Sharqiya Sands, Nizwa, Misfah Al Abriyeen, and Jebel Akhdar, Oman
Our guesthouse host showing us around Misfah Al Abriyeen
The lowdown
After a special few days exploring the natural wonders along the coast of northern Oman it was time to head inland! Although it doesn’t appear to be a large cross-section of the country, the interior of northern Oman boasts incredibly diverse landscapes, cities, and experiences. Our itinerary for this part of the roadtrip would include a night spent in the desert, a morning at one of Oman’s oldest souqs, a visit to a 300 year old oasis village, and a few days in the mountains where temperatures are 30 degrees cooler than what we experienced in the rest of Oman.
Importantly for us, we had the proper 4WD rental car to get us both through the desert roads and up and down the steep mountain switchbacks. At the rental car checkout counter we were told that the government of Oman won’t let you up the mountains without 4WD. This unfortunately led to an expensive last minute rental car upgrade… when all was said and done we were glad we had the extra juice! The incline was no joke.
Read on for the day-by-day highlights of our time in the Omani desert, oasis, and highlands!
Day 1: Dune bashing in Sharqiya Sands
The first stop on our inland adventure was Sharqiya Sands, the desert region of Oman a few hours drive from the last stop on our trip down the coast of northern Oman, Ras al Hadd. We spent the drive refueling our bodies on the Omani equivalent of Flaming Hot Cheetos and Indian snacks after a full morning of swimming with sea turtles.
After an uneventful drive we arrived in Al Wasil, a gateway to many of the tourist desert camps in Sharqiya Sands and one of the last towns with paved roads and gas stations before the desert. We deflated our tires at a nearby gas station before Jessie bravely captained us into the desert. Driving on the desert roads reminded us of Mongolia, but Sharqiya Sands had much darker sand and more flora. Not long into the desert we arrived at our accommodation for the evening, the Sama Al Wasil Desert Camp.
The camp consisted of a circle of charming private desert chalets at the base of a towering stretch of sand dunes. We were pleasantly surprised by the chalets – they were very tastefully furnished and contained the essentials for a comfortable night in the desert. Unlike our open air cot set-up in Jasialmer, we opted for the nicer tourist camp this time around! At check-in we were presented with a list of activities for our short stay in the desert and quickly became fixated on one in particular – sunset “dune bashing”. Dune bashing essentially consists of riding an SUV all over the sand dunes – bombing them head on or simply riding the side like a wave. We were sold!
Shortly before sunset our driver, Amor, picked us up in front of camp in his Toyota Landcruiser. Dressed in traditional Omani garb, Amor was a gentle and kind middle-aged man that resembled a father figure. This, combined with his bedouin roots and experience navigating the dunes, immediately put us at ease despite the extreme nature of the activity. Amor drove us deep into the beautiful dunes until we couldn’t see signs of civilization. The bashing was a blast – Amor had us screaming as he slid down the sides and bombed the middle of epically steep sand dunes. Amor drove us to a secluded viewpoint spot to take a break and watch the sun slowly set and disappear behind the dunes. It was an incredibly experience and way to spend our one night in the desert!
Day 2: Exploring the quiet streets of Nizwa
We enjoyed a quick and basic breakfast in the Sama al Wasil dining tent, packed up our things, and headed out of the desert before the morning “coolness” wore off.
Once we were back on the paved roads we noticed a small but neat looking fort and pulled over to check it out. We ended up walking around the entirety of the fort before finally stumbling upon the entrance, but we didn’t mind since the fort was nestled among beautiful date trees. We were greeted by two men who asked us to sign the visitor book on the way in – turns out we were the only people to have visited in over a week! We had the Al Wasil Fort (as we learned it was formally named) to ourselves, and while it wasn’t particularly rich in historical information, it was well kept and neat to roam around for a bit.
