Musandam
Oman's detached northern tip on the Strait of Hormuz, where bare mountains drop straight into deep inlets of the sea and the roads arrive from the Emirates.
- Arrival
- Khasab · KHS
- To Zighy Bay
- About two hours by road from Dubai
- Private jets
- Khasab by 48-hour prior permission
- Best time
- November to March
The city
Mountains in the sea.
Musandam is cut off from the rest of the Sultanate by the United Arab Emirates, a peninsula of some 1,800 square kilometres that rises to 2,087 metres at Jebel Harim. The coast is folded into long khors, the inlets that earned it the name Norway of Arabia, and dhows leave Khasab harbour to cruise between the cliffs. Around the village of Kumzar people still speak Kumzari, a southwestern Iranian language related to Larestani.
The season runs from November to March, with afternoons between 24 and 31 °C; the winter months bring the year's few showers. From April the heat climbs fast, past forty degrees by June.
- Telegraph Island Ruins of a cable station of 1864, on a rock in Khor Ash Sham, with snorkelling around its foot.
- Khasab Fort Built by the Portuguese in the early seventeenth century, on low ground close to the shore.
- The khors Inlets walled by bare rock, explored by dhow or on a dive.
Arriving
A military runway and a border road.
Khasab Airport shares its single runway with the Omani military. Oman Air links it with Muscat and Dubai. By land, Musandam is reached only from the Emirates: from Ras Al Khaimah towards Khasab, or through the Dibba crossing on the east coast.
- Muscat 50 min
- Riyadh 1 h 35
- Addis Ababa 3 h 45
- Athens 4 h 35
- Geneva 6 h 40 long-range jet
When to go
November to March.
November to March brings warm, clear days in the mid-twenties to low thirties, with most of the year's little rain. From May to September the highs pass forty degrees.
- 24° J 45
- 26° F 49
- 30° M 46
- 36° A 9
- 40° M 2
- 41° J 0
- 41° J 1
- 41° A 0
- 39° S 0
- 36° O 0
- 31° N 3
- 26° D 32
Where to stay
A bay of villas and a cliff over the sea.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
-
Six Senses Zighy Bay Villas with plunge pools laid out like an Omani village, two MICHELIN Keys, and an arrival by paraglider from the ridge for those who want it.
Where to dine
The table on the ridge.
No MICHELIN Guide covers Oman. The one high-end table within reach is the signature restaurant of Six Senses Zighy Bay, open for dinner by reservation.
- Sense on the Edge Signature restaurant, Six Senses Zighy Bay Farm to table Six Senses Zighy Bay, 293 m above the bay
Flying to Musandam?
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.