The two nights we spent in Misfat al Abriyeen - a little village amongst the date palms - were some of my favourites in our five week trip to Oman. The village is like something you’d read about in a novel, with traditional adobe houses, some of which are perfectly intact and still in use, whilst some are crumbling and a little worse for wear. All are atmospheric.
The village itself is nestled into the mountainside, teeming with date palms and you can explore to the sound of trickling water from the ubiquitous falaj, an ancient irrigation system.
With rooftop cafes, gorgeous walks and the chance to stay in old heritage houses, it’s a must for your Oman itinerary. It’s even a welcoming few degrees cooler than places like Muscat due to its elevation - 1000m above sea level.
Here’s everything you need to know to plan the perfect trip to Misfat al Abriyeen.
Visiting Misfat al Abriyeen
An overview of what to expect from the village
Misfat al Abriyeen is a small village which can easily (and actually has to be) visited on foot. The streets are still as they were hundreds of years ago, so there isn’t room for cars to move about the village. This makes it incredibly peaceful and adds to that feeling of stepping back in time.
There are three dedicated (short) walking trails, which we’ll go into detail on below, and they are the best way to explore the area. However, if you’re not overly keen on walking, you only need to walk for a very short distance to get a feel for the village and there are several roof top cafes where you can relax and enjoy the views.
The place where you leave your car (which you can see on Google maps here) is less than a five minute walk to the start of the village.
If you’re staying the night we have some info about transporting luggage in etc in the section about staying overnight at the end of the post.
Although you could easily visit the village on a day trip, there is something very special about being there at night - watching the sunset, eating dinner on a rooftop overlooking the beautiful adobe buildings and generally having longer to soak up the old world charm.
It’s also a great opportunity to spend the night in a traditional mud house - and there are several options beyond the most famous one which is quite expensive (more on that later in the post).
The Misfat al Abriyeen walking trails
Though there are technically three walking trails, two join to form a longer route and one is a tiny offshoot of the first trail. I’d say you really only need to do the two that join up (the W9 combined with the W9c) because the other one (W9a, the Staircase Walk) was a really short - 350m - stretch of new track.
We actually walked further than the trails marked on the map to form a loop track which we’ll describe in the trail notes below. We’ll also tell you a good turnaround point if you want to do a shorter walk.
In terms of track conditions, the walks are generally paved, but do have plenty of stairs. A couple of staircases were steep, though the steepest had handrails. We’ll note the steep bits with photos below.
The Garden and Wadi Walk (W9 with W9c)
The Garden and Wadi Walk is the one we’d recommend to all visitors (labelled as W9 and W9c). Depending on where you’re staying in the village you may not start at the official beginning of the walk, but we’ll start the notes there anyway to cover off the whole trail.
The trail begins at the little tunnel like walkway into the village (it’s an arch beside where the road runs out and the majority of cars are parked).
It’s marked with dashes of coloured paint and known as the W9. The W9 is actually a much longer trail, so you need to know/choose a turnaround point because you could follow the track for many kilometres beyond Misfat al Abriyeen.
The trail continues past the front of the Bait Baityn hotel and heads through a pretty alley with pots hanging from a window high up on the building. You’ll come to a staircase and then reach the falaj (water irrigation channel).
Head right and follow the stairs downhill before taking another right, it’s signposted as W9c. It’s a beautiful path lined with date palms and feels like you’ve entered a true oasis.
After this you can continue following signs for Misfah Old House (the most famous accommodation in the village). Before reaching Misfah Old House you’ll see an old building with beautiful bluey-green doors, it’s one of the more photographed houses in the area.
You’ll then arrive at Misfah Old House which has a gorgeous roof terrace. If you’re not staying there you can go and have a look around for 0.5 OMR (approx USD $1.30) and this includes a tea or coffee.
To continue the walk you pass the old house and small mosque (which is also a mud building, the only one we saw like this in Oman). You’ll see some lovely old buildings and hundreds of date palms before arriving at a steep staircase leading down into the wadi. This is 450m from the trailhead.
The staircase has rails and is a touch uneven, but when dry it wasn’t slippery or difficult to walk on. The views are fantastic as you begin to enter the canyon, surrounded by giant boulders, vast mountains and lots of little ruins perched on the hillside.
This descent lasts for 180m and after a mere 30m of flat track you’ll begin ascending on the other side of the wadi.
If you are not keen on walking too much further, then you could turn here before you climb up the other side. If you climb up the other side and then don’t take our loop shortcut trail on the way back, you’ll have to return the same way - so you’ll be climbing the wadi twice. It’s only a 230m climb, so it’s by no means dramatic, but depending on the temperature you might not fancy it!
Assuming you want to carry on, you’ll climb the steep stones steps, keeping left 100m into the climb. The views are sensational and we didn’t see another soul on this trail. At the end of the climb (230m) you’ll see a signpost and the path will flatten and head right.
As you follow this flat path you’ll get some fabulous views back over to Misfat al Abriyeen, perched on top of the canyon. It actually looks far away from this vantage point, though you’ve only been walking for just over 900m!
At the 1km mark you’ll reach the end of the wadi, with more great views. If you don’t want to walk back along the road (for a short distance) then I would recommend turning here. If you don’t mind a short bit of road walking then our loop track is shorter and has very little extra climbing to do from this point.
To continue, head over the wadi on the small stepping stones and continue along the trail to the right. After 200m you’ll see a staircase leading uphill on the left, follow this, not the green arrow pointing straight ahead.
After 50m you’ll emerge from the oasis and though the walk is not nearly so lovely from here, the views are still terrific.
Follow the gravel road uphill for 250m and you’ll reach the paved road you drove in to the village on. For us finishing up around sunset the road was very quiet and fine to walk on, in the middle of the day on a weekend it might not be so pleasant.
