When I think of the Middle East and travel, it is Dubai then Abu Dhabi. Maybe Qatar – because of Q Suites (I’m an airline geek) and the World Cup. But Oman? Never even been ON my list, let alone near the top. Until I started planning my positioning flights for my mad round the world trip and Muscat, Oman popped up as a stopover option. Suddenly I was interested, then I was obsessed.
A little bit about Oman
Lacking the flash of the Emirates and the controversies of Qatar or Saudi, the Sultanate of Oman is known as The Pearl of Arabia. It is situated on the southeastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE. It covers an area of 309,500km², 82% of which is arid desert, but it also has extensive coastline to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian sea, mountain ranges and, surprisingly (to me), lush vegetation…? From June to September Salalah, capital of the southern region of Dhofar, has its Khareef (monsoon) season where temperatures drop below the 35-40+ degrees celsius standard for summer in Oman and the rains reveal tropical greenery. Who knew?
As you would expect for the region, the population is majority Arab, but there is a decent amount of ethnic diversity with Omanis of origins including South Asian and African. I was completely ignorant of the colonial links to Pakistan, for example, or East Africa’s ‘Swahili Coast’, particularly Zanzibar. More than half the population of Oman lives in its largest city, the historic capital of Muscat – so it was here that I decided to focus my trip.
Not that I didn’t want to explore further. Once I started my research, I had dreams of extending my trip beyond Muscat, down south to Salalah and The Empty Quarter, but I just didn’t have the time. This was supposed to be a layover on week-long journey, after all. In the end, I decided to keep to Muscat, but to add an extra day to the stop to allow me to a) visit the famed Sultan Qaboos Mosque (my original itinerary had me visiting on a Friday when The Mosque is not open non-Muslims. The extra day meant I would get the chance to go) and b) see more sights. Like the Opera House, the desert, the dolphins…
I had a whole 48 hours.
Day one in Muscat, Oman
Drama
The trip didn’t get off to the best of starts. With my usual over-confidence, I thought that if I worked a half-day, I’d have enough time to get from North West London to Heathrow to catch my 13:30 positioning flight to Paris. Yeah, right. I was answering emails right up to the wire and ended up having to drop a criminal £25 on the Heathrow Express because I didn’t leave enough time to take the Elizabeth Line to the airport. And I forgot my sunglasses. Which is fine, as it is never sunny in the Middle East…
Made it to Heathrow with barely enough time to grab a bottle of water and some chewing gum from Boots, then had BA ruin my ‘hand luggage only’ travel plans by making me gate-check my tiny bag (for free, thankfully) because a change of equipment had left them tight on overhead space. It was not boding well. I spent my five-hour layover in CDG, not in the lounge, but racing round Terminal 1 looking for a pair of sunglasses I could actually afford. The refurbishment, I have to say, is gorgeous: very elegant design, lots of open seating, really pleasant space to pass the time. Unfortunately, it was also loaded with nothing but high-end retailers: Dior, Saint Laurent, multiple Chanel boutiques. I think this is because the traffic here is all Middle Eastern and Asian airlines, loaded with whom they assume are big spenders. And me.
Managed to grab a pair for a ‘bargain’ €35, picked up a grande cold brew from Starbucks and was finally able to relax a little before my 21:35 flight to Muscat, Oman.
Heading to Oman…finally
My first taste of Oman Air was flight WY132, on a Modern 787-9. The blue and cream colour scheme was smart and my economy seat – 45H, aisle on the left – had decent legroom. As it was an overnight flight, we were offered a blanket and pillow alongside our headphones. I was so glad to see a usb charger at my seat. This trip was going to be go,go,go as I was being met straight from the airport to be taken on a city tour. Even travelling with a power bank, it was always going to be a challenge to keep my phones, camera and airpods juiced. Motto for this holiday? If you see a plug or port: USE IT.
The IFE was was touch screen and well stocked with Hollywood and local titles. Lots of new releases, though I somehow ended up watching The Maltese Falcon over dinner. Props to the catering, which wasn’t bad for economy. Some pasta salad-looking thing that I didn’t touch, ice cold bread roll as per (I always warm these up by popping them on top of the foil covering my main – good for softening the near-frozen butter too). But the main I ended up with – after they’d run out of my preferred chicken – was a beef stew with onion gravy, mash and buttered veg that was pretty delicious. The little square of cake for afters was decent too.
I had a very, very brief snooze, then awoke in time to watch the beautiful blues of the Gulf of Oman as we landed into Muscat.