Our next stop for the day and night was Nizwa, one of Oman’s oldest and most important cities (it was the capital of Oman in the 7th century) known today for its souq and 17th century fort. When we reached Nizwa we were immediately reminded of the Medina in Fes – the old city streets were incredibly narrow and zig-zagged. It was difficult to navigate in our rental car and we had to resort to calling on our guesthouse’s staff to help us safely locate a parking spot.
Our guesthouse was a beautifully repurposed historical building run by a friendly Omani man from Nizwa with the help of a father and son from Jaipur who did most of the heavy lifting (Oman relies on immigrant labor from South Asia to run its businesses on the ground). As is table stakes in Omani hospitality, we were fed some seriously delicious dates and Omani coffee infused with rose water at check-in.
After checking in, we decided to wander around the old city of Nizwa. The busiest time in Nizwa is Friday morning when the souq comes alive with people from Nizwa and beyond coming to trade goods (primarily, livestock). As it was a Wednesday afternoon, the city was nearly deserted. We enjoyed getting lost in the narrow patchwork of old streets without a specific destination in mind, stopping every once in a while to admire and snap a picture of a charming old door or building. Finally, we stumbled upon the Nizwa Fort, supposedly the most visited site in Oman! The fort was very large and very well maintained, but we found the natural wonders of Oman to be much more interesting. The highlights included climbing the stepwell-esque staircases to the top of giant tower, the views of Nizwa and the surrounding area (read: endless groves of beautiful date palms), and learning about how date juice was stored for the purpose of boiling it and pouring it on unsuspecting invaders.
After leaving the Fort we roamed around the souq. The pottery section was completely deserted, but all of the pottery was left out making for a very peaceful and beautiful experience. Luckily for us, certain parts of the souq were still open, including the coffee/spices/sweets souq and the date souq. The irony about Omani hospitality is that they feed you so many free samples – literally refilling your cup of coffee before its empty and insisting you keep eating dates or diwaniya until you can’t anymore – that you no longer want to buy when you’re ready to move on! We did experience such warm and generous hospitality in the date souq that we picked up a vacuum sealed bag of dates for home…
It was a while before we were hungry again for dinner, but when we finally regained some stomach space we located a Yemeni restaurant, Tarath al Mende, on the circumference of the goat souq that was well reviewed. Yemen is Oman’s neighbor to the south and due to the brutal civil war many Yemeni have found peace and stability in Oman. Similar to our restaurant experience in Sur, we over-ordered a mouthwatering array of spice-rubbed chicken and Yemeni goat, saffron rice, fish of the day (read: huge hunk of fresh grilled tuna) and biriyani. All incredibly flavorful and served by a super friendly Yemeni staff. Yum!
Day 3: Bahla Fort and Misfah Al Abriyeen
We started our day with a lovely breakfast spread under our guesthouse’s shaded courtyard that included labneh, bean spread, crepes, fresh fruit, and baked breads. Our bellies full and happy again, we were ready to navigate the narrow streets out of Nizwa! Our plan for the day was to head further north to the mountains to visit a 300 year old oasis village with a stop at another famous fort along the way.
Bahla Fort is another defensive fort for a tribe that was dominant in the region thanks to their command of the frankincense trade (the famous, ubiquitous Omani incense) between the 12th and 15th century. The fort itself was massive and very well maintained, but had no supplemental information posted anywhere! Everything we learned about it (which wasn’t much), we learned from google. It was fun and interesting to explore – it felt like a labyrinth with staircases leading everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Our favorite legend gleaned from google was that a woman supposedly built the walls of the fort overnight (this was part of a broader theme of wizardry associated with the fort).
Once we finally found the exit after many wrong turns and dead-ends, we popped over to the neighboring Bahla Souq. It was mostly deserted on a Thursday afternoon, but was very neat and charming with a series of shaded, lantern-lined alleys. We stumbled upon a hip coffee shop, Cafe Kadm, that consisted of a series of private nooks in shop spaces each uniquely designed. We ordered some rose water and saffron infused lattes (very Omani) and took refuge in our favorite designed nook before hitting the road towards our next stop – Misfah Al Abriyeen.
