Things to Do in Muscat in March

March is likely the best month for Wadi Shab. It sits about 150 km (93 miles) southeast of Muscat along the coastal highway. Canyon pool levels are high enough for swimming but low enough for safe scrambling upstream. You start with a short boat crossing. Then walk the ancient falaj irrigation channel. Canyon walls close in. The route becomes rock-hopping, wading through turquoise pools, and swimming to a waterfall hidden inside a cave. The water feels shocking against sun-heated skin. The falls reverberate off cave walls. The sound stays with you. The Bimmah Sinkhole works well as a stop. This startling blue-green pool collapsed into limestone on the coastal road. March mornings are ideal. Canyon walls provide early shade. Start before midday sun hits exposed sections.

The Sharqiya Sands, formerly called the Wahiba Sands, sit roughly 200 km (124 miles) from Muscat. You feel like you stepped onto a different planet. March daytime desert temperature hovers around 30°C (86°F). Warm enough to feel properly Saharan. Not the dangerous 50°C (122°F) of summer that makes camping hazardous. Sunset light turns dunes deep copper-orange. The silence is complete once wind drops. You can hear your own pulse. Most camps offer dune bashing in Land Cruisers. Camel rides at dusk. Communal dinners of shuwa-style slow-roasted meat cooked in embers beneath sand. Sleeping under zero light pollution this close to a capital city is rare. March nights at 20°C (68°F) are cool enough to enjoy it.

Nizwa sits about 170 km (106 miles) inland from Muscat across the Hajar Mountains. The drive through the mountain pass is worth the trip alone. Dry brown rock folds like crumpled fabric. Occasional green flashes appear where a falaj feeds date palm groves. The fort, built in the 1650s, has a massive cylindrical tower. Climb it for views across the oasis and mountain folds beyond. March is comfortable enough for hours walking ramparts and exploring the labyrinthine interior. The adjacent Nizwa Souq comes alive Friday mornings. The livestock auction fills the courtyard with bleating goats and rapid-fire Arabic of Omani traders in dishdashas and kummas. This scene has not changed in centuries. Pair with Bahla Fort and Jabreen Castle nearby. A full day of Omani military and architectural history. The painted ceilings at Jabreen reward anyone willing to crane their neck. Faded Islamic geometric patterns.

Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain, rises to about 2,000 m (6,560 ft) above the Al Dakhiliyah plain and runs cooler than Muscat by a good 10°C (18°F), which in March means crisp mornings where you might want a fleece. The terraced villages clinging to the canyon rim grow pomegranates, walnuts, and Damask roses, and by late March in some years the very first rose buds begin to open before the main April-May harvest fills the air with their scent. The canyon viewpoint at Diana's Point drops roughly 1,000 m (3,280 ft) straight down, and the scale of it doesn't register until you spot a vehicle on the road below looking the size of an insect. The abandoned village of Wadi Bani Habib, tucked into the mountainside with its crumbling stone walls and empty doorways, feels haunted in the afternoon shadows when the wind picks up. A 4WD vehicle is mandatory to pass the police checkpoint at the base. No exceptions.

The Daymaniyat Islands nature reserve, a chain of nine islands about 18 km (11 miles) off the Muscat coast, opens to visitors from October through April, making March one of the final months to access them before the summer closure. Water clarity in March tends to be excellent, with visibility often stretching beyond 15 m (50 ft), and the coral reefs here are among the healthiest in the Gulf of Oman. Expect to see hawksbill turtles gliding over the reef, blacktip reef sharks patrolling the drop-offs, moray eels tucked into crevices, and dense schools of tropical fish in water that sits around 24°C (75°F). Warm enough that a shorty wetsuit is all you need, though the boat ride out can be breezy enough to make you glad you brought a windbreaker. The snorkeling alone justifies the trip even without a dive certification, as much of the best coral sits in water shallow enough to see clearly from the surface.

The Mutrah Corniche stretches about 3 km (1.9 miles) along the harbor where traditional wooden dhows sit alongside modern vessels, and the walk is best done after 5 PM when the March sun drops behind the Hajar foothills and the air cools into the low twenties Celsius (low seventies Fahrenheit). The light at this hour turns the whitewashed buildings along the waterfront a warm gold, and the smell of frankincense drifting from the souq entrance mingles with charcoal smoke from the food stalls nearby. Mutrah Souq itself is one of the oldest markets in the Arab world, a warren of narrow lanes selling frankincense resin, silver Omani khanjar daggers, woven textiles, and hand-blended attars under a carved wooden ceiling darkened by decades of incense smoke. Push past the tourist stalls near the entrance to find the perfume blenders and halwa makers deeper inside where the locals shop. Old Muscat, a short drive east past the fish market, holds the Al Alam Palace and the twin Portuguese-era forts of Jalali and Mirani standing guard over the harbor entrance like stone sentinels.