Al Falaj Hotel Muscat

This 3-star hotel boasts a prime location in the heart of the city. I don't know about that - but then again, Muscat strikes me as a very large, widespread city, so exactly where its heart is, I couldn't tell.  The neighbourhood is, to be honest, not very interesting, but it is true that by car you have very easy access to the main roads/highways and it only takes about 15 minutes (again, by car) to get to the harbour/souq area, and 5-10 minutes in the other direction takes you to a huge hypermarket.

In my opinion the hotel deserves its 3 stars. It is an average standard hotel, tourist class or for the business traveller who just needs a place to sleep. The staff is very friendly and all the people I spoke to spoke very good English.

The rooms:

Standard room

Mekka - this way!

Nighttime view of Muscat

The hotel is next to what I first thought was a local mosque - but it turned out to be a

banqueting hall (no noise though)

View from my room, looking away from the city

Pool area and fitness facilities:

View from the pool to the breakfast room (decent breakfast, catering for Western as well as Middle Eastern travellers. Eggs/omelettes cooked to order. Nice to eat breakfast outside by the pool!)

The gym is well equipped. It is also open to non-residents so they have quite a lot of members

The hotel has a bar at the top floor which serves alcohol. There is also (quite surprisingly I thought) a Japanese restaurant and apparently it's the best in town and very popular with Asian travellers. On the ground floor there is a Sports Bar (also licensed) which shows football matches etc. (smoking permitted)

Traditional low Japanese dining table - but for people who are not accustomed to sitting on the

floor with their legs crossed, there is a hole in the floor under the table! :-)

The Sports Bar

http://www.alfalajhotel.com/