I love Hamad International Airport in Doha and had no trouble passing my 8-hour layover by checking out the Orchard and relaxing in the newest Qatar Airways Al Mourjan business class lounge.
My Eight Hour Layover In Doha Hamad International Airport
After arriving from LA I wanted to walk a bit and stretch…after all, I had been seated for 16 hours. I headed for the Orchard. The Orchard is a 6,000-square-meter indoor tropical garden inside DOH, built as the centerpiece of the airport’s major expansion for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It sits beneath a vast curved glass roof that allows natural light to pour into the terminal, creating a very nice greenhouse-like environment. Sadly, I arrived after sunset and left before sunrise, but even so it was still stunning.
The garden contains more than 300 trees and 25,000 plants sourced from sustainable forests around the world, along with a 575-square-meter water feature. Yes, DOH gives Singapore Changi a run for the money!
Next, I headed to the Al Mourjan Business Lounge, known as “The Garden.” It is Qatar Airways’ newer business class lounge in the northern expansion of Hamad International Airport. Opened in April 2023, it overlooks The Orchard through floor-to-ceiling windows and offers a far more serene setting than the original Al Mourjan lounge, with extensive seating, quiet rooms, shower suites, a fitness studio, spa facilities, and several dining areas spread across nearly 80,000 square feet.
The lounge can accommodate up to 707 guests and includes 24 quiet rooms, seven spa treatment rooms, and a gym with treadmills and exercise bikes. Dining ranges from a buffet and à la carte options to a sushi and salad bar.
I reserved one of those 24 quiet rooms, which while not quite a bedroom (a shame they did not put twin beds in), it was a quiet place to rest and work. The gym was impressive and I enjoyed a nice dinner in the lounge (though service was nice great at all…more on that in my review).
Refreshed, caffeinated, and sated, I headed back to the concourse for my flight to Delhi, which left at 2:30 am…
My layover was technically 7 hours and 55 minutes, perhaps by design, becuase since it was under eight hours I did not qualify for a free transit hotel from Qatar Airways (even though we arrived 20 minutes early and so my actual stay was over eight hours). But it really was no big deal, as the time passed quickly walking through the Orchard and then in the Al Mourjan Lounge.
How do you spend your layovers in DOH?
The Orchard looks magical in the evening and your filet perfect. I’ll wait for the full review to find out what the service issue could be?
Matt, you got real lucky, especially since hostilities in the region have renewed… Yes, Hamad International is a top-tier airport. The Orchard really does look like Changi’s Jewel. The steak and ice cream at the Garden looks new (or, I just haven’t been for dinner. I’ll say, far superior to the typical lamb-sandwich at the original business class lounge; the Platinum, Gold lounge, nearby, serves a decent butter chicken, if you didn’t opt for the business class with lounge access and are merely relying on oneworld Sapphire, Emerald, etc.)
Having been to both, I personally consider DOH to be an inferior copy of SIN. Don’t get me wrong, DOH is a decent airport by global standards but SIN is so good that I didn’t even bother with lounge access whilst I was there.
I mean, these days, Changi over Hamad, mostly because there’s not a war nearby. But, in normal times, it’s a tough choice; I’m partial to lounges, especially after what are usually long-haul flights, at least for a nice shower, so between this new business class lounge at DOH (the Garden) and the best business class lounge at SIN (T3), I’d probably go with the Garden, because it has more space and amenities (a literal gym and spa), but SQ has toilets in their showers, while the Garden does not, and sometimes, hear me out, it’s nice to be able to take a #2 before you rinse off. How that for vivid.
Is Doha the airport that claims SIN stole their indoor arboretum idea?
I realize it was built much later but something about initial plans that then SIN built instead?
The legacy of the 2022 World Cup lives on at DOH with a gorgeous airport that served all the visitors to the event. Newark Airport doesn’t have a train during most of the day and when it does run it doesn’t serve terminal A. Also precheck closes at 7, and NJ Transit is more expensive than an Uber for 2
Great looking Orchard. While in the US, trees in the PDX airport interior are suffering because people thinks it’s OK “water” the trees with leftover coffee and dog urine.