Qatar's Tourist Spots: The Country Beyond Doha's Gleaming Towers

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Film City, Zekreet — Desert Ghost Town With a Mystery


If you drive out from Doha for several hours into the Qatari desert, eventually the sand dunes give way to sand cliffs, and on the horizon rises a truly bizarre sight — "Film City," a palm tree-laden, beige artificial village built for a film or television series. It's a contemporary replica of a picturesque ancient Bedouin-style village, completely deserted, with the creepiness factor turned all the way up. The abandoned set sits in the middle of the secluded desert peninsula of Zekreet. There are almost no people or cars around, and no signs to give any clues as to why the ghost town is there. Film City's original purpose and subsequent desertion remain something of a mystery — it's believed it was built either for a Hollywood production or a Qatari TV series. 
Visitors are welcome to walk around the set, climb the minarets, cross the bridges connecting the towers, and admire the vastness of the landscape from the set's highest lookout spot. There is absolutely nothing around — just the never-ending arid desert, the sporadic dust devil, and a few twisted shrubs, evocative of ghost towns in the American west. You'll need a 4WD to get there.