If you’ve been following the blog, you might have read some of my Muscat trip posts. If not, here’s an introduction in the first post. As I mentioned in that post, the trip wasn’t sponsored by any third party. I wasn’t paid to write the review on the hotel or anything else from that trip. I didn’t stay at the hotel for free in return for these posts. I paid the regular full rates as any regular tourist would. That’s why, the posts are truly genuine and honest. I reviewed the hotel from with all fairness, impartiality and accuracy.
Oman is a country worth a visit if you live in the Middle East. Mainly, because it’s different than the rest of the GCC countries. I’m originally from Saudi Arabia, but I have lived in Bahrain while doing my first degree there. I’ve also visited Kuwait once, and I now live in Dubai, in the UAE. I must admit that Oman’s landscape of beach, green spaces and mountains is truly unique for this region. It has a certain magical spell about it. Being surrounded by true nature feels so blissful and relaxing. When I first arrived to the hotel, all I wanted to do was sit and take in the view from outside the hotel room window. If you missed that view, you can check it here.
I spent most of my time lounging by the beach, as I desperately needed a break from Dubai’s fast-paced and busy lifestyle. Here are some shots from the beach at Crowne Plaza Muscat.
Beach at Crowne Plaza Muscat
Beach bag is from Top Shop Middle East
Beach at Crowne Plaza Muscat
The Fishing Harbour in the background – at Crowne Plaza Muscat
That’s it for my Muscat trip posts. For the rest of the posts, just do a simple search on the blog’s homepage for the word “Muscat” and you should get all the posts in the search results.
Another thing that I would like to add is that all the clothes that I wear in all my posts are from my own wardrobe. They are from my personal collection and were not given to me by any third party.
I hope that you enjoyed my recent travel posts, and that they inspired you in some way to visit that lovely city, or to simply travel somewhere. I am personally looking forward to my next trip – once I’m done with my University course.
That’s another thing that I look forward to! getting my journalism degree!
Here’s a photo of my suitcase at the end of the trip – as I was getting ready to leave majestic Muscat…
After my traditional market escapade at Muttrah Souq, I head to the Crowne Plaza Muscat‘s Club Lounge for some canapes and refreshing drinks.
The exclusive Qurum Club Lounge is located on the 6th floor of the hotel, overlooking the beautiful Gulf of Oman.
What’s great about this club lounge – apart from the amazing views – is that it’s open all around the clock. A wide range of snacks and drinks are served throughout the day, to match every mood and palate.
You can choose to sit inside and work on your laptop, read a book, or watch the news on TV. In the evenings, I would suggest sitting out in the terrace and cherishing the tranquil and peaceful beach setting.
Of course with me being the Saudi Diva, I chose to do it all! At one point, I was reading my book inside while having some tasty canapes. And on anther occasion, I was outside on the terrace taking a break from my sacred tanning sessions. I even spent some time networking with some business guests 🙂
I must warn you though; the canapes served at the Qurum Club Lounge are pretty addictive! Honestly, I couldn’t stop myself from making numerous trips to the buffet to refill my plate. I even felt a combination of guilt (for overeating) and embarrassment (from the repetitive trips to the buffet). But what can I say, the food at Crowne Plaza Muscat is of great quality and the Club Lounge snacks were no exception.
If you’re a foodie like me, then I can’t recommend any other hotel in Muscat other than the Crowne Plaza. The standard of the F&B in that hotel is truly exceptional.
In the following photo, I’m wearing a short floral print summer dress from cool 90’s urban style label: Pull&Bear.
Being a 90’s girl, I can’t think of a high street brand that matches my personal style like Pull and Bear. A mix of feminine, tom-boyish, and street style outfits. Love that label…
Sunset at Qurum Club Lounge at Crowne Plaza Muscat
Canapes at Qurum Club Lounge
A great spot for contemplation
Gulf of Oman view from Qurum Club Lounge Terrace
Fishing Harbor view from Qurum Club Lounge
Qurum neighborhood view at Qurum Club Lounge
Doing business with stunning views
See you at the next post!
The Qurum Club Lounge is not only a place to do business or network with other hotel guests, it’s also a place for celebration! While I was there, the staff brought a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday for one of the business guests at the lounge. Now if that’s not outstanding and personalized service, I don’t know what is…
Crowne Plaza Muscat offers its guests a complimentary shuttle bus service to a couple of tourist attractions. These include the “Grand Mosque”, the “Grand Mall”, and a traditional street market called “Muttrah Souq“.
