Oman is the perfect destination if you want to go somewhere hot during the winter, and you only have one week left of holidays.

It’s a direct flight from London, which takes 7 hours and there is only a small jetlag of four hours. The place is stunning, and the people are extremely friendly – but be warned it’s not cheap. We had a fantastic time there, and would definitely recommend to add Oman in your bucket list!

Here is our itinerary, we went in November 2014 for one week:

2 days in Muscat

The Shrangri-La group of resorts is a must, it’s very close to the main city but it’s by the beach and it offers great facilities. There are three hotels within the area, one more family focussed, one low-mid range called Al Bandar and one high range called Al Husn. We decided to split our stay into two, and stayed in the low range at the beginning of the holiday, and we treated ourselves with the high range at the end.

1 day and 1 night in the desert

We hired a 4×4 (is a must in those roads) white Toyota (and called it Hugo, as per our usual tradition of calling our car with  the name of a character from the series Lost) and drove to the desert passing through Sur to the Wahiba Sands. Make sure you stop at the Wadis you encounter on the way there, they are magical oasis, Wadi Bhani Kalid was our favourite. The best story of the holiday in Oman is that when we got out of the road and onto the sand, the car started shaking like crazy even if I was driving very slowly and carefully. We had 4Km only to get to our accommodation, but we were going at the lowest possible pace and the sounds weren’t promising! Luckily some locals passed by, and kindly informed us that we had to deflate our tyres to drive on the sand. We came back and stopped at a garage and despite their total lack of English they perfectly understood our needs and did it for free. We arrived just about on time for the most beautiful sunset over the desert dunes, and spent the night in the stunning Desert Nights camp – a great desert experience including a short camel ride!

1 day and 1 night in Nizwa on the mountains

The following day we carried on towards Nizwa to see the Nizwa fort, very interesting to visit, and with amazing views from the top. From Nizwa, we carried on towards the mountains. The road is very swirly, but worth when you get to the top. We stayed one night in the Sahab Hotel, which has fantastic views and a hot tab overlooking the mountains that it’s worth in itself. The food is not great, and there is no booze served so take it as a natural retreat. We strongly recommend you do the walk in the ancient agricultural villages, great scenery, stunning views and it brings you closer to the local culture. We had the luck of meeting the ministry of environment of Oman during our stay at the Sahab hotel. He offered us lunch, and told us about his country with pride, as well as getting us typical local presents (a pashmina to me, and a silver Khanjar for Bruce, as well as a big illustrated book on the beauties of Oman). Another confirmation of the immensely friendly and welcoming culture of Omani people.

3 days in Muscat

We spent the last few days on the beach, relaxing and enjoying the fantastic food and hospitality. In the city it’s wort visiting the Muttrah Suq, the Royal opera house, and the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque which is breathtaking.

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