Pratham Mehta and Nancy Patodi from Bengaluru celebrated the New Year 2024-25 in Oman for about ₹2 lakh—roughly the same amount many people now spend on a New Year’s trip to Goa.
“Oman is not just underrated, it’s surprisingly budget-friendly. We paid a bit more because it was New Year’s peak season, but normally the country is even cheaper,” said Mehta, who works in the strategy team of a global remittance company.
As part of Mint’s travel series, Mehta shares details of their nine-day Oman holiday, showing how it’s possible to enjoy a full, hassle-free holiday without stretching the wallet.
Muscat
This trip wasn’t quite planned by us—it was planned by Instagram. Oman kept appearing on our feeds through beautiful reels, showing its raw natural beauty of majestic wadis, dramatic cliffs, pristine beaches, and ancient forts. Unlike the usual Middle Eastern glamour, Oman looked authentic and untouched. We gave in and decided to ring in 2025 there. Planning began two months in advance, which helped us get decent hotel deals.
Getting the visas was simple. We applied through Niyo because I wanted to use the platform’s cashback coins that I had earned for earlier travels. The visa cost around ₹8,000, of which we redeemed ₹4,000 through the Niyo coins. It took about a week for visas to be processed.
We flew from Mumbai to Muscat on 24 December. We paid only ₹13,000 in taxes and fees by using Vistara miles to book two round-trip tickets on an Air India flight—tickets that would have otherwise cost ₹55,000. The rest was covered through credit-card points converted into air miles.
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After landing in Muscat, right after checking into the hotel, we picked up our self-drive rental. Looking back, it was the best decision as it saved us money and gave us complete freedom. Public transport is almost non-existent in most cities, and taxis are rare and quite expensive.
We spent the first day in Muscat exploring the famous Royal Opera House, the serene Qantab Beach, which glowed at sunset, and taking a slow drive along Love Street, located near Qurum Beach. The first day in Muscat set the tone for the rest of the trip—no crowds, serene, and endless beauty.
The second day, we drove from Muscat to Wadi Shab for our first adventure. Reaching the stunning turquoise-blue pools requires a short hike through valleys and cliffs, and swimming through caves to finally arrive at the desert oasis. It’s a short swim, but the only way to reach there, so it’s a must that tourists should carry their swimwear. There is no entry fee to the Wadi Shab itself, but it’s located about two 2-hour drive from Muscat.
From there, we drove to White Sand Beach and watched cliffs drop dramatically into the blue sea and ended the day at the iconic Bimmah Sinkhole, which is believed to have been created by a meteor.
We spent the third day as well diving deeper into Muscat, and into endless plates of the scrumptious dessert Kunafa, which became our daily ritual throughout the trip. Before catching our evening flight to Salalah, we returned our rental car.
Renting a car in Oman is not too expensive, as the fuel cost is negligible and parking is free at most places. It proved to be cheaper for us as we were travelling with two other friends, so the ₹50,000 total cost got divided.
Our five-day rental came to about ₹25,000 for Nancy and I, but we had to cough up an extra ₹16,000 in speeding fines. Oman’s roads are so smooth and empty that it’s dangerously easy to go a little faster than you intend, and we learned this the hard way!
Salalah and Nizwa
Our Muscat to Salalah return flight was the only flight ticket we paid full price in cash— ₹31,000 on Salam Air. We used the SBI Cashback Card and got 5% back, bringing the effective cost to about ₹29,500. Other than the flights, our three-day accommodation, commute, and sightseeing were booked through a tour agent that cost us ₹30,000 per person. We stayed in a lovely two-bedroom villa, and the agency assigned a local guide who drove us everywhere, which made this part of the journey feel effortless.
Salalah was quite different from Muscat—green, humid, and tropical, almost like a Kerala-meets-Arabia blend. We spent two days relaxing on the beaches, enjoying local cuisine, and making occasional visits to popular viewpoints and attractions. This part of the trip became our “vacation from the vacation”, with an easy, unhurried pace.
Food in Oman proved to be far more affordable than we had expected. We rarely spent more than ₹2,000 per person per day for all three meals. Except for Salalah, breakfast was not included in our hotel stays, yet most meals still stayed within ₹1,200 to ₹1,500. Since we are vegetarians, we stuck to cafes and restaurants and could not try much of the local street food, which would have cost almost half of what we paid.
We returned to Muscat on 29 December, picked up another rental car and drove straight to Nizwa. We decided to splurge a little on a boutique hotel, yet it cost only ₹13,500 for two nights. The property felt like living inside history, with quiet courtyards, earthy interiors, and classic Omani architecture.
Our two days in Nizwa felt like stepping back in time. We explored the Nizwa Fort, wandered through the souqs and drove up to Jabal Akhdar, surrounded by mountains and tiny villages perched on cliff edges. The drives were so surreal that it felt like Oman revealed a new landscape every few hours.
New Year’s Eve in Muscat
We drove back to Muscat on the 31st and returned our SUV, then picked up a smaller car since we only needed to drive within the city for the next day. A small tip from our experience: It helps to build a rapport with locals, especially at car agencies. We had a minor accident, and the official repair estimate was around ₹30,000 to ₹35,000. Our contact at the rental agency stepped in, and directed us to a local mechanic who fixed it for just ₹5,000. He also helped us get the small car for only ₹1,000 for a day.
We had saved our biggest treat for last: A 5-star property that cost a small fortune during the New Year. However, we booked it entirely using Marriott points. Considering the market price (around ₹1.25 lakh for that night), this redemption alone made our entire points strategy worth it.
The property faces the sea and has its own private cove. Spending the last night of 2024 here felt like a reward for all the planning and smart spending.
Since our flight was late at night on the last day, we didn’t book another night at the hotel, instead kept the car till late at night. We revisited the Royal Opera House, Qantab Beach, Love Street, and the Sultan Qaboos Mosque, but this time without a rush. The first sunset of 2025 felt like Oman’s parting gift.
Oman surprised us with how calm and untouched it felt. The landscapes were dramatic, the people unbelievably warm, and the drives almost therapeutic. But most importantly, it’s one of those countries that looks expensive but has exactly the opposite effect on your pocket.
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