Muscat City
ATTRACTION Keywords:
Cultural Experience,
Walking/Hiking,
Town / City
The Grand Mosque, an elegant modern construction in sandstone, draws on classic Arab styles and boasts a vast prayer carpet and a similarly outsized Swarovski crystal chandelier. The pick of the museums is probably Bait al-Baranda (“Verandah House”), which contains exhibits relating to the history, people and natural phenomena of Oman, housed in a renovated hundred-year old building. The seafront, or corniche, is a popular spot in the cool of the evening when the lights of the waterfront buildings are reflected in the placid waters.
Latest Reviews
Review by Guillermo A, April 2013
Doing what: Day Tour to the Enchanting Forts of Nizwa
Very much recomended, the guide was very helpful and willing to aswer all our questions, very flexible on the time we wanted to spend on each site.
Review by timothy s, March 2013
Doing what: Muscat City Sightseeing Tour - A Fascinating Capital
Our sightseeing tour was provided by Orient tours. Our guide Abdul aziz met us at a prearranged hotel promptly at 8 a.m and we were pleasantly surprised to find we were the only people booked on the trip. Abdul immediately drove us to the Grand Mosque where he was able to give us a detailed tour despite his rather faltering english. The reason for the early start became obvious after taking two hours to see the mosque - as we left we were met by about 24 coachloads of tourists coming in the opposite direction to see the mosque. We avoided seeing the fish market and then went to look around the Souk. Abdul showed us what was good value and after a coffee and bite to eat we were then taken to Muscat museum at Bait al Zubair which gave us an insight into Omani culture and history, the story of the boat 'Jewel of Muscat' and a worthwhile picture exhibition by various local and international artists as part of the Festival. Abdul was courteous and very helpful and it was a pity that we had arranged transport from the hotel back to our daughter's house at 13:30 as he would have taken us to see the royal palaces and any other sight we requested, but we ran out of time and even local Muscat people seem to get lost in the bewildering street and district system. We would thoroughly recommend this tour- very good value for money but opt for an early start to avoid the heat of the day.
Review by Paul, March 2013
Doing what: Private Muscat City Sightseeing Tour - A Fascinating Capital
Excellent and very interesting. Our guide was ideal, knowledgable and thoughtful
Practical Info
Muscat is in the north of the sultanate, on the Gulf of Oman. Some major airlines fly there directly, and most at least offer connections in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the neighboring United Arab Emirates.
