Joanna James
Muscat is a world of its old, with a city that is filled with gorgeous mosques, street markets and ancient palaces and towns. Now, let's take a look at the best places to visit in Muscat.
This is the Sultan's Palace and lies at the end of a huge avenue that is lined with trees. With the mountains making for an impressive backdrop to the building, the palace certainly looks intimidating from the outside. It is not open to public viewing, so all you can do is imagine what it looks like inside.
The National Museum is right opposite Al Alam and is quite a recent development in the city skyline. If you want to know anything about the Omani culture, histories, and folklores, do step in. An extremely interactive museum when it comes to displays and showcases, this museum is a fun place to learn new things at.
The Muscat Gate is an impressive work of architecture that invites you into the city and on top of the gate is the museum. The view from the museum windows is breathtaking and you can find the original Muscat gate, which was used in the 1970s stored inside this unique museum.
Scattered around town, forts are something that Muscat isn't short of. As an alternative to hotels in Muscat, staying at one of these forts sounds like an amazing vacation fit for royalty, but unfortunately, all you can do is tour them. You can still enjoy a room fit for the king if you stay at luxury hotels like Somerset Panorama Muscat, for instance.
Stretching over a beautiful corniche of latticed buildings and mosques, the Mutrah Corniche makes for a picture perfect sunrise and sunset. If you love long walks along the water, bike rides on paved paths and fountains scattered about town, then Muscat is a place you must see. The industrial and boring elements of the port are being replaced with tourist oriented places and the fish market is a highly sought place in the early mornings. The Mutrah Corniche itself is filled with 19th-century homes, brightly coloured minarets and a seafront that is the icing on top of the cake.
The ultimate shopping destination in Muscat, this souq is the biggest one in Muscat. The best time to visit the souq is in the evening as most shops open only in the late afternoon. If you go earlier, you might miss out on the complete experience a well-stocked souq can give you.
This museum might be small in size but packs quite the punch when it comes to collectables and impressive displays. The historic relics displayed in the museum date back to about 750 million years and take you through the whole story, right up until the modern day Muscat. You can even learn about how the mountains around Muscat were formed and their tectonic plate movements throughout the centuries.
A true believer that the pen is a mighty weapon, ventures into reaching the minds of every reader with the earnest hope of leaving an indelible stream of thought.
A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
