The Hajar mountains run parallel to Oman's northern coast, reaching 3,000 metres at Jebel Shams, and they are close enough to the sea that you can be on a beach in Muscat in the morning and at 2,000 metres in the afternoon with a twenty-degree temperature drop.
That vertical range is the reason to come here rather than to the Gulf cities. Oman has the wadis, the canyons, the falaj irrigation channels that have watered terraced villages for a thousand years, and a coastline that is mostly undeveloped.
It is also a conservative country in a way that its neighbours are not, and that is part of the appeal: there are no skyscrapers by regulation, buildings in Muscat are limited in height and required to follow a traditional style, and the capital is low, white and spread along the coast.
The four Omans
Muscat is the capital: the Grand Mosque, the souq at Mutrah, the corniche and the palaces, spread over about 50 kilometres of coast between mountains and sea.
Jebel Akhdar, two hours inland and 2,000 metres up, is the green mountain — terraced villages growing pomegranates and roses, canyon-edge hotels and genuinely cold nights.
Musandam, the peninsula at the Strait of Hormuz, is separated from the rest of Oman by the UAE and reached by flight or a long drive. It has the khors, deep inlets between cliffs, and dolphins.
Salalah, in the far south near Yemen, catches the Indian Ocean monsoon between June and September, which turns a desert green for three months. It is a two-hour flight from Muscat.
The nine below are grouped that way.
Muscat
The capital, along the coast.
The Chedi Muscat occupies a long low property on a private beach with a serrated water channel running through the grounds, a very large spa and a restrained Omani-influenced design. It is the best hotel in the country.
The Chedi Muscat
Muscat beachfront · 5★ · $$$$
A private beach, a long water channel and the country's best spa
Check availabilityAl Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel sits in a palace built in 1985 between mountains and a private beach, with an atrium of considerable scale and mature gardens. It is the grand hotel of Oman.
Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Muscat · 5★ · $$$$
A 1985 palace between mountains and a private beach
Check availabilityAl Husn Hotel Muscat occupies a clifftop position at Barr Al Jissah as the adults-only wing of a three-hotel complex, with a private beach, an infinity pool and access to everything next door.
Al Husn Hotel Muscat
Barr Al Jissah · 5★ · $$$$
Adults-only clifftop with access to the whole complex
Check availabilityKempinski Hotel Muscat sits on a private beach north of the city with several pools, a spa and full family facilities.
Kempinski Hotel Muscat
Al Mouj, Muscat · 5★ · $$$
Private beach with several pools and family facilities
Check availabilityW Muscat occupies a tower on the Muscat waterfront with a rooftop pool and the most contemporary rooms in the capital.
W Muscat
Muscat waterfront · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop pool and the most contemporary rooms in the capital
Check availabilityJebel Akhdar
Two hours inland, at 2,000 metres.
Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman occupies a canyon-edge position at 2,000 metres with rooms in local stone, a spa cut into the rock and a terrace over a 1,000-metre drop. The temperature is twenty degrees below the coast.
Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman
Jebel Akhdar, 2,000m · 5★ · $$$$
A terrace over a thousand-metre drop, twenty degrees cooler
Check availabilityAl Jabal Hotel sits nearby on the same escarpment with an infinity pool over the canyon, a large spa and rose gardens.
Al Jabal Hotel
Jebel Akhdar · 5★ · $$$$
Infinity pool over the canyon with rose gardens
Check availabilityMusandam
The peninsula at the Strait of Hormuz.
Beach Bay Hotel occupies a bay reached by mountain road, boat or paraglider, with villas on the sand, a spa and cliffs on three sides. It is the most remote hotel in the region and the arrival is the point.
Beach Bay Hotel
Musandam peninsula · 5★ · $$$$
A bay reached by mountain road, boat or paraglider
Check availabilitySalalah
The far south, and the monsoon.
Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara sits on a beach beside the ruins of a frankincense trading port, with a lagoon, a spa and a museum next door. Between June and September the hills behind it turn green.
Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara
Salalah · 5★ · $$$
Beside a frankincense port ruin, green in the monsoon
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The desert camps in the Wahiba Sands are excluded, and a night on the dunes is one of the best things in Oman. They are tented camps and this is a hotel guide. Do it as a night out from Muscat.
What to do
Drive into the mountains. Jebel Shams and the Wadi Ghul canyon, sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Arabia, and the abandoned village at Wadi Bani Habib. A four-wheel drive is required for several routes.
Swim in a wadi. Wadi Shab requires a short boat, a 45-minute walk and a swim through a slot in the rock to reach a waterfall in a cave. It is the best thing in northern Oman.
See the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, which holds one of the largest handwoven carpets in the world, and go early with covered shoulders, knees and hair for women.
Watch green turtles nesting at Ras al Jinz on the east coast, which happens year round with a peak in summer, on a guided night visit.
Take a dhow into the Musandam khors for the dolphins and the cliffs.
Practical notes
Muscat's airport has good regional and European connections. Salalah and Musandam are domestic flights.
October to April is the season on the coast: warm, dry and comfortable. May to September exceeds 40 degrees in the north. Salalah reverses this: its season is the monsoon, June to September, when the rest of the country is at its hottest.
Oman is conservative and dress standards away from resorts matter. Alcohol is served in hotels rather than generally.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Muscat and Oman Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is Oman like Dubai?
No. Building heights are restricted, there are no skyscrapers in Muscat and the appeal is landscape and tradition rather than scale.
Coast or mountains?
Both. They are two hours apart with a twenty-degree temperature difference, which makes a split trip easy.
When should you go to Salalah?
June to September, during the monsoon, which is the opposite of the rest of the country's season.
How many nights?
Seven. Three in Muscat, two on Jebel Akhdar and two for the wadis or the desert.