Cost of Living in Qatar

Cost of living depends on your lifestyle

Stay in a flashy place -
Pay for it or get your employer to do it

How much does it cost to live in Qatar?

When two expats in Qatar meet up, three subjects almost always come up on the table.
1. Challenges of driving in Qatar
2. Cost of living in Qatar
3. Where is the best place to eat

We have discussed driving in Qatar and where to eat in Qatar a couple of times. Let's talk about cost of living in Qatar.

It all depends on which part of the world you come from. And also what kind of salary that you draw. And what kind of lifestyle you lead.

Here's some basic guidelines:

Housing in Qatar (Estimated monthly rental including utilities)

Villa - A stand-alone house either occupying it's own land or in a common gated housing compound. Usually 2 levels of 3-5 rooms. Small to medium garden.
- US$3-8K
Apartment - An apartment in a building of 2-6 levels. Usually 1-3 rooms. May have common facilities such as security, a pool and gym.
- US$1-4K
Shared rooms - Occupying a room in a shared villa or apartment. Share a kitchen and common hall.
US$0.8-1.5K

As a general rule of thumb, you tend to see expats with family living in villas when housing is covered by employers, in apartments when they are individual or couples getting a housing allowance and single bachelor individuals sharing apartments or villa who pays out of their pocket.

Transportation choices in Qatar

Here's a rough guide to new car prices in Qatar.

Car - Honda Civic (@US$20K), Honda Accord (@US$28K), Honda CRV (@US$40K), Nissan Tida (@US$17K), Volvo XC60 (@US$50K), Audi Q5 (@US$65K)

You can deduct roughly 10% a year for used cars dependent on the brand and model. European and American brands depreciate the fastest with Japanese and Korean cars hold on to their value best.

Car rental is not advisable unless you are staying less than a year. In that case, estimate US$600 for a Honda Civic to US$1800 for a Audi Q5.

Buses: One can forget it. The bus service is almost non-existent as it serves only few roads and buses are far and few in-between. Waiting at bus-stops during Summer is simply not tolerable.

Train/Subway: Non-existent.

Taxi: Impossible to find one on the road. Found only in airports and major shopping malls. Expect to pay US$5 for a short trip to US$20 for a longer one. You can also book taxis on the phone but horror stories abound of bad experiences including no-show, delays, lost directions, overcharging and other bad incidences.

Private taxis: Most expats who do not drive depend on private 'taxis' arrangement. This is illegal but a common mode of transport which is much more reliable than taxi service. Expect to pay about US$5 to US$15 per trip. Some residents hire 'private taxi' on a long term on-call basis and this can cost US$800-1000 per month. The driver is not exclusively yours but you get immediate priority as the host owner.

There are also a few private chauffeured car hires when you can book private cars with a driver. The popular one is Fox Limousine and but there's probably another 100 smaller ones out there.

Uber is now available in Qatar and has risen fast in popularity due to it's reliability, friendly drivers and good quality cars. It can only go up in popularity despite being being more expensive than a taxi.

Eating out in Qatar

You can get a simple Chicken Bryani with a coke for US$4 at a simple roadside restaurant. The same meal will cost US$10 at a good Indian restaurant to US$20 at a hotel cafe. Use the same scale for quick takeaway food such as Sharwama or a Chinese noodle.

A 2-person complete meal in a restaurant will cost US$20-40 with a hotel being US$40-100. In my opinion, at this point in Qatar, even if you go to a fancy brand-name restaurant, the food and service just simply does not match up. I really see no point in spending top dollars on restaurant food in Qatar.

Groceries in Qatar

Grocery shopping in Qatar is estimated to be slightly more expensive than one's own home country for common goods like coffee, cooking oil, pasta, ice-cream, tooth-paste, shampoo, etc

Some supermarkets like Lulu and Careefour produces housebrands for common popular items and that may bring prices down to a level even cheaper than your own home country.

Exotic items like organic food, specialty goods and others are estimated to cost 20-100% more.

Petrol in Qatar

This is one area where Qatar shines above every other country in the world when it comes to cost of living. Octave 95 Petrol cost US$30c per liter or US$15 for a full tank for a regular saloon car.

Education in Qatar

Unless your native language is Arabic, you are unlikely to send your child to a local public school. This means sending your child to a private international school and this is likely to be an expensive affair ranging from US$20K a year for junior school to US$45K a year for tertiary education.

Obviously, this is an amount beyond most individuals and will require your employer pays for it. You may want to ensure this is covered in your employment contract especially if you have many children.

I have friends who realised belatedly that their employer does not fully cover education and they have no choice but to send family back to home country for education.

Healthcare in Qatar

Healthcare is next to free if you qualify for public healthcare insurance in Qatar. Anyone who has a residential ID in Qatar will qualify. You need to pay only a small token amount when you seek treatment at Hamad Hospital and it's subsidiaries.

Most employers will pay some form of private medical insurance that qualifies you to visit selected or all medical clinics and hospitals. Most private insurance will require that you co-pay a token or nothing when you seek treatment.

Make sure your employment covers insurance for your family too. Making a trip to a upmarket private hospital like the Al Ali will cost a bomb.

Airline ticket to and from Qatar

Qatar is not an attractive end destination airport and hence, has set itself up as a transit hub with Qatar Airways expanding quickly and serving many parts of the world. 

