Private Day Trip To Nizwa & Jabal Shams (The Grand Canyon Of Oman)

This is a great full day trip from Muscat, first visiting the souq and fort in Nizwa followed by drive to the spectacular Grand Canyon at Jabal Shams, all rounded off with a delicious late lunch in the way back to Muscat. Our excellent guide Fawzi made the trip very memorable. He was full of interesting information and kept surprising us with delicious treats such as ice creams and teas along the way. The fort provides a fascinating insight into the history of Oman, while the canyon is a breathtaking natural wonder. We highly recommend the trip.

Stunning scenery and culture from the Fort in Nizwa to the mountains. Ahmed was an amazing guide. Thank you for providing us with such a enjoyable day.

I was charged for the tour then TripAdvisor cancelled the tour? Still waiting for the refund? Please improve your service

We had Ali again on this tour. What a great guide to have. Be prepared for a long day. Nizwa is a fascinating town but for us TGF highlight was going to Jabal Shams. A wonderful mountain experience which included a spectacular flash flood the scenery was spectacular. Our guide Ali was an extremely courteous, knowledgeable and safe driver.

Knowledgeable and very friendly tour with Omar as my guide. All very professional and very pleasant day. Learned a lot about Oman.

Fahad was an outstanding guide. We were picked up promptly in a lovely comfortable air conditioned immaculate car. Initially we had booked to visit Nizwan and Jabel Akhder, however Fahad advised us he thought we would much prefer The green mountain as there was much more to see. We took his advice and had an amazing day filled with surprises!! After a visit and quick shop in the souk at Nizwa we went up a mountain only accessible to 4x4’s. We saw some spectacular views on the way up and on our return stopped at some fabulous ancient deserted village that were so unexpected. He took us to see further amazing places. Fahad was an exceptional host who is clearly understandably proud of his amazing country.

We had our tour to Nizwa Souk, Fort Nizwa and The Grand Canyon with Ferhad. He was a great tour guide, giving us the explaination throughout the journey on the famous lamdmark and history of it. He took time to walked with us to explain their local specialty food and snacks at the souk. Also give us a tour and information of the function of the many rooms in the fort. He took us to one of the restaurant for lunch that has delicious local food. Overall we had a great time and thanks to Ferhad for the dedication, patience and safe driving to and fro.

Highly recommend. Great tour with amazing view of the mountain and Nizwa. Our guide Bu Mashari is very nice and professional. Really enjoyed this full day trip.

We enjoyed a fantastic day exploring the countryside of Oman on this private tour. Our guide Fawzi Muhammad was super friendly, accommodating and knowledgeable. He shared so much about Omani custom and culture on the drive. We were left with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the country. After getting picked up at our hotel, we first checked out Nizwa Fort. Had plenty of time to explore and take photos of the beautiful compound. We also got see oryxes and feed a camel in the garden. Nizwa Fort was definitely a highlight of the trip. Another highlight was Jebel Shams. We drove along paved and gravel roads to experience the rugged mountainous terrain. Enjoyed incredible views from up top. It’s sometimes easy to forget how the Arabian Peninsula isn’t just flat desert. :) Topping it off were late afternoon photo stops of Bahla Fort and Nizwa Mosque. They weren’t officially part of the tour. We really appreciated Fawzi’s flexibility adding in these stops as they’re architectural gems. Oman has a diverse array of landscapes - the desert, ocean, oasis, canyons and mountains. After visiting the cityscapes of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, it was great to explore the great outdoors of Oman. Be prepared for a long day. Maybe 10-11 hours. It’s time well spent if you want to leave Muscat to see a different side of Oman. Highly recommend this tour!

Our guide was knowledgeable about Nizwa Fort. The little spice and date shop was interesting (I ended up buying some karak), but I could have done without seeing the other touristy gift shop. The Yemeni restaurant we stopped at for lunch was good, although it was weird having the server try to recommend the most western stereotypical food to me (I didn't come all the way here for pizza or burgers). As for Jabal Shams, the canyon view was nice, and there were a few goats roaming around the edge, but I thought there was going to be an actual hike of some kind, but it was just a stop for photos and admiring the view.

This was an incredible experience thanks to our excellent guide, Fawzi Mohammed, who showed us additional sights not included in the original program. These stops greatly enriched the experience and the place we stopped at for lunch was the best meal we had in Oman. We are incredibly grateful to have enjoyed this experience during our short time in this wonderful country.

Ali was amazing. Puncutal, very helpful and knowledgeable. The sights are really worth seeing and learning more about. We had a great day.

