Jetsetter1984

I'm due to move to Doha beginning of May and my company has offered me accommodation at Al-Diyafa suites. Does anyone live here or know if it's decent accommodation? Google isn't offering a lot of information.

DXBtoDOH

Hah. I was reading this question on my mobile when collecting coffee at Costa's, right around the corner from the hotel apartment

This is what I do know. The building looks clean and respectable, there's a Persian restaurant on the ground floor, and Costa's is in a small mini-mall right around the corner. The vicinity is called Al Sadd, and is generally considered one of the better places for western expats to live outside West Bay / Pearl. There are scores of cheap eats around, including in adjoining Al Nasr and Bin Mahmoud (most are rubbish, but there's a selection of decent Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Persian and Indian options, lots of American fast food, and a quite decent Italian resto). You're also only 10 minutes from West Bay outside rush hour, the very popular Westin and Radisson hotels with their bars and restaurants are also only 5 minutes away on the C-Ring Road. There's a new Lulu's supermarket about five minutes away if you have a car, and that's the best close by supermarket option if the local Filipino markets don't appeal (they don't for me).

But, and this is a big but, it's still Doha Sadd is a mixture of newer midrise buildings and crappy old ones better suited for the slums of India, construction sites in varying states of completion, a handful of older small compounds patiently waiting for the wrecking ball, and most of all, the ever so pervasive dust and dirt (more dust than dirt) due to the construction sites, lack of paving / gutters, and that it's still a desert country. If you have to commute to West Bay, traffic can be a mare during rush hour.

I live in Sadd for now and for the most part would be content to remain here as it's close to my office, but it's the dust and the general shambolic nature that drives me crazy enough to move to West Bay in June, when my current accommodation arrangement expires. However, if I was offered free accommodation in a clean hotel apartment in Sadd, I'd put up with the dust and chaos.

Jetsetter1984

Thanks DXBtoDOH. You've put my mind at ease, at least now I know it's a decent enough area and the apartments look respectable. I guess like yourself I can put up with the dirt and dust for a while and move on elsewhere in a few months when I'm more settled and more familiar with the place. Thanks again 😊 P.s Costa nearby is a bonus!!

Hannah Faulkner

If you are visiting for the first time this might be the best place right in the city center

DXBtoDOH

I suspect you're not really Hannah Faulkner