Muscat

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you holidays in muscat

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Hotels in muscat, Bed and Breakfast!

Muscat is the capital of Oman and the country's largest city.

muscat Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By Air 2.2 By Bus 2.3 By Car 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Work 8 Buy 9 Eat 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 Contact 13 Stay Safe 14 Cope 14.1 ATM's 14.2 Beauty Parlours & Hair Salons 14.3 Bus Routes 14.4 Car Rentals 14.5 Gyms 14.6 Hospitals 14.7 Laundry 14.8 Money Changers 14.9 Newspapers 14.10 Pharmacies 14.11 Post & Telegraphs 14.12 Shoe Repair 15 Get Out

Understand

Get in

By Air

Oman and Gulf air have daily flights from Madras and Bahrain. While Emirates connects Muscat with Dubai. Change very little currency at the airport. 100 USD will fetch you 35.2 Rials at the airport, it will fetch you 38 rials outside in the city.

By Bus

There are daily bus services from Dubai to Muscat.

By Car

You can reach Muscat by road from Dubai

Get around

Maxi taxi's (Mitsuibishi vans) ply the highway from Seeb to the corniche area. The charge is 100 baisa from corniche area to the church round about and another 100 baisa from the church round about to Wadi Adai.

The (mostly orange and white) taxis are a bit pricier, and they hang around the hotels where they get juicy fares from unwary travellers. They will charge 8 Rials for and airport trip if you don't haggle, but you should be able to barter for 5 Rials. THey always say they will give you "good price" but its best to figure out what you want to spend then agree before you get in (CP)

The Maxi Taxi's ply the main routes through town, and they go where they want so you might have to find one going your direction, once you are on one, they will make sure you get there. THe place to wait for them is on the on-ramps of most of the main highway junctions, you'll usually see a few people waiting around for one. A journey within the Muscat area should not cost more than 300 Baisa each, but if you look like an experienced traveller and hand them 200 baisa then you can usually get away with that. (CP)

See

• Al jalali Fort
• Corniche Area
• Grand Mosque
• Mirani Fort
• Mutrah Souk
• Qasr Al Alam Royal Palace
• Wahiba Sands

Do

• Walk down the water front in the Corniche area for some cool sea breeze and treat yourself to some sandwiches and Halib (Tea with Milk) / Sulaimani (Black Tea) at one of the wayside restaurants. The tea cost about 50 baisa.

• From the water front enter the Mutrah Souk and bargain for some arab headgear (costs 1 rial), garments, nuts and spices, incense, earthen ware etc.

• Before getting back to your hotel have dinner at one of the wayside restaurants on the waterfront.

• Night Safari

Learn

Work

Buy

• Carrefour, City Centre, Seeb, Tel - 522140 / 141
• Godiva Chocolates, Sabco Centre, Ruwi, Tel - 562367
• Lulu Shopping Center, Ruwi, Tel - 7711449
• Mont Blanc, City Centre, Seeb, Tel -
• Muscat Duty Free, Seeb International Airport, http://www.muscatdutyfree.com

   Oman's own Duty Free 
   Wide range of choices and Great Offers
   Summer Promotion '05 - Buy worth US $65 and you win a chance to get 1KG Gold Free 
   

• Safeer Hyper Market, Athiaba (Azaiba), Tel - 502461
• Select, All Shell Petrol Bunks,
• Sultan Centre, , Tel - 567666

The Al Fair chain of supermarkets sells just about everything you want (including lots of English products for a fraction of the price you can get at home) Many of them are on the Main Sultan Quaboos highway making them an easy place to spot.(CP)

Eat

Food is cheap in Muscat and for about a Rial you'll get a meal for two persons.

Budget

• Al-exandria, Fanja House, Near Sabco Centre, Ruwi, Tel - 561611

The best Rotis (Indian Bread). Try the chicken Jalfrezi and Paneer aloo (potato)

• Automatic, (Cuisine - Lebanese)

Try the Hummus (Chickpea paste), Fatoosh (Salad), Mutabel (Egg Plant paste), Falafel and mint tea. Even the waiters are not sure why the restaurant is named automatic.

• Al-Haikal, Near Bus Stand, Ruwi (Cuisine - Pakistani)
• Al-Hanan, Ruwi (Cuisine - Indian)
• Al-Shaheen, Honda Road, Ruwi (Cuisine - Pakistani)
• Anand Bhavan, Off Ruwi High Street, Ruwi (Cuisine - Indian)
• Gujrat Bhojan Shala, Ruwi High Street, Ruwi (Cuisine - Indian)
• Oman Express, Tel - 7731329

Delivers Lunch - 18 rials for a month including Fridays or 15.6 Rials excluding Fridays

• Subway, City Centre, Seeb, Tel - 542225

Mid-range

• Haffa House Hotel, Ruwi

Splurge

• Costa Coffee, Oasis by the Sea, Tel - (Cuisine - Coffee)
• Mumtaj Mahal, (Cuisine - Indian)
• Passage to India, PO Box 385, Jibroo, Wadi Adai, Hatat House Compound, Tel - 568480 (Cuisine - Indian)
• Starbucks Coffee, Jawharat Al-Shati Plaza, Tel - 601406 (Cuisine - Coffee)
• Samarkhand, Oasis by the Sea, (Cuisine - Indian Peshwari)

Drink

Budget

Mid-range

Splurge

Sleep

Budget

Mid-range

• Haffa House Hotel

Splurge

Contact

Global calling card 'Global One' does not work in Muscat. Though the global one website lists the rates for calls from Oman there are no numbers listed along side. The nearest 'Global One' help line is located in Dubai.

Pre-paid telephone cards called Jibreen Cards are available at most stores. It's available in denominations of 5 Rials and 1.5 Rials. A 5 Rial card gets you 11 minutes of talk time.

The Hayak card is the pre-paid card for cellular phones.

Stay Safe

Its advisbale to drink bottled water while in Muscat. Jabal Akhdar and Masafi are the most recognisable brands of mineral water and is available in most convinience shops.

Cope

ATM's

ATM's are very common now, especially in the Embassy district and near most shopping malls and larget hotels.(CP)

Beauty Parlours & Hair Salons

Bus Routes

Car Rentals

The cheapest car rental is about 14 UKP for a day, but thats not a 4-wheel drive. So don't think that you are going to go up in the mountains for that price. For local travel its far more fun using the buses (CP)

Gyms

Hospitals

ytu

Laundry

Money Changers

Newspapers

• Times of Oman
• Khaleej Times

Pharmacies

Post & Telegraphs

Shoe Repair

Get Out

• Salalah
• Dubai

Biggest country to travel: Biggest cities to travel: Islands in the top travel 40: World Travel guide Random travel link: Russia Madagascar Pakistan France Seoul in South Korea Berlin Germany Jakarta in Indonesia Tehran in Iran Maui Easter_Island Nova_Scotia Santorini Tasmania Rwanda Yemen Republic_of_Ireland Eritrea Nigeria Oslo Chiba in Japan Hong Kong Norway Malaysia

• Url Rewriting et referencement made by Atuvu
• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
• Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page