Wadi Shab

Wed 31 Dec 2025

It would be a long drive today, making our way from Bahla to Wadi Shab, a journey of 335 km and would be taking 3 hour 20 mins, with a stop for lunch at Muscat.

After breakfast, we packed and checked out from the lovely heritage hotel and drove towards Wadi Shab. We stopped at a petrol station to fill up (OMR 3.5) on the way and stopped for lunch at Nahdi Mandi restaurant in Muscat. The highway was free and there were speed cameras all the way.

on the highway to Muscat

Mr Driver

After having lunch of meat shuwa with rice (OMR 6.5 big portion for 2 pax) we continued the drive to Wadi Shab and arrived by 3pm. It was very windy today and it looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't.

meat shuwa with rice

the drive from Muscat to Wadi Shab view

Our guesthouse (OMR 42 or RM 447, paid by cash) is located next to the sea but there is no direct access to the beach. 

We then walked to Wadi Shab, which took about 15 mins to check out the area for the hike and swim tomorrow. It seemed not too long a walk, so we decided we would just walk from our guesthouse tomorrow to avoid any issues with parking and traffic, tomorrow being the New Year so it could be crowded.

the ocean at Wadi Shab

Thu 1 Jan 2026

We woke up at 5 am in the morning and caught the sunrise by the sea from our guesthouse at 6.30am. We left the guesthouse at 7am and walked to a nearby restaurant to have breakfast of pratha bread, shaksouka, vegetable curry, coffee and karak chai (OMR 2.3) 

sunrise view from our guesthouse

breakfast today

After breakfast, we walked to the Wadi Shab boat jetty and rented 2 life jackets and a water shoe (1 OMR each X 3). Although I could swim, I rented the life jacket anyway as a safety measure. We then took the short boat ride to cross the river (1 OMR return boat trip per person)

short boat ride

The hike at Wadi Shab to the swimming location took us about 1 hour with many stops for taking photos. The views along the canyon and wadi was beautiful. It was a mostly flat hike, with rocky surfaces so I hiked with my hiking boots and brought along my water shoes and water bag.

views of Wadi Shab

the pool where we would be swimming

more beautiful views

After admiring the views and taking photos, we took the plunge into the water and swam towards the cave with a waterfall inside. The entrance to the cave is very narrow and you would have to dive into the water to pass through. I didn't take pictures here though. Some of the other visitors climbed up the ropes provided at the waterfall and jumped inside the water.

going into the pool

swimming

swimming

We spent about an hour in the water and then rested to dry up while eating dates and bananas. We then made our way back via the same route but there it was really crowded by now at around noon. Every space at the cave wadi pool has been taken up so some visitors swam at other different pools instead.

resting after swimming

sunny today at the beach

We walked back to our beach house, then took the car and drove to a nearby restaurant to have lunch of beef masal with rice and orange juice (OMR 2.6). After lunch, we drove back to the our guest house to shower and rest.

lunch nearby 

We ventured out again to find some snacks, first we went to a grocery store, and on the way back we saw a stall selling karak chai and samosas so we bought 2 beef samosas and karak chai for 300 baisa (OMR 0.3), very cheap. We enjoyed the snacks by the sea front at our guest house while waiting for sunset at 5.30pm

enjoying samosa by the sea

Fri 2 Jan 2026

For breakfast today, we went to the opposite restaurant from yesterday's lunch place to have Omani pancakes (quroos) and pratha bread with curry for OMR 1.9

quroos and pratha

After breakfast, we packed, checked out and left for Muscat