The next day we had arranged with the same tour company (Sunny Day Tours) to go on a day trip to the Wahiba Sands. The Wahiba Sands are the closest dunes to Muscat (about a 2.5 hour drive) and this is where most of the tour companies go. We were not sure about ... (read more →)

We went for a walk along the Qurum Beach to watch the sunset. It was a lovely walk. Groups of young local boys had gathered on the beach with improvised soccer pitches to play some games. There were palapas lining the beach – and although it was cold and windy, I can imagine that ... (read more →)

Although we had originally planned to stay again at Marina Hotel (despite it being a dive, it was still a great location, and better the devil you know…) but the dive was full. I guess that disco gets pretty popular. We ended up staying at the slightly more expensive but much nicer Qurum ... (read more →)

Curiously enough, there are no hotels in Nizwa itself. We ended up staying at Majan Guest House, a couple of miles outside the downtown area. It was very clean, the room was large. The owner held our bags for us during the day, and was very surprised we didn’t have a car. ... (read more →)

Getting back from Nizwa to Muscat was easier than we thought. We had tried to arrange a ticket in advance on the government run buses, but apparently it’s not possible to buy tickets in advance for a trip like this (i.e. where you start at a non-originating point). We ended up lucking out and ... (read more →)

From Nizwa, we took a day trip to Jabrin Fort. This fort is not really part of a town, and in the middle of nowhere. It looked like it might have been possible to get there by bus, but it would have involved a connection somewhere, and then finally a cab from the nearest ... (read more →)

We ended up spending a lot of time at a good falafel place right across from the fort, called Al-Zuhul Restaurant. It was the Omani version of Sonic drive-in, where cars would pull up in the dusty parking lot outside, a waiter would run out and take their order, and then they would eat ... (read more →)

Our next stop was Nizwa. Nizwa is a small town about 2 hours outside Muscat, with a fort and a market. The fort is right in the middle of town, and has an excellent view of the surroundings. It was probably the most impressive fort we visited in Oman. The Nizwa ... (read more →)

The Wadi itself is a beautiful canyon oasis. The guide did not accompany us on the hike itself – he left us and arranged a pick up time. This worked out well for us – it was impossible to get lost and it was nice to explore and take our time.
Nestled in amongst palm ... (read more →)

We also stopped at the Bimah Sink-Hole (like a cenote), which was probably formed when the ground over an underground river to the ocean caved in. There were several kids swimming in the depths below, with a good set of stairs leading down to it. Had we been prepared, a swim would ... (read more →)