Welcome to Muscat
It was before 7am, so entry was pretty quick – and as a UK passport holder, I didn’t need a visa (one of the very few things Brexit hasn’t ruined for us. Yet.). I’d booked a half-day guided tour through Get Your Guide, but the actual tour was being delivered by Gid Oman. A big bonus for me was that they offered an airport pick-up. Tours tend to start early and taxis in Muscat aren’t cheap, so it was a bonus to avoid the faff and expense of having to race to my hotel to be collected. Gid Oman were very communicative, checking in via WhatsApp the day before and letting me know that their driver would pick me up at 08:30 and, as I was nursing an iced americano in Caffe Nero, he was there bang on time.
He dropped me off at The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque where I met my guide and the rest of our tour group. More brownie points for Gid Oman: small tour group. My pet hate is a giant, unwieldy groups. Coach tour? Even worse. Too many people, can’t hear the guide, you always get stuck waiting for that one family who gets lost, little kids ALWAYS need the toilet… I once absconded from a tour group in Istanbul (don’t worry, I let the guide know I was leaving!) because I just couldn’t take it any more. There were just the four of us today: a British couple who were based in Saudi, an Italian lady who was also flying solo, me and our guide, Jamal, who was also our driver for the day.
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Mosque? Impressive. It was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman in 2001 to celebrate 30 years of his reign, and is an absolute masterpiece of architecture. Built with 300,000 tons of imported Indian sandstone, the structure is built around a main minaret that is 90 metres tall, flanked by four ‘smaller’ minarets each of 45 metres, on a site of more than 416,000 square metres.
Shoes off and heads covered – my WhatsApp from the tour company had also included info on the dress code – we started out in the women’s prayer hall, which was (relatively) modest, save the beautifully ornate wooden doors and simple chandeliers. We wandered through the courtyards and corridors, guided by Jamal, the sandstone cool under our feet even in the morning sun. We found ourselves in the main prayer hall. If you’ve ever seen any pictures of this mosque before, this is the space you’d likely have seen. It is home to the second-largest (4,343 square metres) single piece carpet in the world, hand woven using 1,700,000,000 knots. Also, the world’s second-largest chandelier, containing 600,000 Italian crystals. Spectacular.
Away from the bling, it was cool to also spend time in the community library and take coffee and dates in the visitors centre. We were welcomed by a volunteer who educated us a little on Islam as she served us. Not pushy, just a nice touch to finish up our visit.
Muscat, Oman: Seeing the city
While the Mosque was undoubtably the jewel, there was still plenty of Muscat to explore. Over the next few hours, we got to tour The Royal Opera House – stunning, Muttrah Souq – which was bit more of a slice of everyday life than others I had visited in Istanbul and Old Dubai, and the fish market. We also visited Old Muscat, stopping for pics at Mutrah and Jalali forts and Al Alam Palace before spending some time at the Bait Al Zubair museum.
All-in-all, a pretty comprehensive introduction to the city. Jamal was a very knowledgeable guide and, though I was a bit miffed at having to pay additional entry fees for the opera house and museum, it was overall really good value for money. As someone on a budget – and a time crunch – getting dropped off at my hotel before it was even officially check-in time was a result.
Bigger result? The email from Oman Air confirming that my upgrade bid for my flight to Manila had been accepted. Business class, baby!
My Muscat hotel
A good time to say a few words about my home for the two night’s I was in town, the Ramada Encore by Wyndham Muscat Al-Ghubra. I got a decent deal on booking.com (<£100 total for the two nights, prepaid) and, given that I knew I’d be taking orgainsed tours that would pick me up and drop me off, I wasn’t worried that it was effectively on the side of a highway.
I only booked a standard room, but it was HUGE and on the 8th floor (of 9). Big bed, sofa, walk-in shower, spotlessly clean. All the basics you would expect from a ‘corporate’ hotel and a good place to rest my head between an intensive tour schedule. The gym was basic, but did the job for a speedy workout. There was also a pool on the roof, but I didn’t have time to visit. Aside from the complimentary coffee and dates (amazing Omani hospitality, I love it!), I only grabbed a diet coke from the café and didn’t try the restaurant. Also, the staff were fantastic. More on them later…
NOT my Muscat hotel
The Encore was great and right in my price range, but if I had the money? I’d stay at the luxurious 5-star Chedi Muscat resort . But I don’t, so I can’t…but I could always visit, right?
