Muscat

Fri 2 Jan 2026

Bimmah sinkhole

After breakfast of quroos and pratha bread, we packed, checked out and left for Muscat. On the way to Muscat, we stopped by at Bimmah sinkhole, which is now filled with water and some tourists were swimming in it. The entrance is free. We didn't spend too much time here, as we had already swam yesterday at Wadi Shab and the views at Wadi Shab were more spectacular.

Bimmah sinkhole

We then continued the drive to Muscat which took about 1 h 20 mins covering 128 km via the free highway. We drove straight to Ibis hotel Muscat (OMR 56.5 or RM 597 with breakfast) where we would be staying for 2 nights before going back home. 

our hotel room

We reached the hotel around 12 noon and luckily we were able to check in already. Since it was a Friday, shops will be closed during Friday prayers, so we refreshed and rested a bit in our rooms before finding lunch.

After refreshing ourselves, we drove to Africa Restaurant for Zanzibar food and had pilau rice with lamb and spinach dish for OMR 3.045 with chai (free). It was delicious, and we were also hungry.

pilau rice with lamb and spinach

After lunch, we went to buy strawberries (300 baisa or OMR 0.3 only!) at the supermarket and then bought some halwa (Omani sweets) at Al Diwaniya Omani sweets shop (OMR 8 for 3 boxes) which looks and taste a bit like dodol (chewy and sticky sweets) but with spices.

For sunset viewing today, we drove to Ghubra beach with free and ample parking. Since it was the weekend, many families were having picnic and camping by the beach and setting up barbecue sets.

sunset at Ghubra beach

Sat 3 Jan 2026

We had buffet breakfast at Ibis hotel which was already included in our room rate. Breakfast started at 6.30am, but when we came at 7am, there were many guests already so we would be going earlier at 6.30am tomorrow. The buffet breakfast spread consisted of Omani foul with pita bread and continental dishes, arabic coffee and dates. 

buffet breakfast

After a fulfilling breakfast, we drove to the largest mosque in Oman, the Sultan Qaboos grand mosque. Entrance is free with ample parking (also free). The mosque is beautifully decorated and also has a beautiful garden. The first hall from the entrance via the garden is the female prayer hall, while the men prayer hall is bigger and is in the second hall. We performed our prayers and then took some pictures. 

men prayer hall

women prayer hall

the mosque door

the mosque garden

From the mosque, we drove to Mutrah souq which is 20km away and took about 20 mins. We managed to find parking near to the fish market and parking is free during weekends. 

At the souq we bought some fridge magnets (3 OMR for 5 pieces), ladies robes (5 OMR each), a thobe (5 OMR) and Omani headgear (OMR 1 each) as souvenirs.

Mutrah souq

We then walked by the seaside to the corniche from the souq, but there was nothing much there so we walked back to the parking lot. We had lunch at Ghamdan Palace estaurant near the parking lot. We had lamb shuwa with rice and orange juice for OMR 4.5

corniche near Mutrah souq

fort at the corniche

lamb shuwa with rice

After lunch, we stopped by Al Fawaris bakery to buy some Basbousa and other local sweets (OMR 3.15) 

We also stopped by Qurum beach on the way back to our hotel to take some pictures. 

qurum beach

We had no further plans today so we went back to our hotel, stopping by to fill up petrol (OMR 5.3)

Around 4.30pm we went out again as Partner In Crime wanted to wash the rental car. Since the queue was long, I decided to go to Lulu Hypermarket next door, then went to Ikea and did some window shopping. Partner In Crime was still not done yet after an hour. Wow there were really many customers wanted to wash their cars during the weekend.

car wash

Car wash was finally done at 6pm (OMR 1.6) , then we headed for dinner at a nearby restaurant Mutrah food Palace. We had lamb chop with bread, orange juice and rice pudding for OMR 5.1

lamb chop for dinner

After dinner we went back to the hotel to pack our bags for departure tomorrow and called it a day.