Since I grew up in this region, visiting a mosque wasn’t exactly something that I would choose to do while on vacation. I think that type of excursion is more suitable for Western tourists who want to learn more about the region and visiting a mosque can be a good introduction. Especially in the Gulf region. At the same time, coming from Dubai – a city famous for its endless glitzy and shiny malls – going to another mall during my trip wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Luckily, I can visit the grand malls of Dubai anytime that I wish.
“Muttrah Souq” sounded interesting. The concept of a traditional street market selling all sorts of souvenirs and local goods was something that I could do on one of my days in this enchanting and original city.
So, I decided to take one day off of my strict tanning and beach lounging schedule to check out “Muttrah Souq”. I actually gave up one full day of going to the beach to visit this old traditional souq. So I hope that you will like the photos that I took as it was mainly for the blog 🙂
Here’s the shuttle bus that takes the hotel guests to the various touristic spots:
Shuttle bus at Crowne Plaza Muscat
Shuttle bus timings
Here are some random photos that were taken at Muttrah Souq:
beaded trinkets
mini coffee pots!Souvenir fridge magnets
pop corn (foushar)
I thought that it was ironic that there was a store titled “Dubai” shopping center in the street behind “Muttrah Souq”!
pottery gifts at Muttrah Souq
hair scrunchies and other accessories
gold shop display window at Muttrah Souq
Muttrah Souq is a true and authentic street market with its branched out and narrow alleys. While walking around this super cool and traditional market, I decided to make my market experience even more rich by sampling some street food. I snacked on two samosas (one with a vegetable filling and the other with potatoes) and one piece of falafel. Now I have to give you guys a valuable piece of advise: stick to the falafel and avoid the samosas! The samosas are way too greasy and you can barely notice any flavor other than the taste of oil used to fry those samosas. Although the falafel was very dry, it had a nice flavor to it and I regretted not getting three falafels instead of one falafel and two samosas!
street food snacks at Muttrah Souq
antique decoration boxes
Antique decoration or storage boxes
Muttrah Souq entrance
For someone who is from the Gulf region and has grown up in it, I can frankly tell you that Muttrah Souq is severely authentic and is a true representation of the culture, traditions and icons of the region. Almost every item that is sold at that souq resonates with me in one way or another. The antique boxes for example, are used to decorate corners in houses in the Gulf region. At our house, we used them to store old newspapers and magazines! Yeah I know what you’re thinking, we’re a weird bunch 🙂
I will be posting the rest of the photos from my Muscat trip on the Facebook Page soon. So that you won’t miss a thing from my trip.
If you didn’t get a chance to check the previous post from my trip, you can find it here.
Time for me to go to bed, as I have been out all day doing something quite adventurous…you’ll hear all about it soon. Simply watch this space.
One of the remarkable things at the Crowne Plaza Muscat is the breakfast buffet at Tropicana restaurant. Honestly, even the 5-star property hotels can’t match this vast and fresh breakfast spread. The extensive breakfast buffet is served from 6 until 10:30 am on weekdays, and ends at 11:30 am on weekends.
A wide selection of all the possible breakfast variations that anyone might think of is included in the Crowne Plaza muscat breakfast buffet.
With different corners for Arabic, Asian, and Western types of breakfast, prepare to be spoiled for choices and confused as to what to have!
There’s even a pancake machine, coffee machine, and a live cooking station where a chef will make your eggs the way you like to have them.
No matter what your ethnic background or country of origin is, rest assured that there will definitely be something at the Crowne Plaza Muscat buffet to satisfy your palate.
All the staff at this hotel are extremely friendly, well experienced and highly professional individuals. So, having breakfast every day on my own didn’t make me feel awkward or anything. Instead, I felt at home and truly enjoyed my little chats and casual conversations with the breakfast restaurant staff members.
Now, let’s have a look at some of the breakfast buffet options at Crowne Plaza Muscat…
Pancake Machine at Crowne Plaza Muscat Breakfast
Coffee Machine
Asian corner condiment table
Fruit Selection at Crowne Plaza Muscat breakfast
fresh fruits at the Crowne Plaza Muscat breakfast buffet
Being a huge foodie and a true breakfast lover, I was taking my time in having breakfast every day…and in a failed attempt to avoid over-eating (which I must admit that I did during my Muscat trip), I decided to have a delicious freshly made vegetarian omelet on one day, and an Arabic breakfast of “foul” (fava beans) on another 🙂 Not to mention the fresh salad that I would team up with my “foul” day. I know, I’m such a nerd that I even plan what to have for breakfast….
