Muscat
A Grand Mosque under a fourteen-metre chandelier, an opera house by the shore, the old souq of Muttrah beside the harbour, and two long runways up the coast at Seeb.
- Arrival
- Muscat International · MCT
- To the city
- About 32 km to Old Muscat by road
- Private jets
- Jetex FBO and VIP terminal at MCT
- Best time
- October to April
The city
Between the mountains and the Gulf of Oman.
Sultan Qaboos opened the Grand Mosque on 4 May 2001, thirty years into his reign; a single carpet of some 1.7 million knots, four years in the weaving, covers its prayer hall. The Royal Opera House followed in 2011 with Turandot under Plácido Domingo, while in Muttrah the souq has traded beside the harbour for about two hundred years.
October to April is the season, with highs from 25 to 34 °C, a sea between 23 and 29 °C and very little rain. Al Bustan Palace, built for the Gulf summit of 1985, still sits in 200 acres of gardens against the mountains.
Arriving
Seeb, up the coast.
Muscat International stands at Seeb, about 32 km from the old city, with two parallel runways of 4,000 and 4,080 metres and a terminal opened in March 2018. It handled 13.2 million passengers in 2025.
- Riyadh 1 h 55
- Kuwait City 1 h 55
- Tel Aviv 3 h 35
- Zurich 6 h 55 long-range jet
- Shanghai 8 h 20 long-range jet
When to go
October to April.
Hot from May to September, when the highs reach 36 to 40 °C. From October to April the heat eases and the sea stays warm, and what little rain there is falls mostly between December and March.
- 25° J 22 24°
- 26° F 27 23°
- 29° M 15 24°
- 34° A 11 27°
- 39° M 5 30°
- 40° J 1 31°
- 38° J 2 31°
- 36° A 5 30°
- 36° S 0 30°
- 34° O 0 29°
- 30° N 5 28°
- 26° D 10 25°
What to see and do
Days in and around Muscat.
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Landmark
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
A chandelier 14 metres high, with 600,000 crystals, above a prayer hall of 4,343 square metres.
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Landmark
Royal Opera House
Up to 1,100 seats on Sultan Qaboos Street in Shati Al Qurum, open since October 2011.
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Landmark
Muttrah Souq
Shaded lanes by the harbour, among the oldest markets in Oman.
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Culture
National Museum of Oman
Opened in July 2016 in Old Muscat, fourteen permanent galleries hold 5,466 objects tracing the country's story from prehistory to the present.
Official site -
Culture
Bait Al Zubair
The Zubair family opened their collection in 1998 across a group of traditional houses, showing Omani weapons, jewellery, dress and household objects.
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Nature
C38 Riyam to Muttrah trail
Marked with yellow, orange and red blazes, this 1.7 km path climbs rock steps above Riyam Park and drops past an abandoned village into Muttrah.
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On the water
Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve
Boats from Al Mouj Marina reach these nine islands, whose coral reefs draw divers and snorkellers and whose beaches hawksbill turtles use for nesting.
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On the water
Bandar Khayran
South of the capital, boats from Marina Bandar Al Rowdha enter this sheltered lagoon among rocky hills to snorkel over coral, often watching for dolphins on the way.
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Golf
Al Mouj Golf
Greg Norman laid out the eighteen-hole championship course as a links loop along the shore, with a floodlit nine-hole par three course beside it.
Where to stay
Three hotels on the shore.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- The Chedi Muscat A hundred and sixty-two rooms and villas on the Gulf of Oman, two pools and a private beach of a thousand feet; the only MICHELIN Key hotel in the city.
- Mandarin Oriental, Muscat All 150 rooms look over the beach or the mountains, with sadu-patterned headboards and an Italian restaurant above the sea.
- The St. Regis Al Mouj Muscat Resort Two hundred and fifty suites and duplexes facing the sea, a few steps from the Greg Norman golf course.
Where to dine
Where to book in Muscat.
No MICHELIN Guide covers Oman. These are the high-end tables in Fodor’s Muscat guide, with Fodor’s price bands.
- The Beach Restaurant Fodor’s Choice Seafood $$$$ The Chedi Muscat, Al Ghubra; closed in high summer
- Al Angham Fodor’s Omani $$$$ Shati Al Qurum
- Beach Pavilion Fodor’s Seafood $$$$ Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel
- Kurkum Fodor’s Indian $$$ Mutrah, near the souk
Flying to Muscat?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.