Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Has anyone been to Muscat, Oman?

MY friend and I will be transitting through Muscat next March... travelling on GF from LHR and connecting 16 hours later. There is no connecting flight to BKK via MCT anymore. When I issued the ticket , there was , and then GF changed a lot of flights... and volia, now a 16 hour connection instead of 2!

Do you think I need to pay for the visa while in transit? GF is providing us with us with a stopover day room at a nearby hotel..

Hi,

Muscat is great! Too bad you're only there for 16 hours.

One question: was rerouting via Bahrain not an option? IIRC LHR-BAH-BKK vv is a nice connection.

With regards to the visa, it depends on your country of citizenship. AFAIK Oman will grant visas on arrival if you are American/British/Canadian/Chinese/Hong Kongian (is that correct? :o .)

GF might take care of this for you without charge, as it is part of their free stopover package.

Cheers

MY friend and I will be transitting through Muscat next March... travelling on GF from LHR and connecting 16 hours later. There is no connecting flight to BKK via MCT anymore. When I issued the ticket , there was , and then GF changed a lot of flights... and volia, now a 16 hour connection instead of 2!

Do you think I need to pay for the visa while in transit? GF is providing us with us with a stopover day room at a nearby hotel..

GF will arrange your visa. AVOID you are not placed at the Golden Tulip Muscat!!! (closest hotel to Airport)

Oman is the most picturesque of all the Arabian Gulf states. The people are friendly-super friendly in fact and it has not been overwhelmed with expat workers from Asia or the subcontinant thus it maintains its integrity very well, unlike UAE. If you are able to organise a day trip tour do so!...there is lots to see. Muscat city is nothing special.
lLovely place to stop off..if I were you I would extend and stay at Chedi Muscat..sheer bliss:) at least 2 days.

Enjoy CJ :)

I combined the recent-ish GF mistake fare in F with and excellent travel industry opening offer at the Al Husn Resort (the new Shangri-la in Muscat) whcih was excellent.

Very easy to get a Visa on arrival. Muscat airport is ok but the GF lounge is nothing special

I went there nearly 8 years ago.. but it was a refreshing change from the bustle of Bahrain or Dubai back then. The Intercontinental Resort has to be seen to be believed. Mud forts are a good day trip to see, up in the moutain areas, other choice is the fish market at the end of the souk..;)

Here is a link with about 150 photos from Muscat from November 20, 2002 - November 27, 2002.

Have a great time!

http://mypage.iu.edu/~jbowden/november20-30.html

MY friend and I will be transitting through Muscat next March... travelling on GF from LHR and connecting 16 hours later. There is no connecting flight to BKK via MCT anymore. When I issued the ticket , there was , and then GF changed a lot of flights... and volia, now a 16 hour connection instead of 2!

Do you think I need to pay for the visa while in transit? GF is providing us with us with a stopover day room at a nearby hotel..

Guy,

GF will arange the visa for no charge.

Do NOT leave the airport if billeted to the Golden Tulip. THat is their STPC hotel for economy pax. If the GF transfer desk refuses to give you STPC accomodations worthy of F, go to the GF back office, behind the check in counter where the GF staff are very friendly and plead your case.

Taxis are very expensive in Oman. GF will pick up the tab for your taxi transfers. Once again, do not let them put you on the Golden Tulip shuttle van.

Guy,

GF will arange the visa for no charge.

Do NOT leave the airport if billeted to the Golden Tulip. THat is their STPC hotel for economy pax. If the GF transfer desk refuses to give you STPC accomodations worthy of F, go to the GF back office, behind the check in counter where the GF staff are very friendly and plead your case.

Taxis are very expensive in Oman. GF will pick up the tab for your taxi transfers. Once again, do not let them put you on the Golden Tulip shuttle van.

Thank you all for your responses...

LHR-BAH-BKK had no seats for my travel companion who is on the Buy1-Get1 free mastercard promo. That is why we had to be routed via MCT this time round. We're in F class. I think a limousine is allowed in MCT too according to my ticket terms roundtrip to/from airport to hotel.

Ok. Noted: Do not stay at the Golden Tulip. Last I asked, GF was providing us with one hotel room each. So let's see if it will be anything other than the Golden Tulip!

Is there anything exciting to do whilst there? I know about the Grand Mosque though..

Guy - Oman's a brilliant place, and Muscat has charm that you won't find as easily - or combined with such friendly folk - in other parts of the region.

Don't stay anywhere near the airport.

