Qatar Festivals and Celebrations

The short version

Two calendars run side by side. The Gregorian one carries Qatar National Day on 18 December and a season of sporting and cultural events through the cool months. The lunar one carries Ramadan and the two Eids, and it moves earlier against your own by about eleven days every year. We plan around the second rather than printing it, because a date published a year ahead is a date that will be wrong.

National Day

18 December, and the one fixed date worth building a trip around. Parades, flags on every vehicle, and the corniche full of people. It falls squarely in the comfortable season, which is part of why it works so well as an anchor.

Ramadan

A month of daylight fasting. For a visitor it changes the shape of the day rather than closing the country: eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight are restricted, opening hours shift, and after sunset the city becomes busier and more social than at any other time of year. Going during Ramadan is a genuine choice with real advantages, and it should be a choice rather than a surprise.

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha

The two great festivals, both public holidays, both moving. Expect much to be closed on the first day and expect everything to be busy afterwards. Book well ahead: these are the dates Qatari families travel too.

The cool-season programme

Between November and March the country runs a dense calendar of sport, exhibitions and cultural programming, much of it outdoors at Katara and along the water. It is the practical reason the cool season is the season. See best time to visit.

Verify Before You Travel

Seasonal and event advice appears on the FCDO Qatar travel advice. Next: culture and etiquette and the Barzan Towers, which were built to watch the moon that fixes these dates.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Qatar safety and security: the alcohol licensing rules, the drugs position, photography consent and the law on relationships outside marriage. Accessed 15 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Qatar travel advice: the FCDO issues no advisory against travel to any part of Qatar. Accessed 15 September 2026.