Travel does not have to be expensive!

My recent travel experience from UAE to Oman by road - Dec, 2021

The last time when we went to Oman was just before the pandemic in Feb 2020. We certainly fell in love with the natural beauty of Oman which is just lying next door to UAE! It was a 4 days trip and hence we missed a lot of places offcourse and planned to visit again as the cost of visiting the place is certainly less and until we are in the UAE, it is the best place to visit in budget.

I remember the last time (Feb-2020) we visit it cost us (family of 5) around 3,500/- AED all inclusive. I thought to share this journey with you along with some cost comparison this time around (after 2 years & during pandemic).

One thing is for sure - we have felt that the inflationary impact was there to be found in Oman as well - albeit less than the UAE.

We stayed in the same hotel as we did in 2020 and almost the same rooms and found the price to be slightly less but the service quality has certainly gone down - probably because of what has happened in the past 2 years with expats and downfall of business related to tourism.

Let me show you in the table - how the expenses looked for a typical family of 5 with a twin room 4 star accommodation (4 nights, 5 days). There were some days that we were hosted by some friends, so food expenses on some days were compensated by them :-)

*All the expenses mentioned here are in AED

The total cost I every much reasonable considering this is an international trip with a lot of liberty as you have your own car with you and all natural terrain to be explored! The point of sharing this here is to maintain the fact that traveling does not have to be expensive even during COVID!

A total of 2000 KMs were driven throughout the journey up and down and car maintenance expense were not added to the calculation here. There are still a lot of places that we have missed and some of them were covered in our last trip. The significant places I have kept for the next visit are Salala, Jabel Akhder, Jabel Shams etc.

Let me show you some of the pics and details from the places that we have visited. Do follow me on instagram and I post videos and photos there in detail! [The newsletter has limitation for videos and photos, so won’t be posting much here]

instagram.com/wali_2k

Bimah Sinkhole:

The place is amazing and this is the second time we went there and its still worth the third time if we go to Oman again!

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/nYEEt4sQpTfUu786A
Around 125 KMs from the hotel we were staying in Muscut, around 1 hour & 30 mins drive.

Some photos from the site:

Someone jumping off from from the top of the sinkhole (Not me off course) ;-)

View from the top

Another view from the top

Plantations just outsider the sinkhole and entrance of the park where the sinkhole is located

Dayqah Dam:

Amazing dam and amazing scenery, the place is around 1 hour drive from Bimmah sinkhole and recommended to be visited in single day [You can add one more location of Wadi Ashab if possible which is also in the same area but we already visited the place in our last visit]

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/7e3AjXcBAsmX3AQr7
Around 50 mins drive from Bimmah sinkhole (55 KMs)

Magical serenity on the top of dam!

Hoota Cave:

Breathtaking interior of the cave where bats were found along with underwater fish! Mystical calcium deposits were found and well preserved within the cave! Tickets for around 73 aed (12+) and 40 AED (under 12 kids)

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/UkAi1tLe1Hj7Axfu8
Around 210 KMs from the hotel we were staying in Muscut, around 2 hour & 20 mins drive.

Can you spot a bat?

There you go!

The amazing natural formation within the cave!

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Misfat al Abriyeen

If you want to see how older civilization might have looked like - like 500 years back, you might want to visit this village. This is a small village and you have to walk through the village to experience how it might have looked in olden days!

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/858iWqoFaTYMwKtM7
Around 14 KMs from the Hoota caves took around 30 mins drive.

Dolphin watching

You can watch Dolphin in the gulf of Oman by going into the corniche area and haggling through multiple companies offering the service. We go the quote for 400 AED for 2 adults and 3 kids. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the dolphins this time around, We saw them however in our Feb - 2020 visits.

Ain Al Thawarah (Nakhal Hot Spring)

The last day when we were supposed to come back to Dubai, we planned to go to the 2 places on our way back - one was Nakhal’s hot spring and boy what a place it is! Hot water spring in no man’s land! These 2 places are ideal for a trip while coming back from Muscut to Dubai.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/XyQNgPKhxy69RaoCA
Around 110 KMs from our hotel in Muscut and it took around 2 hours to reach because of kind of terrain we had to run through + the COVID result we were supposed to pick the same day!

Wadi al Hoqain

This was the second surprise we receive as we were coming back to Dubai and i was so glad we planned for these 2 places! Wadi al Hoqain is absolutely a gem and has a fresh water waterfall and the travel from Nakhal to this place has some breath taking sceneries on the way.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/sPU7ACURWaBuDunp6
Around 110 KMs from Nakhal hot water spring and it took around 1 hour and 10 mins to reach because of kind of terrain we had to run through.

We left the place at around 5pm, and headed straight to Hatta-Oman border which took us around 2 hours to be at Dubai check post where it took some time before we entered Dubai!

This week’s videos, in case you missed:

Keep hustling :-)