We had a great day. The driver was very nice and told us lots of things about his country. We saw many more things on the road, that were not mentioned in the tour description.

The landscape in Mt.James was awesome. In Nizwa, we could enjoy the histrical fort and souq. Our guide was very kind. It was worth to go.

This was an incredible tour with the kind and gentleman Fahad as our driver and tour guide onboard the LandCruiser. He made sure that we had ample time to enjoy each of the places we visited within Nizwa and Jabal Shams and he took good care of us making sure we are all safe and comfortable plus helped us get souvenirs at good prices. Kudos and thanks a lot to Fahad.

Our,guide Jamal was knowledgeable friendly and polite. We got some great bargains ar Nizwa souj. Naval shams grand ca tin was just awesome . Nizwa fort is worth a visit. Great value for money for a 10 hour tour

Picked up at the airport as agreed and taken with a comfortable 4x4 driven by a very friendly and knowledgeable guide to great outdoors combined with some history of Oman. What else do you need? I highly recommend this company and Jamal, the guide. The trip was worth every penny. It was not rushed at all. I had time to explore the sukh on my own, walk around the places at my own pace and take pictures, and enjoy lunch. Next time I'm in Oman I will definitely do another tour with Jamal.

Had a great time on this tour! Jamal was my tour guide and he was amazing! I was traveling by myself and felt completely safe and comfortable. He was very kind to take pictures for me and answer any questions and concerns I had. Highly recommend it for solo travelers or family based.

Our trip to Nizwa was an unforgettable experience! We had an opportunity to get to know more about the history of Oman and its lovely people and culture. We tried some delicious food and drinks and felt very welcomed by everyone we met on the way. The whole trip was nicely rounded off by breathtaking views from the Jabal Shams. Definitely one of the most impressive sites that we have ever seen. The added bonus to the whole experience was our guide Ali, who couldn’t have been more kind and knowledgeable. We are definitely coming back and would 100% recommend Ali and this whole trip.

One of the most memorable and best tours I did on my two week vacation. It was amazing going to hit the news well forward and being able to see the performers performing at the fork on a Saturday. Highly recommend it. And going to the mountains was breathtakingly beautiful. Our guy was amazing and had great music, clean the car and meet. Our travel seems amazing.

Nasser was an amazing guide and gave me such good perspective about Oman, its people, culture and history. The sites were interesting and spectacular.

This was a truly perfect tour. My guide, Ali, was an absolute gentleman. He made sure I was comfortable every step of our journey and completely accommodating. Be aware there is a lot of driving involved from Muscat, but when you get a great guide like Ali, the time really flies. One of my favorite moments was actually after the official tour. He even brought me to a few extra spots, simply out of generosity. He is the epitome of Omani hospitality and made me feel like Oman was my home too.

Wonderful experience up to Jebel Sham in a comfortable 4x4 driven by professional. Travelled in a family of 5. Guide was not rushing and allowed us time to take pictures and soak in the atmosphere.

Fahad our guide has been very helpful and pending on our needs. A great experience lead by a well instructed and extremely kind guide.

Very good experience, seeing Nizwa and up into the hills, however the value for money is not fantastic. With a hire car you could do it yourself for a third of the price, and the value added from the guide isn’t worth the difference.

Awesome it’s worth it. The guide was so nice. It’s a bit far from Muscat but apart from them, everyone should go there Awesome food as well.

Other than a fantastic tour with awesome sights we had a long conversation with Nassar about Oman and the culture and religion. He is a gem! Taking the time and genuine interest in explaining. We learned a lot and saw fantastic things. What an awesome day! Thank you!

Interesting tour with excellent local tour guide. Strongly recommend. Abdullah is an Omani local who is knowledgeable about everything in Oman. You won't get bored in this trip

Fantastic memorable day out complete with private and informative travel guide Abdullha! Thanks and very grateful 😊

This trip may be expensive but the visits to two major in-land sights were a perfect and needed addition to our Muscat vacation. Salim was our guide and driver and he provided much insight as well as understanding of the Omani history and culture. A long day with quite long driving distances, but maybe the best day of our holiday.

Great experience. Our guide Salem is really helpful and knowledgeble about everthing in Oman. We went through Nizwa fort. Try local restaurant. And walked along the cliff at grandcanyon. Will recommend this tour.

Thank you so much Abdullah for such an amazing trip. You went above and beyond to make our day so special (even helping with arrangements for my proposal). Highly recommend.

