Oman

Oman is nice, clean and pleasant. Contrary to many places i visited in the Middle  East, the country seems to work. Houses are new, public buildings done with taste, roads wide and driving is easy, plus eating and accommodation are  dirt cheap. A couple of American girls told me that Muscat looks like Santa Barbara. I do not know if the comparison makes sense (I have never been there) but some portions of Muscat do look like the spiffy parts of southern California. In short,  it is what the Middle East could look like if fanatics, extremists and megalomaniac of all sorts and colors would be wiped out. People are friendly, well disposed and helpful. They helped a stupid foreigner like me stuck in the sand without even having to ask. And, believe me, no hassle of any sort from the locals even  in the souks,

Unfortunately the country is no longer a discovery and hordes of French, Swiss and Italian tourists are present in all the major sites. Hence, if you look for solitude and wilderness you will have  to go and search it by yourself. I have tried it but it is not easy. Sites outside the main routes are not well marked, secondary roads are steep, tiny and often without tarmac (gravel or sand is  the  norm) which makes life difficult, and roads bumps to slow you down are not marked so even if you keep in focus, at least once a day you miss a couple of them and you will be lucky if the car still works afterwards.

The country is a combination of modern Islamic architecture, ancient forts, deep wadis with deep narrow pools, sharp and unpassable mountains, ancient, deserted, and often crumbling villages and, of course, desert. For the intrepid traveler there are things to be appreciated in solitude but you need a good 4wd car (i had a small city car and had to revert  back many  times due to the steepness and the difficulty of secondary roads),   a good sense of orientation (directions are often  missing) and a willingness to risk to get stuck in a mountain road about 30-50 km from the nearest town.

These are my favorite spots: Top building: Oman National Museum. Top fort: Balha. Top wadi: Wadi Shab, Top castle: Salut, Top mud villages: Al Hamra and Misfah. Top mountain road Birkat-Jabal al Akhdar. Top dunes  experience: Al Raka. My suggestion, for 7-10 days trip is to spend one day Muscat, go to Nizwa and make it the base to explore around it (there are many in all directions, you can easily stay 4 days or  more) Then go to the sand desert (Bidiyah) and do the reverse trip back to Muscat via Sur.

If you like sea life, the hatching of turtles is definitively an experience to try but be aware that independent visits are not possible to Ras al Jinz, that the tours start at either 5 in the morning or 9 at night- so you will have to stay nearby for the night - and that the season for reproduction is May-September - so you need to be prepared for suffocating heat.  The Musandam peninsula in the north  attracts less crowds and it is worth a visit, if you have time to spare but do not believe the advertisement. Even if they call it the Norway of the Middle East, It has nothing to do with Norway although fiords are deep and  attractive and, if you are lucky, you can spot wildlife in the sea.  if you happen to be  in Oman during monsoon season go south to Salalah. From the pictures i have seen it looks spectacular and you can follow the incense road (yes the frankincense trees are from here) and stay away from tourists, guides and buses.