You’ll head right along the road and the uphill climb ends 150m later. From here it’s a flat 400m stroll back to the start of the village, reaching the trailhead a further 200m after that.
Whilst I never like road walking, the views and the quiet nature of the road were actually pleasant enough and it did avoid us walking up all those extra stairs in the wadi!
The extra bit you’ll miss on the above route - The Staircase Walk (W9a)
There isn’t really any scale on the map of the walking tracks in the village, so being the sort of person that must complete every trail if possible, I made us get up at the crack of dawn to walk the Staircase Track before we left the village.
It turns out that there isn’t much extra to see. If you’ve done even a portion of the trail we’ve already talked about then you really don’t need to do this one too.
But just incase, if you do want to, you’ll see a staircase on the right, close to the cars that are parked just before the old village (the exact spot is here on Google Maps). From here head down the staircase.
This whole section is much more rustic than the other walking trails. It has a long forgotten air and it felt like nobody walks it anymore!
At the end of the slightly crumbling steps you’ll come to a falaj, it looks like a dead end but you cross over the water and continue downhill, a minute or so later you will see the telltale coloured markers again.
You will walk along a narrow path surrounded by date palms and some old stone walls before you’ll come to a track you recognise again after less than 100m.
I will say I loved this little narrow section of track, but it was very, very short, so not really a reason to do the extra walk as such.
At the 250m mark you’ll see a staircase leading uphill on the left. Once you’re at the top you’re just over 100m from the W9 trailhead.
Misfat al Abriyeen rooftop cafes
One of the things I loved most about Misfat al Abriyeen were the rooftop cafes! I actually couldn’t believe that such cool cafes existed in this small mountain village. I’m used to these kind of places having one lacklustre cafe at best.
There are three rooftop cafes in the village - Rogan Cafe, Halwa and Alstromeria Cafe (well technically Alstromeria Cafe is just outside the village, beside the visitor car park).
We headed to Halwa first and the views were terrific, absolutely stunning, and they had some nice comfy seating on the various terraced areas.
Getting there involves walking up a few staircases and even through a little cave which was novel. However, when we got there they didn’t have any food on offer, so we left and therefore can’t comment on the food or drink.
We headed on to Rogan Cafe where the view is very different, but no less gorgeous. Instead of the village and mountains, you’re looking out at the date palm plantation.
The cafe is also beautifully put together, with a fab suspended staircase. We tried the coffee, hibiscus juice and crepes. We liked all of it, especially as we got to enjoy it beside the date palm oasis.
We didn’t try Alstromeria Cafe because we preferred to be right inside the village, but based on Google reviews it’s also pretty good.
Staying overnight at Misfat al Abriyeen
We nearly stayed outside the village because the prices were a bit lower, but I’m so glad we didn’t. We actually enjoyed it so much we booked a second night. The village is so quiet after dark and nicely lit, which creates a wonderful atmosphere. Many of the guesthouses have rooftops restaurants where you can have dinner overlooking the village and mountains. It’s very memorable.
We stayed at Bait Baityn hotel. We did briefly consider the more well known Misfah Old House, but it was by far the most expensive option in the village and didn’t look to be a significant upgrade in terms of quality.
Staying at Bait Baityn
Bait Baityn was still a traditional adobe house, but a cheaper option! The rooms are simple, but with a soft mattress - a rare treat in Oman! The room had nice little touches like pottery and lanterns and it has a good vibe.
The bathrooms are wet rooms, but I found that the floor dries after around an hour, so it’s not one of those ones where for the rest of the day after showering the floor is all wet and gross. There’s hot water and AC, although depending on when you visit you might not actually need the AC.
As with many hotels in Misfat al Abriyeen it’s half board and the food is cooked by local people in the village (it was a staff member’s mother and sister on our visit). We loved the food, it would normally be a buffet, but as we were the only guests they made things specially for us.
Expect local food with a bit of western as well, for example on our first night we had vegetable curry, grilled chicken, rice, pomegranate salad, bread and…pizza! I guess they always provide something western incase you don’t like the local food, but it was all fab.
The breakfast was egg, tomato mixed with egg, bread and Omani pancakes drizzled with date syrup made from the local dates we’d been seeing all around the village. The pancakes were sensational and when they saw we ate them all, they made more! It was that kind of hospitality.
When we asked about bringing our luggage up (as you can’t park right inside the village), they even took our car key and drove our car down as far as they could and carried the bags - it was next level service! If you are staying at Misfah Old House it’s a bit further into the village with some steps etc, so you might want to bring a smaller overnight bag, though I have no doubt if you asked for a hand with your bag they would happily assist.
All in all, we loved our stay. It is simple but charming and for us it was all about the hospitality.
You can check the reviews and prices on:
Village etiquette at Misfat al Abriyeen
As Misfat al Abriyeen is a traditional village you need to wear modest clothing, think knees and shoulders covered for women. You are not allowed to pick the fruit as selling it is the livelihood of many of the villagers. You may not bathe in the pools or step in the water inside the falaj, enter private property, or take photographs of local people without permission.
Getting to Misfat al Abriyeen
The first thing to note is that you do not need a 4WD. The road is sealed all the way and though there are a few short steep bends, it’s a very easy drive. It doesn’t really feel like a proper mountain road and is much shallower than many roads which wouldn’t really be thought of as mountainous in England!
It’s around 200km and a 2 hour 15 minute drive from Muscat, or 55km and 50 minutes from Nizwa. If doing the latter route you might want to stop at Jabreen Castle and Bahla Fort on route.
To the best of my knowledge there is no public transport available, so you’d have to hire a taxi or take a tour to reach it without your own car.
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