Muscat: What to Do in a Weekend

Dear lilioftheworld.com reader, here is Lili, your co-editor and today’s article takes us to one of the hidden touristic gems on the Arabian peninsula – the Sultanate of Oman. Oman is among the less touristic arabic states in comparison to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Still, there is a strong contrast: while Dubai is very luxurious and most of the things look artificial, Oman has still preserved its own look and feel. It is also the oldest among the neighbor states. There is a higher chance that you experience the original culture of the locals when travelling to Oman. Here we compile our recommendation what to do in Muscat in a weekend.

Our friends ask us whether it is safe to travel to Oman. Well, we were there for four days, we travelled more than 1000 km, visited many places and we never had the feeling of being unsafe. Oman has significantly bigger territory as compared to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and it has a lot to offer. You can easily spend 1-2 weeks there and you wont get bored. Either if you enjoy beachlife or if you are a more mountainous type, Oman can meet each taste.

We used a long weekend (four days in total) to visit this country. But is a long weekend enough? How did we decide to go so far from Germany for such a short time?

Planning the trip to Oman

Well, the answer is simple. We always try to visit a new country. And given the fact that we have covered most of the European destinations, we have to look for the nearest countries outside Europe. Then we start checking whether there are affordable and convenient flights for the dates we want to go. You can find out more about the weekend getaway engineering in the dedicated weekend trips planning article.

After extensive search it turned out that Oman is a viable option for us 🙂 The flights to Oman had a stopover in Dubai, but their duration and hours were perfect to spend three full days there.

You know that we usually give 5 good-to-know tips. However in the case of Oman, we will give you some extra 🙂

Lili’s 8 good-to-know tips when travelling to Oman:

• Ramadan

Check when the period of Ramadan is. Not that it is a huge problem, but some stores or places are closed during this period. The restaurants open only at around 18:00 in the evening. During the Ramadan period it isn’t advisable for foreigners to drink or smoke in public places at daytime- in respect to the local religion.

• Budget

Oman is relatively expensive destination. The prices of food and accommodation are more or less similar to those in big cities in Western Europe. The only thing that is cheaper than Europe is the gasoline (not surprisingly though 🙂

• Distances

The distances between points of interests are quite long and even if you visit only the capital Muscat, the best way to explore it is by renting a car (this one is quite cheap, similar to the rates you get in Spain for example).

• Religion

The prevalent religion in Oman is Muslim. The locals are conservative, so make sure to choose clothes, which cover most of your body. If you are a woman, covering your arms and legs is highly recommended.

• Length of your visit

Oman is rich in history and things to see and do. Consider spending at least week there. Our stay wasn’t long enough to cover all the main places of interest.

• Weather

When planning your vacation don’t forget to check the weather forecast. The hottest months are May-June with daily temperatures, which often exceed 45 degrees. If you cannot stand the heat, avoid this period. Have in mind though that in this period there aren’t many tourists which gives you the chance to enjoy the main attraction sites on your own.

• Alcohol

As this a Muslim country, alcohol is not sold or offered anywhere (besides a few 5-star hotels).

• Currency

The local currency is Omani Rial. At the time of our visit the exchange rate to Euro was 2.36 euro for 1 OMR (the abbreviation for the Omani Rial). The prices seem low at first sight, but when you convert them into Euro, you realize that it is actually expensive.

We spent only three full days in Oman, but it felt like a week. We visited so many different places. For this reason we decided to describe our adventure in two separate articles. Here we will focus more on Muscat and what to do in Muscat and in a separate article we talk about which other places are worth visiting when in Oman.

Things to do in Muscat:

Being the capital of the Sultanate, Muscat has a lot of things to offer. We had around a day and a half there, so we tried to do the maximum for this time. However, we would recommend a longer stay of two-three days. Here are the main places of interest in Muscat:

• Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Every visit to Muscat cannot go without a visit to the Grand Mosque Sultan Qaboos. Our advice is that you go early in the morning to avoid crowd (and also the heat). We were the first visitors when we got there slightly before 8 a.m.. Dress code – the arms and legs should not be visible. If you are not prepared,  you can rent clothes at the main door. It costs 1.5 OMR per person.

I thought that I was prepared for this visit to Oman- I bought some dresses specially for this trip. I rarely wear long dresses with long sleeves, but the local culture and religion requires it. But even this was not enough. At the entrance of the mosque they told me that the slit of my dress is too long and my legs might be visible when I walk. So I had to rent clothes. For our luck the clothes they gave us looked really authentic, as you see on our photos 🙂

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is one of the few mosques where non-muslim people are allowed to enter. It is really big and you will need at least an hour to walk around. The Mosque was a gift to the nation from Sultan Qaboos to mark his 30th year of reign. Every centimeter of the Mosque is a piece of art.

One of the most stunning objects for us was the Persian carpet in the main prayer hall. It is 70m by 60m wide and it is the second-largest hand-loomed Iranian carpet in the world.

Can you imagine that it took 600 women and four years to weave it.

• Mohammed Al Ameen Mosque

This mosque we noticed on our way to Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It stood out as it was white (in comparison to the yellowish colour of all the surrounding buildings). It was shining bright and we decided to get closer.

Mohammed Al Ameen Mosque is not far from the Grand Mosque. You will most probably not find this one in any blog or travel site (I just checked now and there are only 188 reviews about it on Tripadvisor), but it is worth getting close by. Actually we are not sure whether non- Muslims can enter, but even without this, the Mosque is stunning even from the outside.

