2 Days in Oman: A Luxurious Journey Through Desert Forts, Old Muscat Palaces & Frankincense Heritage

The day begins under soft Muscat light, when the city is still shaking off the heat. Steam rises from your coffee at Thy Yard while the traffic on 18th November Street hums quietly in the background, a low soundtrack to the clink of cups and the rustle of newspapers. From there, the scale shifts dramatically: the white marble expanse of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, its chandelier glittering like a galaxy above the vast prayer carpet, feels both precise and extravagant. By late morning you’re trading stone for glass cases at the National Museum of Oman, where the cool air smells faintly of polished wood and the story of frankincense caravans and dhow builders unfolds hall by hall. Lunch at The Kitchen is all smooth tabletops and the gentle sizzle from an open kitchen, a contemporary counterpoint to the morning’s history. The afternoon slows to a stroll around Al Alam Palace, its blue-and-gold façade catching the sun while the sound of distant waves from the nearby bay softens the formality of the guards and colonnades. As darkness falls, the city leans into its polished side: lacquered wood, dim light and the quiet clatter of chopsticks at Hakkasan Muscat, then the soft thump of bass and the sweet, resinous curl of shisha at Huqqa. You go to sleep with mosque marble and palace columns still in your mind, knowing tomorrow trades coastal opulence for desert forts and frankincense markets.

The second morning has a different sound: the low hum of the highway, tires on tarmac, as Muscat’s white sprawl gives way to ochre mountains and open desert. Coffee in a simple roadside spot near Nizwa tastes stronger, the air drier, and the sun already high when the silhouette of Jabreen Castle rises ahead—a layered stack of towers and courtyards that still smell faintly of dust and old wood. Inside, painted ceilings glow in the half-light and thick walls stay cool to the touch, a reminder that opulence here has always been about comfort in a harsh climate. By late morning you’re at Bahla Fort, its vast mud-brick ramparts absorbing sound so thoroughly that even your footsteps feel hushed. Lunch in Nizwa is grounded and local, a contrast to last night’s lacquered plates, before you wander through the citadel of Nizwa Fort and the smaller, evocative rooms of Nizwa Museum. The afternoon belongs to Nizwa Central Souq and its gate: the clink of silver bangles, the sweet-sharp scent of frankincense and spices, rough pottery under your fingertips as you weigh what to take home. As the light softens, you angle the car back toward the mountains, detouring briefly past the high-end resorts that cling to the cliffs of Jabal Akhdar—a reminder that Oman’s luxury can be as much about silence and altitude as marble and chandeliers. You end the night back in Muscat at a rooftop like WET Deck Muscat, the day’s forts now abstracted into shadows against the memory of a starry desert sky.