The old city of Nizwa was very colorful, neat and calm, and the castle visit was a unique experience. Driving to the canyon was another hour drive from Nizwa but the view. Was really rewarding!!! Breathtaking!! The hole drive from Muscat and back took us about 9 hours but we enjoyed the whole of it thanks to excellent company of our. Driver-guide Ali who apart from a real professional is a very kind and knowledgeable person with whom we exchanged openly views about our cultures and religions. Next time we visit Muscat we will look for him to be our exclusive guide.

Good full day tour of Nizwa fort and market and the grand canyon. Good views and histories. Enjoyed it.

Our day trip with Ali was great. Before trip Ali responded swiftly to any questions we had and was very clear about what we could expect. On the day of the trip Ali arrived on time was incredibly professional. He provided expect knowledge on the tour, was kind, polite and was a very safe driver. I would have no problem recommending Ali and his tours if you were to visit Oman.

Fantastic day exploring the souqs and fort of Nizwa followed by the glorious mountain landscapes and hairpin bends of Jebel Shams! Salim was an excellent guide and driver, photographer (!) and full of humour!

Abdullah was amazing and really informative. You could tell he knew a lot about history and took the time to explain everything to us - we did nizwa and jebel shams with him. The next day we sorted a tour to al ayn to see the famous beehive tombs as well as balha fort. Our guide was salim. He didn’t know anything really about balha and the fort itself was stunning but it didn’t have any information written in the rooms etc. Oman are in the process of improving this. However, he said little is known about the fort but we went home and googled it and there’s lots of info- salim just didn’t know a huge amount about it which was sad because we paid 130 for this tour. However, he was v competent taking us to al ayn to see the tombs. I think maybe just work on providing more information and improving knowledge - the rest was great

Abdullah is truly an amazing person who knows a lot of history and was able to share knowledge about the Nizwah fort that was fascinating. The drive to the grand canyon of Oman was very exciting and the lunch stop was so lovely and charming. An amazing day with a kind soul who took us around to whatever markets we wanted to shop at!🙏🏻

Our tour guide, Salem, was the best you could have as a guide; he spoke perfect English, was on time, patient, humble, informative, approachable and kind. He put us at ease and made our day very enjoyable. The trip to Nizwa was both scenic and nice as it’s a smaller city built in a beautiful setting. You should try (and buy) some locally grown dates (very affordable). The views from the top of the fort were beautiful. There’s a local woman making local thin bread with honey and cheese (inside the dirt) for approximately $1 (300 basa)… it was delicious! Must always try local food! The shops had interesting items, something for anyone including souvenirs, silver jewelry or decorative local knives (khanjar, I think). It was about 1 hour 40 minutes drive to Nizwa. The drive to Jabal Shams (their Grand Canyon) was another hour drive. Most of the drive was beautiful scenery. The last 7 km (4 miles) up was on a dirt road with some windy roads with few or no guard rails. Our driver went slow and it was no problem but for some it may be a bit nerve wrecking. The view at the top of the canyon was beautiful. There are some local women at the top selling cheap souvenirs and karak chai (spiced tea with milk). Please note, it was much colder at the top. Muscat was 25 c (77 f) and the canyon was 15 c (59 f). Overall the view is just a short stretch of road… maybe 10 minutes walking to see the stretch of view. There are many local goats begging for food that may follow you bleating as they ask for a treat. We fed them banana peels. We were only at the top for 15-20 minutes. Then it was a 3 hour car drive back. We stopped for lunch along the way. It was a Yemeni restaurant and we ate some Mandi (seasoned rice with lamb). It was good. The trip was a nice break away from Muscat and the scenic drive was well worth the trip. Seeing a smaller historic town was interesting. The views at the canyon we’re excellent. Only thing we didn’t like was the 3 hour drive back but that was the only negative. Otherwise, Salem, our guide, made our day as pleasant and enjoyable as possible. Well done, Salem. Allah Yaatik Alafiya!

We didn’t know what to expect but this day trip was totally worth it. Our guide Abdullah and Driver Fahad were very knowledgeable, accommodating, and had a very friendly demeanor - it felt like a day out with friends. Apart from the breathtaking views of the Oman Grand Canyon and Nizwa fort, we also learnt about Omani history and now feel much more enlightened about the country, it’s culture, and it’s people. Grand Canyon is a must visit and if we had more time, we would have loved to spend a night in jabal shams. Highly recommend this tour, and Abdullah and Fahad as guides.