The Mosque looks brand new (it was opened around 5 years ago). It is located in a new district in Muscat. As its architect writes on this website, one of the most important things when building Mohammed Al Ameen Mosque was its location. It has to be visible from all parts of Muscat. And they did it. The shining white marble helps that the mosque is spotted from wherever you are in the city. As mentioned, we did not enter inside. If you are interested in seeing the 24-carat gold and Swarovski crystals which cover the prayer halls, you can give it a try.

• Al Qurum beach

1.5 km of length, Al Qurum beach is one of the most famous spots in Muscat. Depending on the low and high tide, the beach width varies. There are many hotels, cafes and restaurants along the coast.

This is where our hotel was located. Its name was the same as the beach- Al Qurum Beach Resort. It is right on the beach as I had some naive idea that we could maybe have some time for sunbathing. That’s why we recommend that you should check the weather forecast. Although we are sun lovers, the temperatures were too high even for us. The only thing we could do was stay at A/C most of the time. Otherwise the hotel is located in a very nice area, close to the Opera house and also close to some restaurants.

• Royal Opera House Muscat

The Opera house is a gorgeous building, close to the Al Qurum beach in Muscat. Its main construction material is marble (just like many other buildings around). The entrance to the yard (which by the way is very peaceful and interesting to stroll) is free of charge. There is a tour (only in the morning) with good reviews, so you might want to attend to it. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it as the time of our stay was short.

The Opera House is beautifully-lid in the evening which make the building even more impressive. We went there just before sunset and we met just three other visitors. The sunset helped us take some nice photos.

• Mutrah Corniche

Mutrah Corniche is a long coastal boulevard in the western part of Muscat (we had to drive around 8-10 km to get there from our hotel). This is where you can have a long walk or a bike ride. Small hills, fountains and mosques are seen along the promenade. This is obviously the old part of the city and you will immediately feel it. Most of the places we write about below are in the vicinity of the Mutrah Corniche.

• Mutrah Souq

As I couldn’t say it better than Lonely Planet, I would just copy their description:

“Many people come to Mutrah Corniche just to visit the souq, which retains the chaotic interest of a traditional Arab market albeit housed under modern timber roofing. Shops selling Omani and Indian artefacts together with a few antiques jostle among more traditional textile, hardware and jewellery stores.

Bargaining is possible although discounts tend to be small. The sellers accept cards in most shops, but bring cash for better deals. The main entry is via the Corniche, opposite the pedestrian traffic lights.”

Like in most other Arab countries, you can bargain on the souq. We didn’t want to buy anything else than a couple of souvenirs, so we didn’t spend much time there. If you are a spices fan or you like crafts, jewelry or antiques, plan some hours here.

• Mutrah Tower

It is also called the Old Watch tower. This wasn’t part of our agenda, but a seller on the souq recommended it to us. It is located close to the souq (around 5 mins of walking up the hill). We spotted the tower when we were looking where to park our car.

At first we even thought that it is closed or abandoned. The seller told us that the security guards might have already left by 17:00, but even without them we can still climb to the top and have a beautiful sunset view. He even showed us a video which convinced us to go there.

This tower is just five mins on foot from the Mutrah Souk. The information on the Internet is confusing. You will barely find any info about it. Most of the articles refer to the watchtower which is opposite the Incense Burner. Here we talk about another one- it is in the bay of the Mutrah Souq.

We were not the only ones entering the tower with no guards- two locals just entered before us in order to take a few nice sunset photos. The view is really stunning- definitely worth it.

• Riyam Park and the Incense Burner

The  Riyam Park is the home of the so-called Incense Burner which is one of the symbols of Muscat. The Incense Burner is at the opposite side of the port of Muscat. It symbolizes the wealth of this country from the crude oil which people found in the region decades ago. The Incense Burner was as present for the celebration of Oman’s 20th National Day. It is also the biggest operating Burner in the world.

We find the motive of incense in different religions. In Islam the pilgrims use the incense in several events such as the Tahfidh graduation ceremony, Ka’bah’s purification / cleansing event, and so on. According to one of the hadiths of the Prophet, the angels love fragrant scents and hate the foul smells. And that is why they use incense in order to make the room smell good.

Unfortunately nowadays you cannot get close to the Incense Burner (in the past it was possible, but not anymore). That is why we decided to just admire it from a distance. Our reccomendation is that you go on the small peninsula (the sea makes a small bay) on the opposite side from where the Incense Burner is even more majestic. Of course at sunset the gold cover of the Burner has beautiful glowing shine.

• Al Alam Palace

This is one of the six official residences of the ruling sultan- Sultan Qaboos. Its gold and blue facade is what makes the palace interesting. Visitors cannot enter the yard, but they can come close to the gates and take some nice photos of the Palace.

Listening to a private tour which was passing by, we heard that it is also good to see the palace from the back side. This is what we did. Not bad at all :). Besides the Palace, you can also see the Al Jilali Fort in the same bay.

• Bait Al Zubair Museum

This is an attraction we wanted to visit, but the time was unfortunately not enough for it. Maybe you would like to check it. It is a history museum where you can find exposed old traditional weapons, home appliances and equipment, as well as a real Omani village and a souk.

This was the short list of things you can do in Muscat. There are of course a lot more, but if you have limited time, you have to prioritize. Do not miss to read about what else you can do in Oman if you just have 3 days. Here are also more weekend escape ideas from Europe.

If you find this part of the world interesting, here are some other places for you to go through:

• 3 Days in Jordan
• Top Things to Do in Cappadocia
• Things to do in Azerbaijan