Zekreet Film City, Zekreet Peninsula

Overview

Drive west from Doha for about an hour, leave the tarmac near Zekreet and head out across a pale, chalky plain, and a walled town appears on the horizon. It has watchtowers, a mosque, arched balconies, palm trees and a gateway big enough for a camel caravan. It looks centuries old. It is not. Film City is a purpose-built set, put up for an Arabic television drama and left standing in the desert when filming ended.

That gap between what you see and what it is gives the place its appeal. It is a stage set you can walk into (when the gates are open), surrounded by some of the strangest scenery in Qatar: flat-topped limestone outcrops, wind-carved “mushroom” rocks and wide, empty desert that runs down to the sea at Ras Abrouq.

This guide is written for people planning a proper day out on the Zekreet Peninsula. The single most important thing to understand is that access to Film City has changed in recent years. It is now the heart of Visit Qatar’s winter event at Ras Abrouq, and outside that season many visitors have found the compound closed. Below you will find what to expect in and out of season, how to get there without getting stuck, and how to turn the trip into a full west-coast day.

The story behind the set

Film City was built as an artificial village for the Arabic television series Eyaal Al Theeb (Sons of the Wolf), a drama about a town and its feud with a neighbouring tribe. The builders borrowed from traditional Gulf architecture: thick, sand-coloured walls, crenellated towers, wind-tower-style turrets, shaded arcades and a small mosque, all arranged around open plazas. Seen from a distance, it reads convincingly as an old desert settlement.

When production finished, the set was not dismantled. Over the following years it became one of Qatar’s best-known off-road destinations, famous as a “ghost town” that expats and families would explore on weekend 4×4 trips. Visitors often described a caretaker living near the compound who let people wander through the gates during the day. Travel press, including CNN, later noted that the location also featured in promotional content in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Its status has always been informal. It has no heritage protection, and the desert has been hard on it: sand drifts against the walls and the paint and plaster weather in the sun. Reports of closures began to appear around 2021, when visitors found a boundary fence and a guard telling them entry was for workers only. OpenStreetMap shows gates across the tracks south of the set, and Atlas Obscura reports that the northern part of the peninsula, including Film City, has been closed off since then.

The bigger change came with the tourism development of Ras Abrouq. In winter 2024–25 Qatar Tourism, under its Visit Qatar brand, ran a desert “activation” here from 18 December 2024, extended to 15 February 2025, and Film City was one of its zones. Qatar Tourism said the event drew more than 55,000 visitors. It came back for 2025–26 as Brouq Season, starting on 26 November 2025, with Film City turned into a souq-style area of food stalls, shops and performances. The luxury resort Our Habitas Ras Abrouq has also opened on the nearby coast, and the whole area sits within the Al Reem Biosphere Reserve.

What to see and do

1. Walk the set during Brouq Season

   For most people, the realistic way to get inside Film City now is during Visit Qatar’s winter season at Ras Abrouq. In 2025–26 the set became a market-style zone with food, retail stalls, live music and cultural performances, and the wider event added a Desert Escape adventure area, a Wildlife Experience with guided camel and horse routes, glamping by the sea, stargazing sessions and hot-air balloon flights. General entry in 2025–26 was QAR 50 for adults and QAR 30 for children under 12, with some activities charged on top. Dates and prices change each year, so check the Visit Qatar events calendar before you go.

2. Look for the details that give the game away

   Part of the fun is spotting where the illusion stops. Walk round to the back of a tower and you may find plain blockwork; peer through a window and there may be nothing behind it. Doors that look heavy are sometimes light props. Compare it in your head with a real old settlement such as Al Zubarah or Al Jumail, and you start to notice how a set designer simplifies traditional building to make it read well on camera.

3. Photograph it from outside the walls

   The most striking views of Film City are from a distance, when the towers and palms rise out of an otherwise featureless plain. Stop a few hundred metres short of the compound and use a longer lens to compress the walls against the sky. On a still winter morning the air is clear and the colours are soft; at the end of the day the walls turn honey-coloured. Wherever you are, stay on existing tracks rather than driving across open ground for a better angle.

4. The limestone outcrops around the set

   Film City was built beside a low limestone escarpment, and the rock around it is as photogenic as the set itself. Wind and water have cut the soft stone into ledges, overhangs and flat-topped blocks, and there are small stone huts and round towers built up against the rock faces nearby. A short walk from the car lets you frame the fake town against genuinely ancient geology.

5. Wildlife on the way in

   The Zekreet Peninsula lies within the Al Reem Biosphere Reserve, and the tracks around Film City pass through open desert where Arabian oryx have been photographed near the set. Ostriches have also turned up in older photos taken around the set. Drive slowly, keep your distance from any animals and never try to feed them.

