Holiday villages and unusual accommodation Oman

As its name suggests, the hotel offers real apartments with a lounge area, an equipped kitchen and more or less numerous bedrooms. It is the ideal solution when you are with your family or in a group. The floor is marble, the rooms are well arranged and decorated with a certain care. The hotel is located in the centre but away from the hubbub (a small street perpendicular to the shopping area). No restaurant on site.

Set in 12 hectares of gardens and orchards, it's an extensive complex with 109 spacious suites, numerous sports facilities (tennis, gym, playground...), a restaurant, 2 bars, boutiques and a spa opening onto a rather strange "zen & fun" sanctuary with water park and gigantic swimming pool. Somewhere between a balneo center and a mini-park, Al Nadha is a slightly kitsch stopover, an atypical place to relax that's hard to define (see the site), or at least a practical base for exploring the forts and wadis of the hinterland.

Accessible by an easy trail, in a valley framed by two lines of dunes, the Nomadic Desert Camp wins the trophy for true charm, once you accept the principle of the great simplicity of these palm huts with small beds, with communal showers and toilets in the open air. Here, there is no electricity, so no air conditioning. In addition to the superb natural setting, this camp run by a local Bedouin family offers a precious commodity: human exchange. Activities: camel ride and 4x4 tour in the dunes.

Grand is the camp with the most diverse offering: tents of various standings and the highest levels of comfort, as well as luxury Omani-style villas. It's also one of the few to have a swimming pool and offer such a wide range of experiences: camel rides, fat bikes, horse riding, archery, initiation to Bedouin culture, guided walks, playground, volleyball, gazelle observation enclosure, etc. Charming restaurant and café, library. A safe bet.

Less a hotel than 19 rooms in a scientifically based structure designed for ecotourism: no garden, no swimming pool, few windows to limit nuisance. A few hundred meters away, 12 luxury tents offer similar comfort (private bathroom, living room, air conditioning' ) in a slightly less monastic atmosphere and with the advantage of a terrace. We are in the heart of the reserve, that's the advantage. Also restaurant, shop, museum. Beach accessible from 8h to 13h30.

Humaid will meet you at the Al-Wasil petrol station and guide you to his camp or take you in his own 4x4. On arrival, tea and dates are waiting for you, as hospitality is the key to this human-sized, simple and more authentic than average place. The setting is superb and serves as a showcase for about twenty traditional tents made of biquette skin with open-air bathroom, arranged in a circle at the foot of a dune. We climb up there in the setting sun, we walk on camelback, we do dunebashing (4x4).

This is the most luxurious resort in Hajar. With its minimalist style, its sober architecture is entirely dedicated to sublimate the site: this vertiginous canyon with an infinity pool, 82 sublime rooms, 33 villas with private pool and the Diana's Point - a platform suspended above the void. Services and infrastructures are in tune: gourmet restaurants, an exceptional spa, a wide range of experiences and activities - including via ferrata, zip lines, cultural tours...

Facing a marina designed for 400 sailboats, this vast, modern luxury hotel features rooms, studios and apartments. Designed for active vacations, the hotel offers a wide range of leisure facilities on a long, landscaped beach: 5 swimming pools, fitness center, a range of water and land sports (including a diving club) and a Zayna Spa. If you book an all-inclusive week via Lookea, you'll benefit from the dynamics of a Club (activities, entertainment, buffets). For a weekend or an overnight stay, it's a friendly seaside stopover just 1 hour from Muscat.

Large, it is one of the prettiest camps in the desert made of comfortable chalets (private bathroom) extended by charming terraces on stilts with carpets and floor cushions. In the distance, at the foot of the immense dune, a few luxury tents with a well-kept decoration welcome lovers. In another space, you can read books and eat under a large Bedouin tent. Activities: quad, dromedary, walking, 4x4, sandboarding and guided crossings of the Sharqiya desert on request.

This is one of the most luxurious fixed camps in the desert: a refined collection of bungalows covered with tent canvas for an authentic look, in fact large suites with living room, silky cushions, carpets, modern bathroom (called villas)... Many are designed for families, with two bedrooms. Standard units are available at more affordable rates. The same quest for distinction is evident in the Two Dunes restaurant and the Oasis bar, the Sharqiya's rare alcoholic counter. There's also a TV lounge, library, billiards table and a wide range of activities.

