Oman & the Emirates

The Arabian peninsula is a winter destination and nothing else is sensible. From November to March the heat that shuts the region down for half the year has gone, the days are warm and dry, and the desert nights are cold enough for a fire. It is the only comfortable window for the mountains of Oman and the dunes of the Empty Quarter.

Thirteen nights, from the old Arabia to the new. Oman first, Muscat, the canyon country of Jebel Akhdar, the Sharqiya Sands and the fjords of Musandam, then the Emirates, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, for the modern Gulf at its most polished. The order matters: Oman is the substance and the landscape, the Emirates the coda and the contrast.

Oman is the quieter and the more rewarding. Muscat's Grand Mosque and souq; Jebel Akhdar on the canyon rim, terraced with pomegranate and rose; a night in a private camp in the Sharqiya dunes; the fjords of Musandam by dhow; and the turtles coming ashore at Ras al Jinz. The Emirates are handled without fuss, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a desert resort at the edge of the Empty Quarter, and as much or as little of Dubai as you want.

The flying is the easy part of this trip. Muscat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi all take long-range aircraft without difficulty and sit close to their cities. Oman's interior is by road and four-wheel drive, with a helicopter for Jebel Akhdar or Musandam when time is short.

Among our preferred hotel partners we use The Chedi in Muscat and Anantara on the rim at Jebel Akhdar, and in the Emirates Bulgari Resort Dubai and Qasr Al Sarab, Anantara's property at the edge of the Empty Quarter.

Ask your advisor about a night on the canyon rim at Jebel Akhdar, a private camp in the Sharqiya Sands, and the Musandam fjords by dhow before the Emirates.