6. Make it part of a Zekreet loop

   Film City is one stop on a peninsula that also holds Richard Serra’s steel sculpture East-West/West-East, the Zekreet mushroom rocks and the Ras Abrouq coast. Most people see two or three of these in a day. Film City works well as the first or last stop because it is closest to the northern end of the peninsula.

How to get there

Film City is on the Zekreet Peninsula on Qatar’s west coast, roughly 80 to 90 km from central Doha. Allow about an hour to an hour and a half each way, longer if you stop for photos. Use the coordinates 25.5783, 50.8463 for the map pin.

1. Take Dukhan Highway west out of Doha, past Al Shahaniya.
2. Leave the highway at the Zekreet exit (Visit Qatar gives it as exit 72) and follow Zekreet Road towards the coast.
3. From the Zekreet area, follow the desert road north towards Film City and Our Habitas Ras Abrouq. During Brouq Season the route is signposted and there is event parking.

Do you need a 4×4? Outside event season, yes, or at least a high-clearance SUV. The last stretch is unpaved, with graded sections, loose sand and ruts, and older guides and Wikipedia both describe a four-wheel drive as necessary. During Brouq Season, event guides reported that a normal car usually manages the route, but an SUV is more comfortable. Never drive into soft sand you cannot see the bottom of, and go with a second car if you plan to explore off the main track.

Public transport and taxis. There is no bus. Event guides for Brouq Season advised against relying on taxis or ride-hailing, as finding a car back from the peninsula is difficult. If you do not want to drive, book a Zekreet or west-coast tour from Doha; several operators run 4×4 day trips that include Film City and the Serra sculpture, and Visit Qatar lists private tours through Discover Qatar during the season.

Best time to visit

The best months are November to March. That is also when Brouq Season has run, which is when you have the best chance of actually getting inside. In the 2025–26 season it opened from 2pm to 9pm on weekdays, 1pm to 9pm on Fridays and 10am to 9pm on Saturdays.

Outside the event, aim for early morning or the two hours before sunset, and plan to be back on tarmac before dark. The tracks are unlit, the plain looks the same in every direction at dusk, and older guides advised starting the drive home at least an hour and a half before nightfall.

From May to September the peninsula is extremely hot, there is little shade, and a breakdown here would be serious. If you must go in summer, go at first light, carry far more water than you think you need and do not go alone.

Tips for your visit

• Check the season before you set off. Search the Visit Qatar events calendar for Brouq or Ras Abrouq. If nothing is running, assume the gates may be shut and treat the trip as a desert drive with a view of the set.
• Respect closures. If there is a fence, a locked gate or a guard telling you it is closed, accept it. Do not climb walls or look for gaps.
• Stay on marked tracks. The area is part of a biosphere reserve. Driving across open ground damages the thin desert crust and plants that take years to recover.
• Download offline maps. Mobile signal can be weak on the peninsula, and the tracks fork often. Save the Film City pin before you leave Doha.
• Fuel up on the highway. Do not count on finding fuel or shops once you leave the tarmac. Fill up and buy supplies before the Zekreet exit.
• Know your tyre pressures. If you are driving on sand, lowering tyre pressure helps traction, but only do it if you have a compressor or know where you will reinflate.
• Do not climb on the set. The structures were built for filming, not for crowds, and some parapets and stairs are not designed to take weight.
• No drones without permission. Flying a drone in Qatar requires registration and approval from the civil aviation authority, and events have their own restrictions.

What to bring

• At least two litres of water per person, plus spare in the car
• Sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen
• Sturdy shoes for rocky and sandy ground
• A fully charged phone and an offline map
• A tow strap, tyre gauge and compressor if you are going off the main track
• A light jacket for winter evenings, which get surprisingly cool
• A bag for your rubbish

Combine it with nearby places

East-West/West-East by Richard Serra. Four steel plates, each over 14 metres tall, stretch across more than a kilometre of the Brouq Nature Reserve to the south. It is the other big reason people make the drive, and it is spectacular at sunset.

Zekreet mushroom rocks. Wind-eroded limestone pillars with wide caps balanced on narrow stems, scattered across the plain near Zekreet. They are the peninsula’s best natural sight and make a great contrast with the fake town.

Ras Abrouq and the Al Reem Biosphere Reserve. The tip of the peninsula has a quiet coastline, white cliffs and wildlife, and during the winter season it hosts glamping and the Wildlife Experience.

Zekreet Beach. A shallow, calm stretch of coast near Zekreet village, popular for camping and picnics. It is a good place to stop for a swim or a break before the drive back to Doha.

Frequently asked questions

Last checked October 2026. Hours, fees and access can change, so confirm with the official source before you go.