Nizwa

A 17th-century citadel built around a round tower 34m high and 45m across, with seven doors and a narrow H-shaped stair. Open Saturday-Thursday 8am-8pm; Friday 8-11.30am and 1.30-8pm.

Livestock walked in circles round a ring while buyers bid, beside the souq. Traders gather from 6am and it is finished by about nine. Be there by seven for a view from the middle.

The first Omani site inscribed by UNESCO, in 1987: a mud-brick fortress of nearly 10,000 square metres in a palm oasis, with the old pottery town at its feet. Open daily 8am-7pm.

Built in 1675 as a seat of government rather than a fort, and the most decorated interior in Oman: painted ceilings, the Sun and Moon Room, and chutes for pouring boiling date syrup on attackers. Open daily 7.30am-9pm.

Silver khanjars, halwa stirred in copper pots, dates, frankincense and Bahla pottery, in restored arcades beside the fort. Old Bedouin silver and new work sit side by side; weigh it and bargain.

About two hours inland on dual carriageway. No 4x4 needed for Nizwa itself, Bahla, Jabreen or Misfat Al Abriyeen; a saloon does all of them.

Mwasalat runs coaches through the interior, but they leave you without transport once you arrive and the forts are spread over 40km. Most visitors hire a car in Muscat.

Jebel Akhdar has a police checkpoint on the ascent and 2WD cars are turned back. Jebel Shams needs one too. Nizwa town does not.

October-April: days in the twenties, cold desert nights, and fort roofs bearable at midday.

June-August. Over 40C inland, near-empty forts, and the lowest rates of the year.

December-February and the Eid holidays, when Muscat empties into the interior and the small hotels fill.

Nizwa Fort at opening, before the coaches and while the tower roof is still in shade.

The souq beside it for silver, halwa and dates, then west along the road to Bahla.

Eat in Bahla or Al Hamra. The interior shuts for the middle of the day and options thin out fast.

Jabreen Castle for the painted ceilings, then the mud-brick lanes of Al Hamra.

Back to Nizwa for the floodlit fort and an early dinner. The town closes down by about ten.

Thirty minutes up from Nizwa to the Saiq plateau at around 2,000m, where nights drop below 10C even in summer. A 4x4 is compulsory at the checkpoint on the ascent road.

A stone village above Al Hamra, terraced with date palms and fed by a falaj. Foot access only, no 4x4 needed, and two family guesthouses that serve dinner.