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Two hours from Dubai, a World away: visiting Musandam on the Strait of Hormuz

Now that the Strait of Hormuz is the centre of the global attention for all the wrong reasons, it is perhaps a good time to remember that its southern side is one of the most truly amazing destinations you can visit anywhere in the Middle East.

The Musandam Peninsula, an Omani exclave which protrudes into the sea giving the Strait of Hormuz its curvy, contorted shape, is a land of majestic desert fjords and dramatic vertical cliffs laid out in an extremely intricate pattern.

It is hard to believe that this area, with almost no flat land or roads of any type and populated only by some fishermen which move around only by sea, is located just a couple of hours drive from the buzz of Dubai.

If you are based in Dubai, the Musandam Peninsula is perhaps the top thing to do if you are looking for places to spend a weekend somewhere out of the city. In fact, traveling to Musandam from Dubai is like stepping into a whole other world entirely!

Now, what I am going to explain here refers to a visit made before the military conflict that flared up in the Gulf in early 2026. So, a word of caution here, since I have no idea how the war may have affected the Musandam Peninsula and whether it is advisable or even possible to visit during times of conflict.

In any case, the natural attractive of this area is there to stay, so hopefully these lines about how to visit the Musandam Peninsula and what to do there will remain relevant regardless of when the fighting ends.

In an article I wrote about the area in 2023, was titled “The Norway of Arabia” and while this comparison helps frame the type of landscapes and environment Musandam offers, I think it is worth elaborating a bit more on this label and sharing some more details of this amazing and yet relatively unknown gem of a destination.

Khasab, the gateway to the Musandam Peninsula

How to get to the Musandam Peninsula

First of all some important logistic considerations:

Musandam is an Omani exclave, that is one piece of the territory of the Sultanate of Oman which is detached from the mainland and wedged between the UAE and the Strait of Hormuz. Therefore, if you travel there by land, you will have to clear Omani customs and immigration.

Now, the good news is, Oman is a relatively open country and citizens of many countries (including the EU, UK and US) can simply get a visa at the border, a process that involves just filing a form and paying a small fee.

However, it is still an international border and entry conditions may change, so check in advance on the websites of the Omani government and the travel advisory section of the embassy or consulate of your own country!

Another important consideration:

If you are traveling on a car rented in the UAE (as was our case), you need to make sure the terms and conditions of your rental allow for entry into Oman. Many car rental companies in Dubai or Abu Dhabi will do that for an extra fee. So, check it is possible before the booking and then ask for it again when picking up the vehicle.

Also, in addition to obtaining permission from the car rental company to take the car out of the UAE, you also need to take into account that Oman requires all vehicles entering its territory to have an insurance policy that covers Omani territory. Some car rental companies based in the UAE offer this, but, in such case, make sure you get all the papers and print them out, because they are going to be checked at the border and they are pretty strict with this.

The alternative is to contract an ad-hoc insurance policy for the duration of your Musandam journey right at the border. An Omani insurance company has a booth right by the border post just for this purpose. The process takes like 5min and it requires filing up a form and paying the insurance fee (at the time it was something like $60 for a 2-3 day period, but this may be subject to change).

In our case, while we had contracted the international insurance upon picking up the car in the UAE, there was, apparently, a mistake in the way it had been processed, so the border guards wouldn’t let the car in unless a new insurance policy was contracted at the local booth, which we did (we later cleared that out and got refunded by the car rental firm since it had been them messing up the paperwork).

The distance from downtown Dubai to the Oman border crossing is about 150km (90 miles) and to Khasab is about 200km (120 miles). It is nearly all through motorway, except for a short stretch between Ras Al Khaimah and the border in which it switches to a two lane road which crosses and industrial area. So, it takes a couple of hours to the border, and to that you should add another 30-40 minutes already inside Omani territory to Khasab.

You must also factor in some time for the border crossing, because it is necessary to stop, get off the car and clear immigration at the customs house. The time requirement depends on the amount of people and the “complexity” of your paperwork. On the way in we spend nearly an hour, but this is because we arrived just after several buses full of tourists (there are also some organized tours from the UAE going to Musandam) and we had to sort out the car insurance paperwork. On the way out it took us less than 10 minutes.

Roads are good. On the UAE side, you are almost all the time on a well-maintained, multi-lane motorway. On the Omani side it is a two-lane road, but it is also well-built, well-maintained and quite broad. So, as long as you take care of the border formalities, Musandam is pretty accessible.

You can also travel to Musandam by air, since there is also a small local airport. However, as far as I am aware of, it only has a few domestic flights to the Omani capital, Muscat.

Spending the night in Khasab

Fjord cruise departures are usually at 10am, so, while you could technically make it in one go from Dubai if waking up very early in the morning, I would highly recommend spending the night before the fjord tour in Khasab.

Where to stay in Khasab

Now, when it comes to choices, Khasab is nothing like the apparently almost endless supply you find across the border in the UAE. And this is a great part of what confers to Musandam such a sense of uniqueness and, without being luxurious in the material sense, of exclusivity, as well!

There are basically two major modern establishments in Khasab and both are managed by the same company, Omani hotel group Atana, the Atana Khasab Hotel, which is located in a small hill overlooking the bay of Khasab, and the Atana Musandam Resort, which is located in downtown by the port.

The latter markets itself as somehow more upmarket (perhaps on account of its slightly more central location), but, from the descriptions I have seen I think they are both pretty similar, in the four-star range. We stayed at the Atana Khasab Hotel and had a very good experience!

