Muscat

Non-Muslim visitors are admitted Saturday to Thursday, 8-11am only, and entry is now OMR 8. Shoulders and knees covered; women must cover their hair, and abayas are lent at the door.

The national collection, and the best single introduction to the country. Open 10am-5pm with last tickets at 4.30pm. Tourists pay OMR 5, by Visa or Mastercard only.

Frankincense, silver khanjars, mussar headscarves and gold behind a salmon-pink pavilion on the corniche. Open roughly 9am-1pm and 4-10pm, afternoons only on Friday. Haggle.

A full international season, plus daytime house tours at 11am and 3pm for about OMR 2. The evening dress code is enforced: no jeans, trainers, t-shirts or bare shoulders, and they will turn you away.

The ceremonial palace's blue and gold columns, flanked by the Portuguese forts of Al Jalali and Al Mirani. None of the three is open inside; the walk through Old Muscat is the point.

Muscat International is the hub for Oman Air and the low-cost SalamAir, with Gulf, South Asian and European connections. Domestic flights to Salalah and Khasab leave from the same terminal.

Oman Air and SalamAir fly Muscat-Salalah in about 1h40, roughly ten times a day. Mwasalat route 100 does it by road from Azaiba at 7am, 10am and 7pm in about 12.5 hours for OMR 8 one way.

The city runs 40km end to end and there is no metro, so a car or taxis are effectively compulsory. A saloon covers Muscat, Nizwa and the Sur coast road; only the desert and mountain tracks need a 4x4.

November-March: dry, sunny, mid to high twenties, with the sea warm enough to swim.

June-August, when the city pushes past 40C with high humidity and hotel rates collapse.

December-February and the Eid holidays, when Gulf visitors fill the coastal resorts.

The Grand Mosque first. The non-Muslim window shuts at 11am and there is no way round it.

Down to Old Muscat for the National Museum, then the walk past Al Alam Palace to the two sea forts.

Omani food in Mutrah: shuwa, harees and grilled fish on the corniche side of the souq.

Mutrah Souq once the shops reopen after four, then the corniche as the light drops.

A performance at the Royal Opera House, or dinner and the Cuban band at Trader Vic's.

Ninety minutes down the coast towards Sur. A 500 baisa boat ferries you across, then an hour's walk and a swim of 80-100m into a cave with a waterfall in it. Not after heavy rain.

About three hours east. Shipwrights still build wooden dhows by eye at the Sur yards, and the Al Ayjah lighthouse sits across the creek from the town.