The best place to reside in Qatar as an expat.
Old airport road / Thumama / Matar Qadeem -
1- Loads of restaurants.
2- Nearby to the airport.
3- Big huge villas with own pools too.
4- Loads of markets including atleast 7 hypermarkets around you.
5- Al Meera, Lulu, Family Food Palace, Ansar Gallery, Food palace, Indian Super Market, Shoprite, Gulf food center with mega deals all the time.
6- Hayatt Regency Hotel with pool and gym and cafe facilities. World class.
7- Star bucks, Mcdonalds, Pizza Huts, Yellow Pizza, KFC, Papa Johns etc near by.
8- Almost 4-6 metro stations around you with only 10 Qars taxi fare or 2 minutes self drive of drop n pick.
9- All major hospitals available nearby.
10- You can travel to Qatar National Library, City Center, Corniche, Mall of Qatar, Katara, Place Vendome, Lusail, Marina, DFC, Ikea via metro.
11- Many cargo and courier companies plus QPost office is near by.
12- Rents are almost less than half in compare to or al waab area where major western expat families do live. But your goal is to travel a lot by metro and save money try living here.
13- 24 Hours pharmacies, Opera bakery, Chocolate n gifts shops around.
14- And there is a row of cheap and best and multiple services offers parlors/salons here only. Atleast four to five salons (Shimmer, Roche, Diya Beauty, Laleen) offer 5-6 services within 100 - 200 Qars only (What else you want in life)?
15- Old airport also having major huge furniture showrooms in one lane. Like Nabeena and many.
16- Al Raunaq is a huge stationary showroom with multiple craft supplies here only.
17- You will get 5-6 big unisex gyms.
18- Multiple male salons/ car wash and car repairing shops here.
19- Duplicate keys making/ hard ware shops also here.
20- Pet shops with food supplies also here.
So if you wish to live a simple life with everything nearby, and have a desire to save a lot to make a good bank balance pls do try this old airport road / Matar Qadeem.
All the best. 🦋
(Plus Qatar Airways office park also there).
(Al thumama - few schools offer badminton/tennis/swimming/basket ball/ football classes.)
They are most welcome .. . .. .
We have an open heart . .. .. as always .. . .. . !!
I wrote this as a comment for a Scottish expat family who are about to relocate to Qatar and wish to save money by staying in affordable place full of local amenities.
Thanks for the info. However. most of the above info are for people who have 500 riyal notes falling off their pockets. Around 80% of workers in Qatar are from the middle or lower incomes who can never dream of seeing a swimming pool let alone taking a swim in one of them. These people find a haircut costing 20 riyals to be on the costly side. Usually, most of them have a haircut at a 10-riyal saloon.
And your points # 14, 15, 16 got me smiling as I am a middle class worker, I can never ever peep into these facilities.
Add to that your point #17. Oooh! Unisex gyms! Oooh! I have begun to save money!