This is an excellent summary of our recent stay. Can I say what a pleasure it is to be at a hotel that offers full service despite Covid? Many services have been removed at American hotels due to Covid and staffing issues. That has not been the case at any of the 3 Hyatt properties in Oman. Yes, we are wearing facemasks everywhere, but otherwise these are very luxurious experiences with full service.

We were picked up at the Grand Hyatt Muscat late morning for the 2 1/2 hour drive to the Alila Jabal Akhdar. Our driver left the main road to drive us thru a date palm grove and a deserted town at one point, and offered another stop where an international race with 400 participants was occurring yesterday. The town was deserted as buildings lacked running water and power. The government gave residents new homes as part of relocation. There have been several queries in this thread about the drive and why it requires a 4 wheel drive. There is a guard point about one hour from the hotel where you must have a 4 wheel drive to proceed. However, the road remained a very good quality. There weren't sharp edges or any sense of risk. Our driver said that 4 wheel drive was essential due to a steep grade; that it was very important for the drive down the mountain. I think the biggest challenge to drive to the hotel, assuming you rent a 4 wheel drive, is to be sure of directions. The GPS on my phone did not show the route.

The hotel has a stunning setting in the mountains. All the buildings are of rough hewn rocks, yet with very contemporary interiors. We used a suite upgrade to have a Jabal Terrace Suite. It was in an outlying cluster of buildings, many of whom had 4 suites in them. We had suite 70. I am ambivalent about our suite as it was not well sited to take advantage of the view. We had a massive terrace with a day bed, two recliners, and a table with seating for 6. View from the terrace was of the adjacent buildings that blocked the canyon/mountain views to that side. This terrace could have had a lovely view of the mountain but had a rock wall instead of an open wall to permit a view. We had a great view from within our room. There was a narrow balcony with a sofa built into the wall. It rained the first night and the sofa never got enough sun to dry sufficiently to be able to sit and enjoy the view. I hadn't done my weather research sufficiently and found most of the days quite chilly. It was warm enough to have our lunch on the terrace every day but otherwise was too chilly to take advantage of it. Should you travel here during the northern hemisphere winter, definitely pack a sweater or a light jacket. You'll need it. The temperature varied a lot throughout the day but I would guess averaged 20 degrees F colder than Muscat.

Our room was a fairly typical hotel room, despite its stated 100 sq m size. At least half that was outside and the room itself was a fairly typical hotel room configuration. It had a large lovely bathroom with a tub by the window overlooking the mountain. It also had a nice walk in closet with plenty of space to set out luggage.

The hotel has two locations for meals. The Juniper restaurant supplies the food for both locations. The primary location is open for all meals, whereas the second location is only open for dinner. Yet the second location has a more stunning setting and I am baffled why it is only open at night when the view cannot be enjoyed. Breakfast is free for everyone regardless of Hyatt status. We had lunch brought to our room each day. There was no additional charge for room delivery which I appreciated very much. We left the hotel on the final day at 6:30am in order to go to the Nizwa goat market. The restaurant was opened at 6am for any of us heading out on this excursion.

If you are at the hotel on a Friday or even better leaving on a Friday, I highly recommend going to the Nizwa goat market, then going thru the souq and to the Nizwa fort. The goat market reopened 3 weeks ago. It was a lot of fun seeing folks walk their goats around and try to make a sale. Our driver/guide then walked us thru the souq. We've been to a lot throughout the world. High points here were going to the area where an incredible range of dates were sold, then on to the area with the Omani sweet called halwah, another area with nuts, and then on to more typical souvenirs. He seemed eager to show us guns and knives but I had us move along quickly.

We went on to the Muscat Airport from Nizwa and took the afternoon flight to Salalah where we went next to Alila Hinu Bay.