Majestic Muscat: Nightlife in Muscat

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I don’t know why I traveled all the way to Hong Kong to escape busy, fast-paced and crowded Dubai! But, you can read all about my trip to Hong Kong in my earlier posts here.

Then, I decide to visit Muscat to relax by the beach and do some man hunting! (as in finding a partner basically). Of course I was only confronted with the fact that the nightlife in Muscat is struggling to survive.

I found out from residents of the enchanting city that all types of live entertainment have been banned recently in all hotels and establishments. Apparently, the new rules were enforced by the new tourism minister. This left only a few options for a night out in town. Half of them were chains that had branches in Dubai.

The stage for the live  band at Pavo Real – a cool Mexican restaurant and bar – was still there. As if it was waiting for the live band to come back and play their regular tunes one day soon. Everything was still in place – as it was left by members of the band on the last day they were allowed to perform.

Since I now have less time for blogging – busy with University and other things – I decided to write this post in the form of a photo essay. It saves me time and makes it easier/faster to you readers to go through the post. So let’s look at the photos from my Muscat nightlife exploration attempt 🙂

 

Delicious Arabic Mezze at The Chedi Muscat
Delicious Arabic Mezze at The Chedi Muscat

 

Scrumptious Falafel bites at The Chedi Muscat
Scrumptious Falafel bites at The Chedi Muscat

 

Mexican fare at Pavo Real Muscat
Mexican fare at Pavo Real Muscat

 

Chicken Quesadilla at Pavo Real Muscat
Chicken Quesadilla at Pavo Real Muscat

 

Tuna Sashimi salad at The Left Bank Muscat
Tuna Sashimi salad at The Left Bank Muscat

 

Top quality club sandwich at O'Malley's in Muscat
Top quality club sandwich at O’Malley’s in Muscat

 

O'Malley's Irish pub in Muscat is worth a visit
O’Malley’s Irish pub in Muscat is worth a visit

 

Taking notes gets easier at a cozy and friendly pub atmosphere. O'Malley's Muscat is a favourite of mine!
Taking notes gets easier at a cozy and friendly pub atmosphere. O’Malley’s Muscat is a favourite of mine!

 

Here’s a sum up of my Muscat night spots:

  • Pavo Real officially has the best long island iced tea in town.
  • The Left Bank had a strange crowd of expats, locals and pretentious people from Dubai. I felt like I was flown back to a pretentious Dubai bar when I was there. I truly hated my experience there.
  • Trader Vic’s at the Intercontinental hotel is quite spacious with a big outdoor dining area. It had a very upbeat and lively atmosphere. Everyone who was there seemed to be having a good time, dancing to Latin beats. No live band here either – just a DJ or playback music.
  • O’Malley’s at the Radisson Blu Hotel was by far my favourite place to hang out. It’s a casual pub with an Irish theme, and friendly staff. The food was great, the DJ played commercial tracks from different decades, and I met some nice people there. The funny thing is that no one told  me about this place! I found out about it by doing some research online. I’m so glad that I ended up going there on my last night in Muscat. At least I managed to have some sort of fun eventually 🙂
  • Zouk night club: Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to check out Zouk on this trip. It was located right outside of my hotel, but I just didn’t get the time to visit.

I hope that this post was somewhat useful or interesting. Have you visited any of the places that I’ve mentioned in this post? If so, how was your experience?

You can view my previous post on the Muscat trip here.

 

O'Malley's Irish pub scored high in my books
O’Malley’s Irish pub scored high in my books