An experience of a day-long tour
Al Khor has lately emerged as an ideal tourist destination in Qatar, with beautiful, lush green family parks, kayaking opportunities, water sports and new road networks.
It is one of the largest cities in Qatar beyond Doha that can be reached around 45 minutes drives or nearly one and half an hour travel by bus is located 50 kilometers north of the capital city- Doha at the northeastern coast of Qatar.
Considered one of Qatar’s largest cities, the name of the city means creek in Arabic; it was given this name because the original settlement was built on a creek.
History describes, in Arabic, Al Khawr means bay as the city was near a bay.
Al Khor was ruled by the Al Muhannadi tribe before Qatar gained its independence in 1971.
Tourism has been increasing in recent years owing to the municipality’s various resorts, natural areas and cultural attractions. Fishing was the historical mainstay of most of the municipality’s inhabitants.
This scribe along with some other colleagues were in Al-Khor the other day for a day-long hours to utilize the leisure time after official work. Trying to explore the opportunity the trip was amazing and advisable to visit once who landed in mile-away Doha even for short times.
Once famous as a center for the pearling industry, Al Khor is a pleasant town with an attractive corniche, a small dhow yard and a lively fish market. Several old watchtowers are scattered around town, and many have been restored to their original form. The nearby mangroves are a good place for birdwatching.
Al Khor has top attractions to visit Al Khor Park, Al Khor Mall, Purple Island-Al Khor Island, Al Thakhira Beach, and Corniche.
Al Khor will soon have a traditional souq. The new souq features a number of shops and a dedicated area for public gathering and is located close to the seafront. Al Khor was once a small and rather isolated fishing and trading settlement, but has undergone total transformation and is a modern city that attracts large numbers of visitors. Once it is connected to Doha by rail network, the city will be an attractive residential area for the people working in Doha, said the local resident.
The huge Al Bayt Stadium, currently under construction, has capacity for 60,000 fans during the soccer games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Once completed, it will make Al Khor one of the best seafront cities of Qatar. Its tent-like appearance is similar to the shelters used in earlier times by nomadic travelers.
Walk along Al Khor Corniche near Al Khor East Tower to look at the peaceful waters of an inlet of the Persian Gulf.
Al Khor Mall is a large air-conditioned shopping center with over 100 stores, restaurants and entertainment sites is situated downtown. Worth to see the park with neat and green amazed to be sitting on green carpet under the shades of trees. However, weekends are very crowded.
Al Khor has a lot to offer to the blue collar workers as well, such as Al Khor Workers Sports Complex that includes separate fields for cricket and football, basketball courts and three volleyball courts, in addition to 35 shops, two cinema halls. A large number of companies have shifted their workers’ accommodations to the area.
Explore the downtown area in search of museums and boutiques…or that next delicious meal.
Find that perfect souvenir at one of the smaller shops, or reinvent your entire artistic aesthetic at your new favorite gallery.
Rent a car and take it out beyond city limits and into the wild blue yonder.
Explore the smaller cities and towns past the border, and get to know the stories behind them.
Visit a county fair and let childhood memories wash over you as cotton candy melts in your mouth.
Al Khor mall has been one of the busiest in the town, you can find most of the iconic restaurants, fast food shops and stores such as Starbucks (only one coffee shop in the mall) Applebee’s, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
Al Khor Mall, sprawling over an area of about 55,016.67 square meters, is the first mall as well as the largest of its kind in Al Khor. With more than 100 outlets and a variety of dining options, fashion outlets, multiplexes and family entertainment centers. Excellent place for family entertainment One of the biggest Lulu Hypermarkets, Famous jewelleries, money exchanges, different types and delicious food serving restaurants, multiplex, kids entertainment, beauty salons…”
Al-Khor is a pleasant and quiet town, and though its Corniche cannot match Doha’s in beauty, it does offer a nice enough place to relax and sunbathe, or play beach volleyball or cricket if you feel like being a little more active. There are plenty of shady places to sit near the sand, but you can’t swim in the bay here as, like much of Qatar, the water is too shallow.
(Ranjit did his graduation from the University of Texas of the USA in Electrical Engineering and is currently working as a Senior Engineer at one of the multinational companies in Doha)
