Accessible in front of the five-star hotels that are on the coast, the rooms of the Doha Fan Villagein Qatar, they cost about $200 a night. But the room with two single beds, Wi-Fi, air conditioning and refrigeratorlies in a sea of metal boxes, containers that line up side by side in rows, lettered and numbered, on a synthetic-turf-covered field very close to the airport.
The ones that were the shelters for the workers who built the stadiums for the 2022 World Cupabout 4,000, were expanded to 7,500 to accommodate those who joined the World Cup at the last moment and looking for an economical option: on the same property there is a tent where everyone eats together: they sell food, coffee, pharmaceutical products and even fans.
a few steps there is an outdoor gym and an amphitheater where you can see the matches on the big screen. “The air conditioning and Wi-Fi work, the shower too. There are two small windows to let in a little light. And the door closes,” celebrates an Argentine who is staying there.
And explain that Qatar built other utilitarian housing areas for temporary residents: Asian Town or Industrial Area, which are permanent camps for the migrant workers who do most of the construction and service work in Qatar. The organizers of the World Cup applied the same concept to give fans a roof.
With this design there are three fields for those who attend the World Cup. And some are a little more comfortable: among them Al Khor, located 40 minutes drive north of central Doha, close to the beach. There the World Cup tourists they stay in canvas tents adorned with furnitureTV and a refrigerator, and has a shower.
Al Khor has swimming pools and restaurants, a small open mall and a “fun zone” with a fire pit and big screen televisions. The prices there exceed $400 per night. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Caravan City, a collection of 1,000 boxy white trailers on wheels—they’re $115 a night.
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