This day tour to Nizwa and Jabal Shams / Grand Canyon of Oman was in every respect spectacular and unforgettable. It was the second tour we did with Abdullah / Discover Mazoon Tours Oman after a half-day Muscat city tour and thanks to his professionalism, his great knowledge and his courteousness the tour was just as enjoyable as the first one. All in all truly a most valuable experience. This time we also had driver Fahad with us who was also very nice and friendly and who is an excellent driver. Abdullah and Fahad did everything to accommodate our needs, we really felt very well taken care of and looked after. In old Nizwa we felt as if we had stepped back in time and the view from the Grand Canyon is simply breathtaking. On our way back Abdullah even managed to build in another stop I had asked for at a beautiful village. All in all an outstanding day and an unforgettable experience. We can most warmly recommend Abdullah and Fahad from Discover Mazoon Tours Oman to anybody.

This trip was the highlight of our week in Oman . We visited Oman not really knowing what to expect . What a hidden gem . We chose this trip to give us a taste of the scenery and culture of the country away from the coast . Fahed was a wonderful guide , he tailored our trip to suit our needs . He showed us places we would have never found by ourselves . Nizwa its Souk and Fort are fascinating, Fahed took us around , taking photos . Showing us the best views and telling us about the history of the area . We then discussed options and we decided to visit Jebel Akhar , Green mountain . We learnt about the farming systems , the walk around Al Ain was a brilliant insight into the area . Fahad then took us to an authentic cafe were we had a lovely lunch , we then carried on to Birkat Al Mouz well worth the visit . Wandering around the ruins of the village looking at the irrigation system and views from amongst the date palms and bananas . All in all a brilliant day out , we loved it .

Be prepared for a long day out, but it's worth every minute of your time. Nizwa is full of traditional charm with it's Fort and Souqs, The trip up Jebel Sham and the Canyon views are spectacular. Our drive Achmed, was brilliant and interacted with us all day. He even took us to his family home which was both a pleasure and a privilege (not part of the tour).

I must thank Abdullah for such wonderful ride to the Grand Canyon. It is remarkable. The lunch is yummy.

سليم‎ [Salīm] was a very knowledgeable + friendly guide. Tip: Plan your trip early in your itinerary! Seriously consider an overnight stay at Jebel Shams so you can descend into + fully experience the "Grand Canyon of Oman". If you are a 'foodie' I predict that you will be tempted to buy a large selection of the incredible variety of dates or other local delicacies from the traditional Nizwa market. If so, you may need time to consume your bounty to avoid dealing with customs in your home country.

This trip is so worthwhile. The journey is fascinating passing through an ever changing landscape. Very dramatic. Jabel Shams is breathtakingly beautiful. Niswa, the Old Capital with market Fort and castle has been restored perfectly. Don’t forget to have a delicious Omani pancake when you are in the fort. Abdullah was the best possible guide. He drove incredibly well particularly on the unmade roads circling up the mountain. He has a great sense of humour. Very knowledgeable with a great love of his incredible country. Would highly recommend Abdullah.

I knew Oman was a hidden jewel even before visiting but turned out to be even better than I thought! I recommend this trip for anyone visiting, especially if you’re on a short trip/holiday! The stunning town of Nizwa vibrant with locals and friendly market owners who welcome you with a big smile and make sure you leave with great deals! Visiting the ‘Grand Canyon of Oman’ in Jabal Shams was certainly the highlight and photos don’t give justice to what a miracle of nature the place is! To top it all up, Fahed was a fantastic guide! We were running late at the airport and he kindly waited for us at the hotel and by the time we reached him it was around an hour behind schedule and yet he did not rush throughout the day but allowed us to take our time and helped with taking photos as well as stopping over for authentic Omani lunch! He is extremely kind and would recommend visiting Jabal Shams with him for sure!

What an incredible experience we had! This trip was nothing but amazing! Oman is a very beautiful country with a special atmosphere that will definitely make you feel like home. The scenery at Jebal Chams, Berkat Al Mawz, Wadi Ghoul are breathtaking. We cannot think of a way this tour could have been better and this is all thanks to Abdulla. We were so well cared for and warmly welcomed. Thank you Abdulla for being so organized, insightful and patient. You are a true example of an excellent tour guide.

Absolutely fantastic trip to Nizwa and the Grand Canyon with Abdullah, a private tour with my partner. Collected from our hotel and first arrived at Nizwa to explore the market, Abdullah knew everyone and it was very safe. We then drove to the Grand Canyon, driving safely up the rocky roads we made it to the top, Abdullah knew all the scenic spots and even showed us a beautiful village on the way back. Highly recommend this trip and a tour with this company, we have already booked another trip with Abdullah!