I got to Doha International Airport around 3pm so I could check out the Al Safwa Lounge ahead of my flight to Dubai. I already had my boarding pass so I went through the First Class entrance to the terminal and quickly got through immigration and security.

There’s a back entrance to the Al Safwa Lounge just past First Class security. You don’t go by the famous teddy bear (or the thousands of fellow travelers) when entering this way. On arrival, I took a quick look at the works of art in the lounge including a massive Keith Haring piece and some pieces on loan from the Museum of Islamic Art.

I did find it a bit hypocritical that an extremely expensive work by an artist who was a gay activist and died of AIDS in 1990 was prominently on display in a country like Qatar where same-sex relationships are illegal.

Anyway, I moved on to the other areas of the lounge. At this time of day, it was extremely quiet. I got a quick tour of the spa area although I wasn’t going to bother asking them to fill the jacuzzi for me.

I also didn’t need a sleeping room on this visit, although ironically I was there at a time when I probably could have reserved one of them without an issue. My original itinerary had me overnighting in this lounge, but when I read about how hard it can be to get a sleeping room during the overnight hours, I changed things around to spend the night at the Hyatt instead.

Next, I visited the dining room to order some food. Here is a link to the menu. It was around 3:30pm so I decided to order the afternoon tea service as I had a lot more meals to enjoy over the next 12 hours or so between flights on Qatar and Etihad plus the Etihad lounge. It was actually quite good although the service wasn’t great. The waiter brought me the wrong champagne. I ordered the rose and he brought me the regular Lanson.

After my light meal, I explored the rest of the lounge. There’s a buffet area for quick service, although nobody was there.

There’s a family area with video games that don’t appear to work. There’s also a duty free area within the lounge.

I found a good spot to sit and charge my devices for a while. The lounge is eerily quiet. Also, the overhead spotlights were glaring and didn’t really allow for snoozing without using eyeshades.

They also of course have a nanny room for your nannies to relax and a family rest area, which can also be a substitute for the sleeping rooms if nobody is using them.

Around 5pm, I left the lounge to head toward my gate, which was all the way down in the E Gates at the furthest end of the terminal. I took the train down to the CDE gates and had a quick peak at the Garden area. We went to the Al Mourjan Garden lounge back in March and really liked that lounge.

Overall, the Al Safwa Lounge was basically as I expected. The food and drink were a step below Emirates (and – as you’ll see in a later post – Etihad) First Class Lounges as well as Cathay Pacific The Pier where we visited recently. The lounge is museum-like and super quiet, although it does add some bells and whistles like sleeping rooms (if you can get one) and the jacuzzi. It was worth visiting, but I don’t think it’s one of the top first class lounges out there.

Up Next: Qatar Airways A350-1000 QSuites DOH-DXB Review

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.