Mifah Al Abriyeen is a 300 year old terraced mud village that gained notoriety among travelers following a visit from Prince Charles in 2016. The village, which sits perched over a spectacularly beautiful series of stepped agricultural terraces, consists of dozen or so mud and brick homes and a network of narrow and shaded pedestrian alleyways. Today, most families that once lived in the village have relocated across the valley to the town of new Misfah where they have access to modern architecture, electricity, and plumbing. A few families, including our host Abdullah at Misfah Hospitality Inn, have rehabbed some of the homes and turned them into guesthouses and museums to preserve the culture and provide income to the families. Our room at Misfah Hospitality Inn was very charming and tastefully done – we were the only people staying in the guesthouse that night and the village felt quiet but for a few local kids from new Misfah swimming in the natural pool fed by irrigation water.
We decided we would go on a hike through the terraces and valley before taking Abdullah up on his offer to give us a pre-dinner tour of the village and his museum. Our hike through the terraces and valley was one of, if not THE, most beautiful hikes since our trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal in October. We had the entire valley to ourselves and took our time following the marked trail across terraces of date palms, mango trees, lime trees, fig trees, and boulders. Misfah Al Abriyeen is known for its irrigation system, and we had the sound of fresh flowing mountain water to accompany us along the way. It was a paradise oasis and we took as many stops as possible along the way to take it all in extend the hike.
Once back, Abdullah and his cousin treated us to a tour of the village and their museum adjacent to the guesthouse. Abdullah taught us about the history of the village, the irrigation system, the different types of dates and how they’re harvested, and what it was like growing up in the village (electricity was only available on Friday’s and old men would commandeer it to watch Hulk Hogan). Abdullah’s cousin then led us on an interactive tour of the museum, which included tons of old artifacts from the village including clothing and accessories, photographs of state figures who had visited the village, and harvesting and cooking instruments. The highlight included getting dressed up in traditional Omani wedding clothing and accessories (read: the national dagger and an old rifle) for a photo shoot – in one photo we were asked to stage a pouring of tea that felt a lot like our interactive experience at the Hulbuk museum in the Pamirs! He was a very sweet man who sent us on our way with fresh honey from the village in honor of our honeymoon.
Abdullah kindly joined us for dinner on the roof of the guesthouse – it was an incredible homemade buffet spread for the three of us courtesy of Abullah’s wife that consisted of a delicious lentil soup, various spreads, fish, chicken, rice, and an array of mouthwatering Omani sweets. We spent the evening in engaging conversation with Abdullah covering all things travel, family, and ottoman history. It was a fantastic and hospitable meal to end a day at one of our favorite places on our world travels.
Day 4: Souqs of Nizwa and Villages of Jebel Akhdar
As much as we wanted to spend more time in Misfah Al Abriyeen, we were determined to get back to Nizwa to catch the busiest day of the famous souqs before continuing on to our next and final inland roadtrip stop, Jebel Akhdar. We left Misfah Al Abriyeen at the break of dawn and arrived in Nizwa just as the souqs were starting to fill up. While we enjoyed walking through the now sprawling produce and fish souqs, we were really here for the famous goat souq that takes place on Friday mornings and hosts people from all around the area.
The goat souq was a spectacle and one of the coolest events we experienced on our travels. The souq consists of a ring whereby Omani boys and men walk and carry their goats of all body types around while dense crowds surround the outside and inside of the ring to assess the animals. When someone spots a goat that they’re interested in, they toss a small pebble at the individual guiding the animal. Then, further inspection and intense negations (read: shouting) begin! We were lucky to see a few successful transactions and money changing hands. Because the Omani national dress is so ubiquitous and different than what we were wearing, we and the few other tourists around stuck out among the crowds. It was truly an intense and captivating experience!
On our way out we made one last stop in the coffee/spices/sweets souq to get some caffeine before hitting the road. When we finished our coffees and went to the counter to pay, the owner told us that no payment was necessary – a kind stranger covered our tab. Only in Oman do you get hospitality like that!
