The half-hour drive from the airport to Shangri La Hotel on the outskirts of Muscat takes you through a dusty sandy-coloured landscape of mountains and valleys. Although the Middle East that I pictured had sand, this land looked completely different with its winding mountain paths through sand. After a tunnel takes you through the last mountain, you find yourself in a veritable oasis. My family and I were more than ready for some winter sun at the Shangri La Muscat!
The hotel does have a mini-bus that takes you into Muscat which we did use one day. If you go to Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah resort, be prepared to spend most of your time at the resort itself. Al Husn, the most-exclusive hotel, is reserved for adults.
We were told later that children can technically stay there but they are not allowed to use any of the facilities. We were joined on this trip by a friend who had stayed at Al Husn previously. She thought it was exceptional with its own private beach and pools. The other two hotels are walking distance of each other.
We stayed at the Al Bandar Hotel which is the hotel in the middle-location. The Al Bandr Hotel has most of the restaurants. The rooms are spacious and the hotel itself is well-laid out. The architecture is traditional Omani and the hotel encircles a courtyard area with restaurants. The grand traditional architecture at Al Bandr. The bedrooms are spacious and can accommodate another bed. In the evenings, we sat outside in the balmy night air and listened to the live traditional music.
Many people were hanging around smoking shisha pipes. The sweet smell wafted through the air around us. A fellow American, Pamela even took us out during her free time to go shopping at the big mall in the area. The beach has gentle waves thanks to the sheltering rocks. The third hotel, the Al Waha, is the largest of the three hotels. We did notice that most of the families staying at the resort stayed at the Al Waha. As you can expect, this part of the resort was the least quiet.