I'd suggest the Shatti al Qrm area, and the Intercontinental there. But I'm an IC junkie. You've got shops and restaurants close by and the beach in froont. The Hyatt is pretty much OK, too - and there's a Sheraton "boutique-annexe".

I'd avoid the Al-Bustan, which is picturesque and another IC, but in a remote spot and often filled with tour groups. The Chedi is best left for honeymooners.

Go to Mutrah, the fishing port of Muscat, which has a market-Suq, and leads on to Muscat-proper, with the ruler's palace. It's a spectacular setting.

There's a small museum in the fort/gate over the road between Mutrah and Muscat - it gives an excellent and accessible background to the city.

A day's car rental is easy and not expensive.

"downtown" usually means Ruwi, the commercial part of greater Muscat. Nothing much of interest for a leisure stop. Avoid.

Otherwise, the IC's pool is great, and an evening's promenade along the beach walk is quite sufficient exercise. Ian

Ok. Noted: Do not stay at the Golden Tulip. Last I asked, GF was providing us with one hotel room each. So let's see if it will be anything other than the Golden Tulip!

Is there anything exciting to do whilst there? I know about the Grand Mosque though..

I agree with the others. Unless you have a compelling reason to go to a room, such as you don't sleep on planes and are inches from death, then go into the city and explore a bit. The airport is only about 20 minutes outside the city edge. The city is broken into three main areas: 1) ruwi, 2) mutrah, and 3) muscat. Ruwi is on the airport end and isn't all that interesting. Mutrah is where the corniche and the markets are. Pretty area and very vibrant. Muscat has the ancient part of the city, including the old walls, the harbor, the mosques, and the palaces. They aren't far and taxis are reasonable and plentiful. At the end of the day, though, muscat town really closes down and mutrah is the place to be.

Unless it's changed, visas are available at the airport, but you gotta shag ... off the plane and get in line. The process isn't overly complicated, if a bit expensive, but the immigration agents took their own sweet little time. I was person #5 and it took over an hour with two agents. If GF can arrange the visa ahead of time as people have mentioned, it's a no brainer, imo.

Prices. Things are reasonably priced with the exception of the taxi from the airport. It's a set price and runs about $25, if I recall correctly. Food, "stuff", taxis and admissions to museums and whatnot are all very reasonable and I didn't find it to be budget busting. Car hire was the most expensive thing there (which was unfortunately quite expensive).

Although I hate the Lonely Planet series with a passion and found the Oman book to be miserably bad, it's also about the only game in town. If you can find one for a decent price, it is probably worth picking up. Maybe. It will at least give you an idea of what's there.

I agree with the others. Unless you have a compelling reason to go to a room, such as you don't sleep on planes and are inches from death, then go into the city and explore a bit. The airport is only about 20 minutes outside the city edge. The city is broken into three main areas: 1) ruwi, 2) mutrah, and 3) muscat. Ruwi is on the airport end and isn't all that interesting. Mutrah is where the corniche and the markets are. Pretty area and very vibrant. Muscat has the ancient part of the city, including the old walls, the harbor, the mosques, and the palaces. They aren't far and taxis are reasonable and plentiful. At the end of the day, though, muscat town really closes down and mutrah is the place to be.

Unless it's changed, visas are available at the airport, but you gotta shag ... off the plane and get in line. The process isn't overly complicated, if a bit expensive, but the immigration agents took their own sweet little time. I was person #5 and it took over an hour with two agents. If GF can arrange the visa ahead of time as people have mentioned, it's a no brainer, imo.

Prices. Things are reasonably priced with the exception of the taxi from the airport. It's a set price and runs about $25, if I recall correctly. Food, "stuff", taxis and admissions to museums and whatnot are all very reasonable and I didn't find it to be budget busting. Car hire was the most expensive thing there (which was unfortunately quite expensive).

Although I hate the Lonely Planet series with a passion and found the Oman book to be miserably bad, it's also about the only game in town. If you can find one for a decent price, it is probably worth picking up. Maybe. It will at least give you an idea of what's there.

My visa upon arival was very efficient - although I was first in the queue:
2 minutes to pay for the Visa at the Foreign Exchange (Travelex) counter, and then 3 minutes to get my passport and visa chcked and stamped.
Into the arrivals hall and my luggage was already there

Hi,

Muscat is great! Too bad you're only there for 16 hours.

GF might take care of this for you without charge, as it is part of their free stopover package.

Cheers

Where can I get the visa free of charge? I will be flying in F from LON to BKK via Muscat.