Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Doha Lounge
The Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Class lounge is one of the best lounges on the planet.
Unbelievably exclusive, very hard to access, huge, awe inspiring, and one of the few places in the world that makes you image you are in a museum, not an airport lounge.
There is of course a great restaurant, but add in the hotel like bedrooms, art gallery, bar with ultra exclusive champagne, and yes, even it's own duty free shop, it is a lounge like no other.
The only oddity is that it isn't actually all that comfortable, to the stage of seeming to sit on a rather random airchair in the middle of an aircraft hanger.
Doha Qatar Airways Al Safwa First lounge review
The Al Safwa Lounge is enormous yet almost always empty. It's style is best described as brutally modern minimalist, with monumentally stunning... empty walls.
The Al Safwa Lounge is approached via a huge escalator, right in the middle of the concourse, to the right of the teddy bear sculpture (whereas the Business Al Mourjan is to the left) and to even get onto the escalator you need to be approved by the flunky at the bottom of it, and your boarding pass scanned. Do not imagine for a moment you can buy your way in, or use a frequent flyer card. You need a real first class ticket.
At the top, there is a huge entry desk, behind which are sliding glass entry doors, and you enter a huge, monumental, and very quiet lounge. The Al Safwa is almost eerily quiet. Even far away, you can still hear the soft trickle of Al Safwa's signature feature: A floor-to-ceiling fountain, in which water falls down a glass tube into a massive metallic dish.
To the side of this spectacle, there's a large seating area - but when I say the other side, you have to walk over an area the size of a football pitch to get to it. Here there is the most typically loungy area of the lounge, looking rather out of place. With a roll of carpet, and some armchairs under decidedly small looking lights.
To one side of this rather open area, there is a more private space with individual pods with high armchairs, tables, and small monitors, behind small screens. Alas here the tables are fairly short, and you can't really dine on them, but it's a great spot for some extra privacy. Every pod comes with its own coat rack, which is an unusual touch.
The Al Safwa lounge seems to stretch on forever, and on the other side of the lounge, past the central crossroads, is an enormous corridor, with fantastically expensive Arabic art on each side. Much of this art is many centuries old, and protected behind bulletproof glass. Which seems a rather excessive touch in an airport lounge.
Half way down the hall is a family room, with lots of space for children to play as well as video games and several TVs, the only ones in the lounge. It is the most human sized space in the lounge, and only very rarely occupied.
Further down the hall are sleeping rooms: these are more like hotel rooms, and you can book them in advance. However, it is notoriously hard to get one, even then.
Back toward the entrance, is the lounge's own private duty-free shop, with some distinctly expensive high end wine and spirits. Needless to say, if you need to ask the price, you can't afford it.
Outside the duty free shop is another area with jewellery in display cases, and the same analysis applies.
In the centre of the lounge past the attendants' desk, there's some additional seating which looks both like and afterthought, and rather uncomfortable, with metallic wire frame chairs. No one ever seems to sit here.
Then further down the hall, is a separate small seating area, with buffet-style dining. This area has a sushi counter, sandwiches, and salads. This is the most typically 'lounge' area of the lounge. Although, as in all areas of the lounge, if you sit down even for a minute, four waiters immediately zoom in on you.
Finally, there's the dining room at the back of the lounge, with a massive bar right in the middle.
Here you'll find hightop chairs that surround the bar to the booths around it, to a long row of tables at the far end, where there is a small area of windows. The number of dining tables is impressive, and it is rare you have to wait for one.
All in all the lounge looks incredible, but dare I say it, doesn't seem to be all that comfortable place to wait for a flight, unless you want to take a seat in the restaurant and have a multi course lunch.
Food
The dining room has a great a la carte menu; there is a QR code on the table, or you can ask the waiters for a special printed menu.Dinner always starts with a small amuse bouche even if you don't ask for it.
Bar
Throughout the lounge, wherever you sit, lounge attendants will hurry over from the bar to take drink orders. However they can be a little slow - if you are in a hurry it may be best to just wander over the bar yourself.
The Al Safwa lounge serves up amazing champagne. There is free pour Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2006.
Business Facilities
There's also a dedicated workspace, with six desks and computers - both Macs and PCs, of course. The Al Safwa lounge is nothing if not extra.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are located behind the water feature. There's a full wall of urinals in the men's room, plenty of sinks (with cloth hand towels, of course), and fully enclosed toilet stalls.The lounge has a great spa.
Access
Who can access Doha first class lounge?
Passengers flying in Qatar Airways First Class can access this exclusive lounge upon arrival or before departure.
Qatar Airways Platinum members can also access this lounge, but only when travelling in Business Class.
On curiosity of the lounge is that you can only access the lounge really with a First Class ticket. However Qatar are phasing out First Class, and now only offer it on the rare A380 flights to London and Australia. As a consequence regional business class has been rebranded First, and you can enter this lounge with a regional business ticket (sold as First) but not with a much longer haul Business ticket (unless you are a platinum). It is very confusing.
Video: Qatar Al Safwa First Lounge
Great restaurant
Top end wine served at bar
Monumentally vast