And stay at The Chedi Muscat Hotel with date plantations and the longest pool on the Arabian Peninsula.
If you are planning your vacation, we advise you to look towards the Arabian Peninsula. The United Arab Emirates is probably pretty tired of you, but there are several more not so hackneyed and no less interesting countries. For example, Oman. Moreover, since last year, getting a visa for Russians there is very simple - now just fill out the online application form. Five and a half hours on a direct flight Oman Air - and you are in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
According to legend, the Queen of Sheba ruled there; according to one version, the biblical Job was buried, and from there Sinbad started his voyage. The capital of Muscat is more than 5000 years old - there is something to see. For example, mosques with ancient Persian rugs, old bazaars and sultan's palaces. And in Oman there is a very diverse nature - savannahs, mountains, tropics, fjords. For example, thousands of turtles swim to the highest cape in Oman. To figure out what is worth seeing, they will help you (and even conduct an individual tour) at the hotel, where we advise you to stay.
The Chedi Muscat is a 20-minute drive from the capital. It was designed by Jean-Michel Gati, the star architect of the hotel business, the author of many large hotels around the world (for example, Cheval Blanc). The vast territory is planted with date trees, and 85 square meters are occupied by Zen-designed gardens with ponds. Dates here are very fond of, and will treat them everywhere - on the beach, in the spa, as an aperitif before dinner. Food is generally not bad: in the local cuisine there are both the freshest oysters with Omani lobsters and the classics of Middle Eastern cuisine - hummus, meze, kebabs and lamb ribs. You can try all this in one of the six restaurants owned by the hotel. One of them is with the open kitchen of chef Yasuhiro Koichi. It is especially interesting to have lunch and dinner at The Chedi Muscat on Friday, the local weekend. Even the members of the royal family of the ruling Said dynasty sometimes come to brunch on this day. So make sure you have the right clothes for the occasion - the dress code is very strict here.
We recommend starting the morning (besides dates, of course) with a swim in the 103-meter pool - the largest on the Arabian Peninsula.