Beyond Green Travel with Costas Christ
Arabian Oasis: Oman

Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 10, 2008
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Oman-615 Move over, Dubai—Oman's rugged riches are catching on.

Text by Global Travel Editor Costas Christ; Photograph Courtesy of Six Senses Resorts and Spas Oman
When I asked the late explorer Wilfred Thesiger how to retrace his 1949 route across Oman, he recommended setting out during the same month he did, in December. It was sound advice. Winter brings crisp nights and pleasant (read: not hot) days, making it an ideal time to scramble along the Hajar Mountains’ sunbaked wadis and trek across the sand dunes of the Empty Quarter. Oman, as I found, is more than the sum of its desert parts: The country’s 1,300-mile coastline boasts world-renowned diving, and its laid-back monarch, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, makes a point of safeguarding traditional cultures and the environment.

The best way to explore this emerging destination in good style is Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay (villas from $870; sixsenses.com). Located on the Musandam Peninsula, the 82-room retreat sits between jagged mountains and a stretch of pristine white-sand beach (guests arrive via paraglider; a 4×4 follows with their luggage). Guides are on standby to lead hikes into the Ru’us Al Jibal plateau—one of the last remaining wild areas on the Arabian Peninsula—while offshore, the sky blue Gulf of Oman draws kayakers into a maze of hidden caves and secluded coves. Sixty-one years after Thesiger’s journey, off-the-beaten-path Oman still awaits discovery.

Must-Do: The monthlong Muscat Festival kicks off in January, a day’s drive from Zighy Bay. Wander amid clouds of frankincense and myrrh while taking in Arab music, art, and cuisine (muscat-festival.com).

See more World Class recommendations from Costas Christ >>

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Comments

  1. Marilyn
    December 10, 2008, 10:21 am

    Arriving by paraglider? I love it!

  2. Oman
    December 10, 2008, 1:32 pm

    The Muscat Festival’s Heritage Village is a great chance for even locals to see Oman as it was 40+ years ago – a country familiar to Wilfred Thesiger, but unknown to the vast majority of today’s Omanis

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    December 28, 2008, 9:07 pm

    Christ retreat centers is one of the best that i try to experience in other places…

  4. The Agra Indian
    April 25, 2009, 5:45 pm

    No doubt Dubai is a great destination, lots of people go there just of shopping. Isn’t this waste of time and money.

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    December 30, 2009, 1:17 pm

    OH! Oman- the city of dreams! And they do come true! It feels like you are on another planet! And the people are so different in such an incredible fascinating way! the rules of hospitality! AMAZING! You all must go there! And if you have been there- go AGAIN!

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    January 23, 2011, 9:14 am

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