Hotels near Wadi Shab

Wadi Shab is the day trip most people remember longest. From the car park under the highway bridge a small boat ferries you across the entrance pool for 1 OMR (about 2.30 EUR) return, and from there it is a 45-minute walk up the canyon over boulders and irrigation channels. The path ends at a chain of turquoise pools. Swim through three of them, then squeeze through a narrow rock slot into a cave with a waterfall inside it.

Bring water shoes, a dry bag and at least two litres of water each. Modest swimwear is expected: shorts and a t-shirt rather than a bikini. Allow four hours round trip from the car park. One serious warning - wadis flash flood. Rain falling on the Hajar mountains hours away and kilometres upstream can send water down a dry canyon with no warning at all, so check the forecast and never enter Wadi Shab if rain is anywhere in the region.

Pro Tip: Leave Muscat by 6.30am. You will reach the pools before 9.30, swim into the cave with almost nobody there, and be walking back out as the tour vans unload at eleven.