In a wild bay surrounded by mountains facing the ocean, this is one of the flagship resorts of Omani tourism, with two wings for 460 rooms and suites, 13 bars and restaurants, 6 swimming pools and a lazy river: Al Waha, family and sporty, with its Cool Zone for children and relaxed tables; Al Bandar, the heart of the resort, with its dining piazza. The immense beach is superb. On-site: spa, diving club, tennis, gym, numerous leisure activities.

This is a charming Sharqiyas address. The principle is the same as for the neighbors: you drive there yourself with your 4x4 and GPS coordinates, or we escort you from the gas station. As for accommodation, there's a choice of tents and small huts in typical Arab style, but with all mod cons (good bed and private bathroom) or new, hotel-like maisonettes. Despite these recent additions, the atmosphere remains authentic and the welcome wonderful, with activities such as traditional dances and music, Bedouin encounters, campfires...

Arranged in a U-shape, the resort features 56 hard-built bungalows, but covered in palm leaves, making them pleasing to the eye. Spacious, with air-conditioning, TV, bathroom (and additional lounge for suites in the Royal Hamoor category), each unit has a terrace with sea or lagoon view. Keys 202 to 205 and 206 to 213 are preferred for their proximity to the water. The restaurant and terrace also overlook the sea, and the bar offers a selection of fine wines. On-site: large swimming pool, equipped beach, water sports activities for a fee, children's playground...

A good and honest plan for tight budgets: easy access, clean, functional, with a restaurant where you can satisfy your hunger for cheap food... What more could you ask for when you're curious and wandering and just looking for a convenient and comfortable place to put your suitcases down at nightfall? You will be kindly welcomed by Omani staff in fully equipped rooms or apartments for 2 to 6 people with kitchen/living room/TV. Bonus: historic districts and beaches are only a few kilometres away

The ancestor of the Dhofar seaside resort, this seventies-style Crowne Plaza sits on one of Salalah's most beautiful beaches and, despite its aging decor, continues to brilliantly fulfill its role as a formatted hotel. For a stay of rest, leisure and bathing, the site is extra, offers a plethora of activities (9 holes, tennis, squash, diving club, wellness center, etc.) and guarantees the essentials: varied catering (5 tables), Pub, shishas. Preference for rooms in wing B, on garden level with sea view. New: the Ocean Blue Beach House is a must!

This is the most luxurious camp in Oman. Not fixed, but mobile, to be booked exclusively for a top-of-the-range stay in prime locations (desert, mountains, beach) with no other infrastructure in the vicinity. We sleep in exquisitely decorated, comfortable tents and everything is in tune: the efficiency and discretion of the service, the excellence of the services, the quality of the visits and excursions, the refinement of the table. It's an opportunity to celebrate a very special moment or to take a memorable, chic and off the beaten track à la carte trip

Only accessible by 4x4, Bait Bimah is a small group of traditional houses located near the village of Bilad Sayt. This hut is a short walk from the famous Snake Canyon and is an excellent starting point for many activities (canyoning, trekking). Surrounded by stone walls, the place offers a simple but correct comfort (air conditioning) in rooms with private bathroom or dormitories with common sanitary facilities. In the permanent restaurant, one prefers the open-air tables where one can taste the fresh local cuisine. Adorable majilis corner under a tree.

The Sama group succeeds in offering typical units at the edge of the dunes accessible without 4x4. We are at the gates of the desert, in a sandy environment where these 10 pretty ochre bungalows covered with palm leaves merge. Air conditioning and private bathroom make it comfortable, terrace and sofa ensure contemplation. Traditional-style restaurant and several activities: sandboarding (dune surfing), camel riding, 4X4 to the assault of the sandy sheeps.

In the desert, the absence of visual pollution makes it easier to observe the sky and see many more stars than usual. This experience is heightened tenfold in Oman's unusual accommodation known as domes: those famous round luxury tents with a partially transparent membrane. They offer the magic of resting with your eyes on the sky, without the inconvenience of a night under the stars, as you are sheltered, cool (air-conditioned) and in the comfort of your own room with bed and private bathroom.