Muscat Shopping

Around the Al Khod area

One of the busiest shopping malls in Muscat, good for a day of unwinding and shopping and just checking people walking around

What to buy: You'll find:
Chilli's restaurant
Starbucks Cafe
Costa Cafe
Food court with Fasfood (hardeez, McD's,Pizza, etc)
MAC Makeup
Makiyaji Makeup
Mango for ladies (clothes)
Vidrio (Clothes, ladies)
Monsoon & accessories (ladies)
Accessories, mr (Ladies)
Springfield (men clothes)
Carrefour (supermarket)

etc

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Muscat Duty free is one of the best stocked shop in the world. It has vey wide range of watches, perfumes, Liquers, Jewellery, food items, Chocolates, Cigars & Cigarettes etc. But their electronic product range is very poor. The prices are one of the best among the good airports and surely much cheaper than Cairo International airport.

What to pay: In any hard currency like USD, Yen, GBP, Omani Rials etc.

Antique items which are over 50 years old can not be exported from Oman. Ask the local shops or salesmen if you are not sure.

Note that all baggage are X-ray screened at the airport before you are checking in on the flights. It is wise not to export illegal items out of Oman, even though the screeings are for flight security reasons.

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Readymade Garments is one of many shops in Mutrah Souq where you can buy traditional clothes. I was invitated into the shop by a pushy salesman. But he was was OK and gave me many hints and told me about the different styles. The price for a Dishdasha and cumma started at 10 rials. I got it for 7 rials.

What to buy: I bought a Dishdasha, a kind of a suit for the "new generation" in Oman. And a cumma, which is a hat.

What to pay: 5 rials for the Dishdasha and 2 rials for the cumma. (1 rial is 2,7 USD)

There are other shopping areas and arcades in Muscat, like the City Center Mall and Bhaja Shopping Mall. The City Center Mall houses various garments stores, accessories and has a supermarket. The Bhaja Shopping Mall has three floors of department chain stores, some dining options and a cinema.

What to pay: The shopping malls in Oman are expensive. Forget about these places and go to Mutrah Souq instead.

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Mutrah Souq is the largest shopping area in Muscat, and one of the largest traditional markets in the Arab Gulf States.

What to buy: A wide variety of items ranging like spices, traditional items, local crafts, Omani daggers, saddles, frankincense, baskets, wool carpets, Kelims, wall hangings, a variety of clothes, perfumes and of course there are shops which sell Western-style products.

What to pay: Most of the products suit the budget of foreign visitors. And bargain is accepted

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Muttrah Souq houses many stalls where you can buy traditional handicrafts such as khanjars (daggers) and omani wedding chests.

What to buy: Wedding chests, khanjars, incense and burners, perfumes, etc.

What to pay: Haggle to get a good deal. Prices in Oman are not cheap.

If you were to stay at the Al Bustan Hotel or visit this wonderful place, there is a bookstore at the lobby area which you can obtain some postcards, maps and books about Oman.

What to buy: One of the good and reasonably price books to buy about Oman is a book called "This is Oman" by Anne Bouji. This book has some good and easy to understand information plus nice photographs, and it costs 6.5 Omani Rials.