyo’s Haneda – which got here second in Skytrax’s latest announcement – due to its superior meals choices, however Doha’s transit hub does present a slick, fashionable expertise. There are downsides, nonetheless, and a well-publicised incident in October 2020, wherein a number of girls have been eliminated by Hamad officers from a Sydney-bound flight and compelled to endure medical examination to find out if that they had just lately given delivery, will linger lengthy in some recollections.
OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★★
Ben Groundwater travelled as a visitor of Emerald Cruises, emeraldcruises.com.au