This, was at least, the situation when it comes to accommodation in Khasab at the time of my visit. Since things change really fast in this region, it is very possible, that some new hotels have opened since. In fact, and unless there is a deliberate policy of limiting visitor numbers, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what ends up happening, since the appeal of the place is undeniable and it is only a matter of time until the word spreads out. I hope, if this ends up being the case, that Musandam is able to preserve its charm!

Atana Khasab Hotel

This modern hotel is located right on the main and only road leading from the UAE border into Khasab. It is located a couple of kilometres from the port and it has some very nice pool-side views of the bay of Khasab and the waters around the Musandam Peninsula. it has plenty of space to park your car, btw.

The facilities are quite modern and spacious and some rooms have direct access to the terrace.

We had dinner and breakfast at the terrace of the Atana Khasab Hotel and it was pretty good overall. The menu contains also quite a few local specialities, which is a nice touch.

The hotel has also quite a few outdoor spaces, including part of the dining area, which is quite nice considering that the weather in this part of the world is quite balmy in the mornings and evenings.

My description of the Atana Khasab Hotel wouldn’t be complete without a word of recognition for its staff, and particularly for Rasheed, the hotel’s restaurant manager, who went above and beyond to return us an item of great personal value that we inadvertently left behind at the hotel. Rasheed not only took care of finding it, but even drove several hundred kilometers into the UAE to deliver it in person to the resort where we were staying it at the time!

“This is Omani hospitality”, he simply said.

So, I am taking this opportunity to express again my huge gratitude for this very kind act!

What to do in Musandam?

While the base for any Musandam Peninsula excursion is Khasab, which is the main town in the exclave, there is little to see in the town itself, aside from a 16thC. Portuguese fort (Portugal controlled the area around the Strait of Hormuz for quite some time in the 16th-17th C.).

The rest of the town is pretty unremarkable. In fact, it is quite a small place. There is a sort of “downtown” with some shops and wholesale outlets near the port, but the population is pretty scattered otherwise.

The main thing to do in Musandam and, basically, the whole point of coming here is to enjoy a cruise along the fjords of the peninsula.

To do so, it is necessary to book one of the many day cruises that leave Khasab port in the morning. You can find quite a few options on Viator or Getyourguide.

We booked this tour of the Musandam fjords, which costs around $50 (€45) per person and the experience was great! I will describe it in more detail right below.

My impression is that most tours offer a pretty similar service, though: pick up in the morning at your hotel, drive to the port for a 10am departure. Then you spend around 6 hours at sea, returning in the afternoon at around 4pm or so.

The boats are of the traditional dhow type, although they are somehow modernized. They have a broad open deck where you spend most of the time. There is a protective canvas that is rolled out over it to protect from the sun as well as a cabin by the stern. The boat is also fitted with toilets, btw.

These boats are large enough to carry perhaps a couple dozen people onboard, but it is rare to see them full. In our case it was just around ten people and there was plenty of space to move around. It all felt like going on a private yacht.

The crew were also very nice. They took good care of us throughout the trip and you could see how they even strived to get us were the dolphins were!

Our route took us on a loop around the Musandam’s main fjord, which is located just to the west of Khasab. We started on the south side, getting past Telegraph Island (a little rocky outcrop which once housed a rely post of the British telegraph linking London to India) to the very bottom of the fjord and then back along its north side.

We did a couple of stops, each lasting about an hour or so, during which the crew anchors the boat next to shore and it is possible to swim. The crew also lends you googles and fins to do some snorkelling, which is quite an experience in these waters. There are coral reefs, plenty of fish and some interesting creatures, such as sea cucumbers and huge sea urchins!

Lunch is included in the experience and it is served on deck. It consisted of Arabian and Indian-style food, different types of roasted meat and vegetables with rice and different types of accompanying sauces and condiments plus flat bread. It was pretty tasty and abundant. It is self-service. The crew lays out the different foods and you take as much as you want. Drinks are also served.

During the trip you see several other dhows following roughly the same itinerary, but the distances are so big that it never feels crowded or “touristy”, even if it is obviously a touristy, packaged activity.

In fact, one of the most awesome things of this experience is the feeling of smallness in this rock and water landscape (there is not a single tree or even a little speck of greenery on sight!).

We also sailed past some settlements which can only be reached by sea. It is incredible to think this place is just a couple of hours drive from the Dubai Mall. It feels like a different planet!

One of the highlights of the tour is the dolphin spotting. At the start of the cruise I was giving a very low chance to this happening, but, actually we saw the first dolphins barely 15 minutes into the trip and then we spotted many more at different points during our journey!

Here are some more pictures of the secluded, mineral world that is the Musandam Peninsula.

This is a really rugged area, with some peaks towering nearly 800 meters directly over the water!

So, after returning to port, we just left Musandam for the UAE again, but you may want to consider staying for one or two more days to get more rest or simply to explore a bit more of the Musandam Governorate.

You can take the world’s longest zipline (1,800 metres), which has one of its ends right next to the Atana Khasab Hotel, or you can try to explore a bit of the interior of the exclave, which has some really high mountains reaching above 2,000 meters, although I don’t know how accessible those tracks are.

In any case, a day sailing through the waters of the Musandam Peninsula is an amazing, unforgettable experience and one I would recommend to anyone visiting this part of the world!