If you are flying direct from your home country to and from Qatar, one can generally estimate the flight to be 20-50% more than if you have an alternate airline on the same flight. 

Conversely, if you use Qatar as a transit and fly beyond Doha, you may find that with the additional leg, your ticket may cost the same or even cheaper than if your end destination is Qatar itself. So, if your lifestyle or your job allows you to plan your vacation easily, you may find this an attractive option to explore the world!

Alternatively, many people transit via another airport such as Dubai airport in order to qualify for transit flight with another airline. This also bring cost down substantially.

Like everywhere is the world, cost of living is on the rise all the time. At the same time, cost of living between yourself and another person in the same country is also different simply because of your way of life. You pay for the kind of lifestyle you want to lead and that is no different even in Qatar

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Top 8 activities to do in Qatar

Relax at the hotel

Relax at the beach

What does one do for entertainment in Qatar? 

Ask a different person and each will have a different story to tell you.

I guess what one sees as entertainment is largely dependent on whether you're a swinging single, an aspiring artiste, a family person, a sporting person, a sociable person or a dead bore.

Here's a list of popular social/entertainment activities; not necessary in any particular order.

#1 Visiting a shopping mall

As much as I say this list is not in any particular order, I think shopping safely takes the No 1 spot by any mean of measure.

Going to the mall seems to be Qatar's residents' favorite activity. At last count, there are 4 large malls that seems to take in half of Qatars' residents every weekend. They are Villagio, CityCentre, Landmark and Hyatt Plaza. In the last 1 year, Ikea and Ezdan Mall join the list of malls.

Shopping malls are where everyone goes to do grocery and household shopping, to watch a movie, to eat at a restaurant, to people-watch, to window shop or simply to kill time. Most malls typically has an anchor supermarket and some has cinemas, bowling alleys and ice skating rinks to bring in the crowd.

Try not to go to a mall after 1 pm on a weekend; it's impossible to find a parking lot. One goes to a mall to relax; not to fight with the next person over parking lots.

#2 Visiting a Hotel

I find it strange but hotels are packed on weekends; both with local residents on staycation and day visitors. There are hardly any tourist and business visitors would likely to have left Qatar on weekends.

Many hotels; especially the 5-star ones offer sport clubs, private beach access, restaurants, spas, boutique shops, hairdressers, swimming pools and many other amenities. Hence, they tend to pack in the Qataris and well-to-do expatriates.

Dress codes are a little loose, so you get to see Bikinis at the pools. Alcohol is served and the weekend brunch and buffets pack the crowds in at US$100 or more per person. Jazz bars, pubs and spas attract alike their niche clients who cannot enjoy them anywhere else in Qatar.

#3 Going to the desert

Going to the desert appeals to certain segment of Qataris and expatriates and you do not fail to see them heading to the desert every weekend especially during the cooler months. They bash the dunes with large 4 wheel drive SUVs, noisy off-road bikes and carts and set up large tents; complete with electrical generators, air-conditioners, water tanks, electric BBQ grills and water mister out in the desert.

#4 Going to the beach

Qatar has some very nice beach complete with clear, unpolluted turquoise sea. You need to drive an hour or so from Doha and some beaches can only be accessed using a 4x4 SUV.

The beaches are packed once the cooler months start with colourful tents lining the popular beaches.

#5 Brunch and dinner buffets

Every restaurant, from the economical to the high-end, is offering some kind of buffet ranging from US$15 to US$150 over the weekends and it never fails to bring in the crowds. Food offering tend not to change nor vary very much but still is adequate for some residents to make it a point to restaurant-hop to add some variety to their weekends.

#6 Parks and playgrounds

Qatar encourages family outings and there are surprisingly a good choice of parks and playgrounds. Some like the Corniche has been around for some time and is popular with families, cyclists, joggers, single men and tourists and is packed even till the late hours.

Newer and larger grounds like the Aspire park, Katara Cultural Centre and the Islamic Museum park come with water features, performance area and even restaurants and never fail to attract families and visitors.

There are also many smaller parks all over Doha city and are always popular especially with families as these parks always tend to have children playgrounds and refreshment kiosks.

#7 Hanging out at a coffee cafe, fruit bar and shisha lounge

There are coffee cafes everywhere and popular in Qatar are Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Coffee Bean, Coffee Culture and a whole host of other similar cafes. Whenever you meet someone for a chat, the appointment is likely to be in a coffee cafe. They open late and are likely to have wifi, sports channels and basic food offering.

I heard about fruit bar when I first came to Qatar. Fruit juice cafes are popular in Qatar and they serve nothing but mixes of fruits; often with exotic cocktail names. I guess the combination of fancy cocktail names and where youngsters can hang out gave rise to the term fruit bar.

Shiha lounge is the other popular outlet for people to hang out especially the expats of Arabic origin. Some Shisha lounge simply serve tea and Shisha, while others are restaurants cum Shisha lounge. The outdoor lounges are particularly popular during the cooler months while the popular indoor lounge seems to pack in the crowd regardless the hour of the day.

#8 Staying at home

You may be surprised but staying at home is popular with a large segment of the population especially during the hot Summer months when temperature goes up to 50C.

You can get everything at home.

Air-conditioning. Satellite TV. 4G internet. Grocery home delivery. Laundry home delivery. Food home delivery. Car wash; home delivered. Why even bother to go out and fight the traffic and crowd?