I truly miss the wonderful and fresh breakfast buffet selection at Crowne Plaza Muscat. I was so craving a hearty breakfast this morning, but I decided to stay at home to write this post with a reliable wi-fi connection. All I had was a banana for breakfast, so you can imagine how much I would love to indulge in a Crowne Plaza Muscat breakfast at this very moment…
Stay tuned to this blog for the next post from my Muscat trip…hint: it involves some souvenir shopping and traditional souk hopping 🙂
In the meantime, you can check out my previous Muscat post at the famous Barr Al Jissah.
I chose Muscat as my summer holiday destination because I wanted to get away to a nearby peaceful and quiet place. And I’m glad to say that I couldn’t have made a better decision. Luckily, as a GCC national, I don’t require a visit visa for Oman. This fact is considered a great privilege, since an advance application for a visit visa is required for most countries with my Saudi passport.
Browsing through the mainly positive reviews of the Crowne Plaza Muscat on Trip Advisor will make anyone looking for a mid-range hotel choose to stay there. And as a note to all my readers and followers, I assure you that I paid the regular room charges for my stay at the Crowne Plaza Muscat. So this is by no means a sponsored post. It is a genuine review of my experience at the hotel and in Muscat in general.
The unique element about this hotel is its location. It’s situated on top of a hill in the “Al Qurum” area. The area is around 25 minutes away by car from Muscat International airport. It’s a well-reputed residential upscale area, that is home to many of the country’s ministers, PDO (Oman’s leading oil and gas company), and the residential compounds of PDO’s employees and other company facilities.
Crowne Plaza Muscat is a four-star property:
Crowne Plaza Muscat is a four star property
After my Hong Kong hotel room view, I decided to choose a sea-view room this time around 🙂 Here’s my breathtaking view from my room at Crowne Plaza Muscat:
sea-view room at Crowne Plaza Muscat
Another view from my room window:
A view of the swimming pool from the same window 🙂
While at my peaceful sea-view room, I could hear the sound of the waves and the birds chirping throughout the day. Just being in the room felt so relaxing and serene. It resembled living in the outdoors or in a forest for my whole stay there. I even decided to keep my mobile phone switched off throughout my vacation – which caused a lot of family and friends to get worried about me. This meant that I came back to my apartment building’s reception in Dubai to a security guard requesting me to call my worried father, and looking at me as if I’m a crazy woman! not to mention a sweet note slipped under my door from my besties in Dubai, wondering where I have disappeared! Of course all of that commotion can only prove one thing: that none of my close friends in Dubai take the time to read my blog posts! Sigh…oh well, I hope that I will gain loyal readers from across the world who are genuinely interested in reading my blog posts! I will post a picture of that note later on my Facebook Page. So stay tuned for that 🙂
Here’s a look at my home for a total of 8 days….
Sea-view Room at Crowne Plaza Muscat
On my first day, I needed to get a few things from a grocery store, so I headed to Al Qurum City Center. It’s basically a local mall for the lovely Qurum area. It’s part of the popular City Center shopping mall chain that has a number of malls around the GCC. The taxis is Oman do not have meters like the ones in Dubai. So you can find the fixed rates on a sign board at the hotel, airport and at malls. The taxi fare from Crowne Plaza Muscat to Qurum City Center is 4 OMR. There’s a Carrefour hypermarket in the shopping mall. But it’s not nearly as busy as the one in Dubai! I was there on a Thursday afternoon (around 3:30 pm) and the halls of the supermarket were haunted! It was a shocking scene for someone who frequents Dubai’s MOE Carrefour to say the least! Apparently, the residents have other more popular options for their grocery shopping aside from the UAE-renowned Carrefour.
I was glad to see a Borders bookstore at Qurum City Center! I managed to get a copy of a travel magazine and two notebooks for my University September semester (which started yesterday b.t.w.). Here’s a photo of Borders at Qurum City Center.
Borders bookstore at Qurum City Center
It takes around 5 minutes to get to the mall from Crowne Plaza Muscat. It’s a small-sized mall with only one floor including a number of high-street retail shops, a Starbucks, a food court, a Chili’s restaurant, a cinema and the Carrefour. I would say it’s a nice quiet place to go to when you need to kill some time, want to get some groceries, or do some people watching at the Starbucks 🙂
I’ll be posting the remaining photos on my Facebook Page at the end of these series of travel posts. So stay tuned to find out more about the beautiful and captivating city of Muscat…
Note: Airport taxis are located outside the arrival hall in Muscat airport. The cost from the airport to Crowne Plaza Muscat is 10 OMR per way. It’s a fixed rate that you must pay at the airport taxi station, which is located outside the arrival hall at Muscat airport. Muscat airport can be quite busy and overwhelming, so don’t let that put you off a highly peaceful and beautiful city 🙂