I dropped the hotel’s restaurant department an email to confirm it would be ok, and it was, so in a taxi I jumped. Note on taxis in Muscat: lots of drivers will offer you their WhatsApp’s so you could contact them directly for pick-ups and drop offs. Really handy as taxis at some places (like luxury hotels) will charge a premium – having someone’s number will likely save you a Rial or two.
The Chedhi is just gorgeous. It was dark when I arrived, but the elegance and luxury were obvious. Everything, from the architecture to the landscaping was precise and ultra high-end. I was escorted initially to the very lovely Chedi Pool Cabana bar, where I was able to sit at a poolside table munching fries, drinking cocktails and looking out at the moonlit Gulf of Oman. Paradise.
The lovely barman (hate that I didn’t catch his name!), not only comped me a margarita, but showed me the way to another of their show-stopping bars: The Long Pool Cabana. Can I say wow? At 103m, it is the longest pool in the Middle East. I walked its full length, flanked by palm trees and mini fire bowls, to reach the Japanese-inspired dining/drinking area on the far side.
I sat back, sipped my Yuzu Pearl (gin, lychee, yuzu juice, yuzu pearl, syrup) and kicked myself for being this lucky.
Reluctantly, I messaged my driver and headed back to my own hotel. And some drama.
Day two in Muscat, Oman
Drama, drama
Started day two – at about half-past midnight – with more self-inflicted drama. Backstory, I booked my Muscat city tour well in advance and, at the same time, I was going back and forth between the Dimaniyat Islands, a day in historical Nizwa or a trip out to the desert. After my great experience with my city tour, I went to book their Wadi and desert tour. Only to find it sold out. Eek! It was available earlier! I WhatsApped them, no joy. They had no places on any of their other tours. I furiously Googled and found a similar itinerary with another provider, booked it, and all was good. Until I came back from drinks and found that they had cancelled on me. At half-past midnight.
The perils of being a solo traveller. Unless you can drum up a second person, you’ll often be hard-pressed to find anyone to go out of the way to run a tour for you. After fruitlessly arguing with the Viator chatbot, I went down to reception (at one in the morning!) and begged for help. I didn’t want to waste a precious day in Muscat, especially when there was so much I could be doing, They smiled apologetically, told me to come back at 7am, and I went to bed thinking they were about as much use as hole in my head. Until 7am, when I went downstairs to find that they had actually left a note about me and had already been in touch with their in-house provider Al Maamari Tours. Wow! Despite it being a Friday, I was able to reach out to them via Whatsapp. Bad news: they could only offer a private tour, which I had been resisting due to the enormous expense. Good news: their offer of a driver to the the desert for sunset (minus the Wadi) was about half the price of other private options I’d seen. Result. The day was saved. And I’m a sucker for a sunset…
Roadtrip!
Pick-up was after lunch so I had time to go back to bed for a bit, workout and grab a coffee. My driver Hamad collected me promptly from the hotel lobby, and we hit the road. To be honest, he was not an ‘official’ guide like Jamal, more just a driver, but he still had lots of knowledge to drop throughout the roughly two hour drive about the history of Oman and her people. And honest, too. He asked me if I wanted to stop by the Bedouin Village I’d seen advertised on other tours as we had a little time before the sun set. When I asked if it was a ‘real village’, or just a tourist trap, he was honest enough to share that true nomadic Bedouin culture no longer really existed in Oman. Most traditional Bedouin were now settled in towns and villages, living in houses, driving cars and trucks, their children attending school.
We swung by anyway. It was a large tent en-route to the dunes and, as we pulled up, a family of tourists were arriving back from their camel ride. Inside the tent, a group of ladies were surrounded by handicrafts for sale – Hamad seemed to know them all. He grabbed us coffee and dates and we hung out for a few minutes. Everyone was sweet, nobody hassled me to buy anything. It reminded of a smaller-scale version of a desert tour I took in Dubai where they set up a similar ‘camp’ with camels, hawks and handicrafts all arranged to provide tourists an ‘authentic’ Arabian experience. Super fake, but harmless entertainment. People have to make a living.
Sharqiya Sands: sunset in the desert
We said our goodbyes and headed up to the dunes. Hamad knew a good spot to view the sunset and there was time to do a little dune bashing on the way. Not going to lie – I do love the adrenaline rush of banging around the inside of a 4×4, riding up and down the sand dunes. It was not as aggressive as Dubai, but Hamad was skilled driver, it was good, clean fun.
Unlike being outside on the dunes. That was messy as hell.
