The city referred to as "Muscat" is in fact three smaller towns which have grown together over time. They are:
Muscat - often referred to as the "walled city", Muscat proper is the site of the royal palaces.
Matrah (Matruh) - originally a fishing village, and home to the maze-like Matrah Souq.
Ruwi - generally considered the commercial and diplomatic centre of the city.
This tripartite division will sometimes cause the visitor an inconvenience, as distances between sites (and accommodation) can be very long.
As an alternative to the main CBD area that is considered as these three areas there is plently of places to go and things to see along the main highway that heads North East out of these areas. This main road, The Sultan Qaboos Highway, goes past many areas on its way out to the Airport and further still to Seeb, Sohar and eventually the northern most tip of Oman.
Heading along this road you pass the districts of Qurum, Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos, Al Khuwair, Bausher, Al-Hail and Seeb. Each one has a range of sights to see and places to stay.
There is also a very long beach road from Qurum to Seeb, some 50km. Situated along this are some of the large international hotel chains but more importantly you discover the true beauty of the Oman coast-line. Km's of beaches, fisherman with drag nets and open space to walk for hours.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Muscat
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Muscat - updated May 2024
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Muscat Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
