5 Best Sights in Oman

One of the few places to walk in Muscat, the beautiful corniche runs along the sea from the top of the hill overlooking old Muscat, across from the incense burner monument at Al Riyam Park, to the fish market and shipping port just past the famous Mutrah Souq. Along the route, there are plenty of photo ops of the iconic waterfront buildings of Old Muscat, including the beautiful old blue-domed Shia mosque. Each evening, as the weather cools, the sidewalk fills with locals and expats enjoying a stroll. It is a great place to head to around sunset.

About 3½ hours from Muscat, the Wahiba Sands is a gorgeous sea of sand dunes whose only inhabitants are Bedouin tribes, who still maintain a semi-nomadic lifestyle. It is one of the most popular destinations for domestic tourism. Dune-bashing—driving over the mountains of sand in modified four-wheel-drive vehicles—is a favorite activity for locals, who happily queue to race up the hills, a tricky task that takes practice so as to not get stuck in the drifts. Desert crossings are done in convoys of 4x4s that crawl through miles of dunes over a period a days, camping along the way; it's another popular pastime in the winter, when the weather is mild. The Bedouin who live there are friendly and open to sharing their culture. Women set up tents near the beginning of the dunes, where they sell their traditional woven handicrafts. Their vibrantly colored dresses and curvaceous black face-masks are beautiful. The men will often visit camps in the deep desert to share a meal or a drink, or simply to meet visitors camping in their desert. From mid-October through April there are camel races as well. In season, numerous desert camps are set up to enable visitors to get a taste of desert life. If you haven't already arranged a tour from Muscat, many of the desert camps will pick up day-trippers without their own 4x4s from the town of Bidiyah for a fee.

As the last remaining dhow-building factory in a city famous for its carved wooden trading vessels, this workshop is well worth a visit. Nowdays the ships are mostly purchased by rich boating enthusiasts from other GCC countries as pieces of art rather than for maritime commerce. The laborers start cutting thick planks and stretching them across wooden frames around dawn; they typically take a break for the afternoon and continue their work in the early evening. The shop is open to the public, and there is a small visitor center with information on the history of dhow-making in Sur, as well as small replicas and other woodwork for sale.

As you approach Sur from Muscat on Rte. 17, you may notice small signs that read "The Ancient Village of Qalhat." Upon exiting the freeway, a small two-lane road weaves along the seafront until it dips back inland through a small, quite ancient-looking village surrounded by palms. Qalhat, which is still inhabited, is quite beautiful, with spectacularly colorful carved doorways on each of the crumbling living structures. Past this village, where the road begins to run along a river, just before reconnecting with 17, the ruins of the Bibi Mayram Mausoleum can be seen on the other side of the water, the last remaining piece of the once-famous town aside from a few small domed tombs and pieces of the old city wall. Submitted for consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Qalhat was a famous port city that was badly damaged by earthquakes in the 14th century, then destroyed completely by a Portuguese invasion in 1508. It is an unexpected historic treasure along an otherwise empty patch of freeway.