An oasis of luxury and excess, Qatar is replete with remnants of ancient civilizations and desert landscapes juxtaposed with ultramodern skyscrapers and designer boutiques. This year, Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and Doha has gone all out to meet visitor demand. One hundred hotels are scheduled to open this year: Le Royal Méridien Doha is designed to evoke the Place Vendôme in Paris, the posh Chedi Katara Hotel and Resort sits right on the beach, and the all-suite Fairmont and Raffles Doha coexists with the 80,000-seat flagship stadium in the iconic U-shaped Katara Tower in Lusail.
Still facing a shortage of hotel rooms, Qatar has dialed up some last-minute accommodations, including 1,000 tented camps in the desert and two MSC cruise ships docked in Doha Port. Gulf airlines, including Flydubai and Oman Air, are instituting shuttle service from Dubai and Muscat, to move ticket holders in and out of Doha on 160 daily flights throughout the tournament.
Building on the architecturally stunning sports stadiums, the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, one of the largest museums of its kind, opened in March. An updated Museum of Islamic Art is also on track to debut later this year.
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