Another Moving to Qatar Post.

Hey there,

Transport wise - I have some friends who cycle to work - but like another user said - the roads are not massively safe! I am from the UK and I would say cycling here is worse than in London.

In terms of food and stuff - it depends how you want to live. You could buy exactly the same food as you would in whichever country you come from, but that will cost you big time!

If you are sensible you could spend 1000 - 1500QAR per month and eat well. That is what my wife and I budget but we tend not too buy too much 'white label' (imported) products. We also dont waste food! Meat tends to be pretty cheap too.

Hope that helps! I work for a relocation company so feel free to drop me a message if you need prices for shipping etc. Its pretty specialized out here and can be quite daunting this end without an agent! I have a few friends who came out here who are Canadian so let me know if you want their emails.

Tim

I've seen expensive being tossed around alot on this forum. I think cost of living is relative. Many factors. Of course in the West food is purposely cheaper. If I compare Qatar to my home country, then Qatar has same, and many cases cheaper options for food, clothing, etc. Yet in my homeland, we earn 3x less ... so for me Qatar is def not expensive. I think people need to really invstigate before saying expensive, etc.

What in the world are you saying?

Are you living in the same country I am living in or what?

Food here is extremely expensive. Whether locally-grown or shipped in from overseas. One trip to the grocery store will set you back around 500QR..

Fruit, veggies, meat, dairies, snacks, baked products are overly priced and prices keep rising at an alarming rate.

Anyone who's been here long enough would have been able to note the steep rise in grocery prices over the past decade.

I am commenting based on the relative food prices here and in Canada as I am familiar with both. As promised I will not comment on the thread again. Good luck OP with your move.

Compare the prices of such items with your country (canada) only ! compare not with world

It is cheaper here!

All the items mentioned are available here. 99% of food is imported but there are reasonably priced imports. Public transport is limited and generally not as reliable as compared with Canadian cities. Routes are limited as well.

Bikes??? Only if you have a death wish - there is no respect for cyclists.

Temperatures here will soon start to climb into the 30s and keep going up until it is in the mid to high 40s. The heat is a major factor for 6 or 7 months of the year.

Grocery and snack such food items are much cheaper than your country, but compare to other gulf countries is little expensive.

Most of the items are available here with reasonable price in Qatar but only brand names are different.

Hey,

So in regards to the public transportation, it's probably mostly mentioned because of safety issues. It's way too hot in the summer months to ride bikes around here, but nowadays in winter it's fine. The biggest concern is that roads have been built that don't really accommodate for bikes yet, so you're better off to drive/be driven. Sidewalks are fine, but I wouldn't recommend riding on the roads. Having a driver makes things easier, but if you're in a central location you can catch cabs pretty easily. Bus systems here are still being worked out and are not very reliable. There are lots of big chain grocery stores in Doha (Carrefour, MegaMart and Lulu) where you should be able to find most of what you're looking for. As for food prices they are a little higher since so much food is shipped in, but it's not marked up too unreasonably. You can find a lot of food that has been grown around the region for pretty decent prices, but you will probably pay more for really specific items that can't be grown around here.

Hope this helps!

@RyanCanuck.... yes I am. I am assuming you are from your username. Do you live in Qatar?

Are you really Canadian?