The Sharqiya Sands, also known as the Wahiba Sands after the Bani Wahiba tribe (whose settlement has since been disputed), cover a vast area. We entered the Eastern Sands via Bidiya province. We parked up within view of one of the overnight campsites I’d seen advertised, however, once I was able to climb atop a dune, I felt like I was the only person for miles. I sat down to wait for the sun to dip from the sky. Big mistake. The strength of the initially gentle wind was increasing slowly, whipping up layers of sand, dumping them all over me. Dusting myself down was futile. I resolved to stay put, shielded by my baseball cap and sunglasses, and, as the sky began to darken, I watched the colours transition from golden to red to brown.
I had a really beautiful, quiet moment to myself as the sun slipped behind a dune. Drama, drama? Worth it. I dusted the desert from my clothes and we headed back to town.
I realised I had eaten NOTHING all day, so jumped in a cab from the hotel to the Avenues Mall. Google maps said I could walk it, but I wasn’t confident enough to cross the highway in the dark, so… After a long car ride, it was good to be able to stretch my legs and treat myself to a local zatar cheese manakish bread from the Lulu Hypermarket and a not-so-local frozen yoghurt from Pinkberry.
Then taxi back to the hotel to bed. It was going to be an early start if I wanted to take advantage of as much business class goodness as possible. Hold that thought…
Day three… still in Muscat, Oman
I got up, took a taxi to the airport and flew to Manila without incident. Of course not…
Drama, drama, drama
I got up, took a taxi to the airport and arrived at the dedicated first and business class check-in lounge (sweetie, dahhhhling) to find that my 9am flight was delayed. To 7pm. Thanks for the heads-up, Oman Air! I was fuming. Having checked out of my hotel at 6:45 am, I could have had 5 more hours in bed. I was going to miss my capsule hotel booking at Manila airport AND my flight to Siargao now had to be rebooked. Suddenly, I had ANOTHER whole day in Muscat that I could have easily filled with sightseeing if I had known in advance – and it seemed most other people on the flight did know. For some reason, they missed me off the list.
After about an hour of faff, and realising that trying to re-book me on another airline wouldn’t be of much help, myself and two other ‘forgotten’ passengers were loaded into a minibus. The airline had arranged suites for us at a local hotel to spend the day. The perks of business class…except it was bit of a hole. My budget Ramada had been far superior to this place. It was un-modernised and, while not a total dump, just felt a big grubby. Everyone was kind – we were offered breakfast and lunch before they collected us for the airport at 4pm – but I was very much in “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here” mode. I stay in hostels and other budget accommodation all the time, this place was just not it. Not wanting to waste my time, and knowing my window was insufficient to arrange another tour, I hit google. I had read that the W Hotel had a pool club with DJs, so I changed and headed for a taxi.
Getting wet, on the deck: The W Muscat, Oman
Where The Chedi exuded refined elegance and luxury, the W was all glam and sexy and cool. I loved the decor: lots of clinical ice white splashed with mad, colourful design touches. I was directed poolside, down the stairs to their Wet Deck. First win of a thus far winless day? As it wasn’t peak season, they waived the cost of the day pass and I could grab a sunbed (cabanas were reserved for hotel guests) for free. Lots of options around the pretty vast pool, so I tried out a few before settling on a front line spot and ordering cocktails and endemame. Saturday was one of their #sunchasers sessions for ‘luxury lounging and live sound’, so it was nice to spend a couple of hours chilling in the sun and becoming less angry before I had to head back to the airport.
Before I knew it, I was leaving the relaxing confines of the business class lounge, and turning left onto my flight to Manila. Au revoir Muscat – definitely not goodbye.
48 hours in Muscat, Oman
An epic stopover in the most charming of Arabian cities. Despite surviving multiple dramas, I had a blast and would happily come back for a more extensive exploration of the country.
Highlights
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque deserves to be a highlight all on its own. The whole city tour with Gid Oman was fab and I loved hanging out in 5-star hotels seeing how the other half lived, .
Lessons learned
Plan where you can! As it was not peak season, I didn’t expect the tours to sell out in the way that they did. Hamad did an admirable job, but I still had a half-day private tour for twice the price of a full-day group one. I think I was hanging back on booking in advance to see if I would get a better deal on arrival in Muscat, but that plan backfired. I’ll be better organised next time.
The flight eff-up was not my fault, but I do wonder when the decision was made to delay and if, had I thought to double check the website or even Flight Radar the night before, I might have been able to make better use of that extra day.
So Muscat, Oman: the first stop on my mad round-the-world adventure done. Four more to go…