Our next stop was Jebel Akhdar, a mountain range situated at ~10,000ft that is popular among domestic tourists looking to escape the heat. The temperatures drop down to the 70’s in the evening which feels like fall compared to the 110 degree temperatures experienced on the coast. The drive into the mountains consists of a harrowing series of steep switchbacks that require a 4WD vehicle by the government to access. Once at the top we made our way to our accommodation for the next 3 nights – a newly built family friendly resort called the D2 Dusit Naseem. The hotel was very new and nice, but somehow ended up on our list of least favorite accommodations – they blasted loud club music at the pool all day despite it being mostly families, our room key never worked which they kept blaming on us, and the staff were not helpful when we inquired about activities offered by the hotel.
With a few hours of daylight left we made our way over to one of the most popular hikes in the area that included a pedestrian only loop through 3 of the smaller villages – Al Aqr, Al Qyn, and Ash Shirayjah – nestled on the edge of a plateau overlooking the valley. It was a beautiful walk through the irrigation canals and small villages – the villages were quiet but for a few kids playing and walking along the paths. Once we completed the loop, we were ready to get back to our hotels and hit the hay after an active day!
Day 5: Slow day in Jebel Akhdar
After a jam packed few days, we decided we would spend our second full day in Jebel Akhdar relaxing by the pool at our resort and working on Traveling Smarts content.
For dinner we landed at Layali al Jebel (“Mountain Nights” in English), an Iranian-Omani restaurant with a rooftop overlooking the valley where we hiked through the three villages the day before. It was a spectacular setting as we watched the sun set over the valley. The food was delicious and the best we had while up in the mountains. We warmed ourselves up with two karak teas with saffron (plentiful and cheap in this part of the world) and a homemade lentil soup. We each dined on a spiced rice dish accompanied by flavorful grilled chicken (for Doug) and shrimp (for Jessie)
Day 6: Back to Muscat
We packed up our bags and enjoyed one last resort buffet breakfast before hitting the road back to Muscat. While the way up to Jebel Akhdar is steep and treacherous, the real challenge and danger lies in the way back down. Doug had spent more time than necessary researching how to use manual shifting to break going downhill in hopes of preserving the break pads. We’ll never know if it was necessary or not, but the manual shifting worked and we enjoyed a relatively seamless ride back down. The rest of the drive back to Muscat was luckily benign but for the scorching 115 degree temperatures.
We spent our last full day in Muscat the way we started – playing tennis and breaking a sweat in the scorching heat. While our hotel for the evening didn’t have an on-site tennis club this time around, we found a place next door that did. The gentleman guarding the tennis center did not know how to operate the credit card machine, so we worked with the owner remotely to log in and settle up ourselves. You learn something new every day!
We had one last meal at Bait al Luban, a nicer traditional Omani restaurant made famous by Anthony Bourdain’s visit in 2017. We dined on classic Omani dishes like Shuwa, an incredibly rich slow cooked lamb dish typically prepared for special occasions, and frankincense infused water. It was the perfect celebratory meal to cap off a special 2 weeks road tripping around northern Oman.
On the way to the airport the following morning, we made one last stop at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. As the name suggests, the mosque was commissioned by the late Sultan in the 90s to act as the grand mosque for the country. We had a very tight window to visit – only 15 minutes right at opening. Unfortunately, Jessie was unable to visit without having her arms fully covered in the 100+ degree heat (shoulders were not good enough). So, Doug ran in and quickly explored the vast complex while a very kind and sociable royal guard practiced Arabic with Jessie. There was not a single visitor when Doug made his way through the complex – just the occasional landscaper and custodian mopping the pristine polished marble floors.
The mosque was grand to say the least – covering over 400,000 square feet, built with 300,000 TONS of imported Indian sandstone, and with a prayer hall chandelier adorned by 600,000 crystals. It was a treat to roam the complex and prayer hall alone.
Oman is a special country – naturally stunning, culturally rich with a stability and model unique to the region, and home to some of the most hospital people in the world. We are grateful we made the decision to work Oman into our travels.
