An small village transformed into a traditional Oman hotel and built into a cliff in the middle of the Jebel Akhdar mountains.
Have you ever had to hike to your hotel? Had your luggage taken across a wadi by zipline? Stayed in a traditional village? If this sounds like your kind of adventure, read on….
Jebel Akhdar should be on your list when visiting Oman. The scenery, traditional villages and fresh air make it the ideal adventure. We found The Suwgra Hotel on booking.com and then investigated more. Formerly known as the Cliffside Hotel is a traditional Oman hotel. We knew we had to include a night stay in such a unique location in a traditional Oman hotel in the Jebel Akhdar mountains during our road trip.
The Hotel
The Suwgra Hotel was once a village where local people lived in small huts literally built into the cliff. These huts have now been transformed to bedrooms with a lot of them ensuite and even containing baths overlooking incredible Jebel Akdhar mountain views.
There are about 6 rooms at the moment with plans to build more over the next year or so. There is a toilet and shower room (fully functioning – the shower was one of the best on the trip to be honest!) and a majilis to sit and eat breakfast and dinner. You will find plenty of spots around the traditional Oman hotel to sit and admire the views, read a book and have a coffee.
Your luggage will be taken across the wadi on a zipline! (Check out our Instagram Reel.) We only stayed 1 night so only brought a few backpacks which fitted inside easily. Don’t bring a suitcase on wheels as it could easily fall out over the wadi – although they did tell us that the toilets and baths were all brought across by zipline during building. That would have been a sight to see!
Location
It is about a 1 hour drive from Nizwa, if you are on a Dubai to Oman road trip, up the Jebel Akhdar mountain. You will need a 4×4 to get to this traditional Oman hotel as there is about 20minutes of off-roading.
If you are flying into Muscat airport it is around a 2 hour drive. It is probably best to hire a car at the airport to drive up there yourself and then continue on an Oman road trip.
To get to The Suwgra Hotel you will need to park and then hike, following the flags painted on the rocks and walking for about 20 minutes. The trail takes you over some rocks, down some steps through the wadi – over a wooden bridge – and back up the other side. You need to be pretty mobile to be able to do the walk over to the traditional Oman hotel. The kids (7 and 6) were completely fine.
What can you do here?
There isn’t a lot to do! We arrived around 2pm and spent the rest of the afternoon having a tour around the other rooms and listening to future plans to develop the traditional Oman hotel. We drank coffee, played cards, admired the view and read. We also looked back on 7 stunning places to visit in Oman. A much needed peaceful end to the Oman road trip. There are hikes that you can go on that the guest house will organise but we needed to be back in Dubai early the following day so we weren’t able to join one. It is nice to just sit back, drink karak, eat dates and enjoy a peaceful afternoon in a traditional Oman hotel.
How long is the drive back to Dubai?
Looooong! We drove back through the Al Ain border and after leaving the hotel to arriving back in our house in Dubai it took around 6 hours. The roads are long, straight and pretty boring. Charge the Ipads, download the podcasts and try and find some coffee stops – we were unlucky with that!
A thoroughly unique way to explore Jebel Akhdar and experience a traditional hotel Oman with kids and one we would definitely recommend. Decide who is driving on the off-road part before driving up through the mountain as it can get a little off-putting at times. But if we can do it – you can!
Read here about how to spend a weekend in Muscat, the nearby town of Nizwa – visiting Nizwa with kids and our favourite a family trip to Wadi Bani Khalid. Or check out 7 Stunning Places to Visit in Oman for some other ideas.
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