Independent touring and reasonably priced hotels in Oman
Question
We plan to travel from Qatar (where we live), with the car to Oman (Muscat). From there we would like to do some Wadi tours (with our own cars and without guides).
But it is very hard to find hotels in the small cities away from the coast! And as we travel with 'older' people, I don't think they would like to do some camping....
Can you suggest some wadi trips, departing from Muscat? Also, do you know about affordable hotels on the mainland of Oman?
Answer
Oman is aiming very much at high net worth tourists, and finds it hard to believe that people would want to wander and drive about on their own and not stay in exclusive resorts and hotels.
There aren't many budget hotels in the interior of Oman, one reason why we camped so much. There is the Falaj Daris motel in Nizwa, the Sohar Beach Hotel in Sohar, and the Jabal al Akhdar hotel on the Saiq plateau. Just doing a quick look for hotels on the web, I can hardly believe the prices that even the mid-range ones are now charging.
Youth hostels were opened 2-3 years ago. I don't know who runs them or whether they would be viable for accommodation. Yellow pages lists Youth Hostel Al Ashkhara on phone 25566266, but Al Ashkhara is a small fishing town on the eastern coast. I'm not sure if you're going that far. It's primarily for Omani families.
It used to be easier to find directories of hotels in Oman on the web. All I can do today is to point you to Oman Yellow Pages and the Apex Business Directory.
These are merely lists and don't support searching by town or price category. I can tell you that any phone number beginning 24 will be in the vicinity of Muscat. 25 must be Nizwa, Sur and the Interior, and 26 is Sohar and Khasab in Musandam. 23 is Salalah in the south. 25 also includes Masirah Island. The mobile numbers beginning 99 will be for establishments bordering the desert. You'll be able to work out just how many hotels there are in the Interior by looking at the numbers.
You could try the Golden Tulip at Seeb, or the Holiday Inn Muscat - Al Madinah in Ghala, which would be OK, and cheaper than some of the others. I think the Matrah Hotel on the corniche is still reasonably priced but I wouldn't bet on the facilities. The Qurum Beach Hotel near the Crowne Plaza in Qurum was also very reasonably priced, with bedroom and sitting room and facilities for cooking. Could be a bit smelly, but it was OK for a night. The Majan Continental Hotel has an interesting clientele. My husband stayed there for a week when attending the Gulf Inter-hash.
You would see something of the wadis and the mountains by driving out along the Batinah road from Muscat and turning inland at a junction/roundabout at Barka - at least, it was when I was there - and go to Nakhl where there's a splendid fort, springs and date plantations nestling at the foot of the mountains. Continue driving along that black top road to make a circular trip to Rustaq.
If you turn off-road at various points along that road, you will certainly get the feel of the place.
There used to be a very useful spiral-bound booklet called Off-Road in Oman, which was on sale in Family Bookshop in Oman. Here is a link to a listing of used copies on Amazon UK:
Off-road in Oman (Arabian Heritage Guides) (Spiral-bound) by Heiner Klein (Author), Rebecca Brickson (Author)
Several of these excursions started from Muscat. There's also a very heavy tome with the same title which was published much more recently. Hardly the sort of thing to toss into the glove box of a car.
I wish you all the best travelling from Qatar across Saudi to UAE. I guess you have the visas sorted, and know the border entry posts. I think it's best to go via Al Haffa from UAE into Oman.
Oh, and have you checked whether you can take your car across the border? I really am not sure about that. It's all to do with insurance. I did find this useful thread at Qatar Living on visas and cars.
We plan to travel from Qatar (where we live), with the car to Oman (Muscat). From there we would like to do some Wadi tours (with our own cars and without guides).
But it is very hard to find hotels in the small cities away from the coast! And as we travel with 'older' people, I don't think they would like to do some camping....
Can you suggest some wadi trips, departing from Muscat? Also, do you know about affordable hotels on the mainland of Oman?
Answer
Oman is aiming very much at high net worth tourists, and finds it hard to believe that people would want to wander and drive about on their own and not stay in exclusive resorts and hotels.
There aren't many budget hotels in the interior of Oman, one reason why we camped so much. There is the Falaj Daris motel in Nizwa, the Sohar Beach Hotel in Sohar, and the Jabal al Akhdar hotel on the Saiq plateau. Just doing a quick look for hotels on the web, I can hardly believe the prices that even the mid-range ones are now charging.
Youth hostels were opened 2-3 years ago. I don't know who runs them or whether they would be viable for accommodation. Yellow pages lists Youth Hostel Al Ashkhara on phone 25566266, but Al Ashkhara is a small fishing town on the eastern coast. I'm not sure if you're going that far. It's primarily for Omani families.
It used to be easier to find directories of hotels in Oman on the web. All I can do today is to point you to Oman Yellow Pages and the Apex Business Directory.
These are merely lists and don't support searching by town or price category. I can tell you that any phone number beginning 24 will be in the vicinity of Muscat. 25 must be Nizwa, Sur and the Interior, and 26 is Sohar and Khasab in Musandam. 23 is Salalah in the south. 25 also includes Masirah Island. The mobile numbers beginning 99 will be for establishments bordering the desert. You'll be able to work out just how many hotels there are in the Interior by looking at the numbers.
You could try the Golden Tulip at Seeb, or the Holiday Inn Muscat - Al Madinah in Ghala, which would be OK, and cheaper than some of the others. I think the Matrah Hotel on the corniche is still reasonably priced but I wouldn't bet on the facilities. The Qurum Beach Hotel near the Crowne Plaza in Qurum was also very reasonably priced, with bedroom and sitting room and facilities for cooking. Could be a bit smelly, but it was OK for a night. The Majan Continental Hotel has an interesting clientele. My husband stayed there for a week when attending the Gulf Inter-hash.
You would see something of the wadis and the mountains by driving out along the Batinah road from Muscat and turning inland at a junction/roundabout at Barka - at least, it was when I was there - and go to Nakhl where there's a splendid fort, springs and date plantations nestling at the foot of the mountains. Continue driving along that black top road to make a circular trip to Rustaq.
If you turn off-road at various points along that road, you will certainly get the feel of the place.
There used to be a very useful spiral-bound booklet called Off-Road in Oman, which was on sale in Family Bookshop in Oman. Here is a link to a listing of used copies on Amazon UK:
Off-road in Oman (Arabian Heritage Guides) (Spiral-bound) by Heiner Klein (Author), Rebecca Brickson (Author)
Several of these excursions started from Muscat. There's also a very heavy tome with the same title which was published much more recently. Hardly the sort of thing to toss into the glove box of a car.
I wish you all the best travelling from Qatar across Saudi to UAE. I guess you have the visas sorted, and know the border entry posts. I think it's best to go via Al Haffa from UAE into Oman.
Oh, and have you checked whether you can take your car across the border? I really am not sure about that. It's all to do with insurance. I did find this useful thread at Qatar Living on visas and cars.
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