Qatar 2022 - Air/Car/Train/Boat Travel

how long of a layover at IST do you reckon is needed for a trip into the city?

 

I am hoping to have at least 8 hours of sightseeing, couple meals. Both airports appear to be roughly an hour from the city center by taxi, and then factoring in immigration and airport security on either end... That adds up. So with arrival at 5pm I'm going to stay the night, wake up for sightseeing and either book an evening flight out (assuming I can leave bags with hotel) or a second night

 

I was there many years ago, but remember traffic being pretty bad. You will probably want plenty of cushion.

 

Also remember the new IST airport is much farther out from the city than the old Atatürk one. Maybe there’s a train?

 

The Internet tells me they are constructing the metro to the airport and it should be done later this year. So hopefully that is a viable option at around 30min each way

 

Much better flight times. QR moved all of my flights out of DXB to 3:40am - looks like they havent loaded knockout round flights in yet though

 

I have never flown into the new Istanbul Airport, only the old Ataturk Airport. We did a 7 hour stopover 4 years ago flying from Chicago/Vienna to Istanbul and then out to Yerevan. We saw the replay of the Michael Bradley goal in Azteca on an airport TV! It was easy to do a short stopover for 7 hours. Looks like no rail connection yet, but it must be coming because Turkey has been on a rail and infrastructure binge in recent years. Internet sources tell me the new airport is a 50 minute taxi ride each way with a fare of at least 40 dollars each way, to get to the delightful Sultanahmet area of the city, ground zero for tourists. You can do a lot in 2-3 hours in Sultanahmet, visit the Blue Mosque (called Sultanahmet), Hagia Sofiia, the famous church, now a mosque, near the Blue Mosque. There ae many places to eat. A famous place is the Lale Restaurant, everyone knows it as the Pudding Shop. In the heart of Sultanahmet, it because the spiritual center of the hippie backpackers who began migrating from Istanbul to Katmandu in the sixties. Good but a bit overpriced, there was a great steam table cafeteria next door, the Can Restaurant, that was better. Nobody does cafeterias better than the Turks.

 

https://www.timeoutdoha.com/travel/...cmenP03nrEK2pryMu1nfTB62iSVrjSWyvFDTghJX2QqSI

 

Also since this isn't written on that page, during the Arab Cup 2021 the metro closing hours were extended till 3am. It is expected that it will be at least the same for the World Cup.

 

So i have tickets for USA vs Iran, and plan to base myself in Dubai and fly in for the game.. I searched on momondo and saw that Qatar Airways is doing daily flights from DWC (the other dubai airport, the so called white elephant), that would get me there to the game on the 29th and then back to Dubai at 8:10am on the 30th...

strange these flights are not loaded on AA, or Qatar Website, but i could book on some "travel2be" website. it has flight numbers even(QR 3193 going, 3174 coming back), and plane make (A330-900NEO... a NICE new plane)

Any travel experts/agency people find anything more about this... oh its $250 RT so very affordable considering all and anything..

 

I saw those recently as well but your best bet is to book the matchday shuttles on FlyDubai. They also leave from DWC for the same $258 price - I am actually not sure if those "Qatar Airways" fights are real or a computer glitch and are actually the FlyDubai shuttles.

We are booked on the 15:40 11/29 with return 4:20 on 11/30

 

Qatar Airways is one of the airlines participating in the cheap Match Day Shuttle flights. There are stay limits, and no checked baggage. See here for Qatar Airways's official page on it: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/match-day-shuttle.html

 

I am not going to Qatar. However, I clicked that link. It seems that using Muscat, Oman as the base is the most economical way to attend this World Cup. A cursory search led to hotels at under $25/night and round trip airfares under $1000 from San Francisco to Muscat. Then these shuttles or even cheaper round trips to Doha in the low $200 range.

Have fun and good luck.

 

thanks for the direct link with the Qatar airways website explaining things.. this will make basing myself in Dubai a bit easier and less stress for sure.

 

Are you sure? I believe Qatar Airways is also handling some Match Day Shuttles into UAE (DWC airport).

 

I'll be there 11/22-12/2 with matchday shuttle flights for ENG and IRN. My buddy will be there with his family so I'll look to fill some time sightseeing, watching games, and maybe playing golf. Let me know if you're getting into anything interesting that I should join!

 

Has anyone seen/heard anything about parking at games? Only game that my group is considering driving to is the England game as the expectation is that transit is going to bad.

 

We have been waiting for the same info. The official WC site says parking will be available at each stadium, but it provides no detail as to what that means, how much parking there will be, if the parking will be available to normal people, or how bad the traffic will be. Over in the main WC thread, a local said we should expect a lot of road closures etc., so I am not sure how well it will work out to drive. I assume those details will come out eventually.

 

Thanks! Guess we'll hold tight.

 

The Match Day Shuttle definitely works. I just booked our family from DWC airport (Dubai) to come in for the USA-IRN match using flyDubai. Both flyDubai and Qatar Airways are flying the Match Day Shuttle from DWC. But flyDubai seems to have a lot more frequencies than Qatar Airways, and the way they have timed the flights, it's easy to max out your 24 hours. We'll do one night in a cruise ship hotel instead of pulling an all-nighter (as I mentioned in another thread).