Oman Air posted its first profit in fifteen years, St. Regis and Mandarin Oriental both debuted in one season, four million visitors spent a billion rials — and the Muttrah Corniche still looks like the Arabia of the travel posters.
Muscat is less a city than a string of harbors and districts — old Muscat, Muttrah, Ruwi, Qurum, Al Mouj — laid along forty kilometers of the Gulf of Oman with the Hajar mountains at its back. It is the Gulf capital that modernized without demolishing: the Portuguese forts still guard the palace cove, the souq still smells of frankincense, and the skyline stops politely at mid-rise by royal decree.
Come between October and April, when the Gulf is kind. Fly into Muscat International — Oman Air for the network, SalamAir for the fare — take the A1 bus or a taxi into town, and give the city at least four nights: one for Muttrah, one for the Grand Mosque and the opera, one for the beaches, and one for the mountains. Jabal Akhdar is two hours away and twenty degrees cooler; the two-center trip is the move.
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