Quaint Quriyat

Quriyat fort built over 200 years ago.

Quriyat Beach. (How many mosque minarets can you count?)

Lookout Tower at low tide

We went on short road trip to Quriyat, 1.5 hours drive southeast of Muscat. We intended to spend the day visiting the village, the castle and going "wadi-bashing” but P got called into an afternoon meeting at work just as we started our drive out. So we shortened our trip to visit just the fort and picnic at the beach.

Quriyat, is derived from the Arabic “qariyat” which means villages. It lies along the coastline on the Arabian Gulf. The town is the gateway to the scenic narrow coastal gravel road that runs south to Sur. Most people pass right by Quriyat without stopping to beeline it to the Bimah sinkhole, the white beaches of Fins and Tiwi or cool Wadi Shab.

That’s too bad. Quriyat itself is just as scenic, with a well developed corniche well used by the locals and full of authentic fishing boats and a lovely park at the end of a very clean and long beach. The town also has a beautiful restored fort that we explored. We had a nice lunch at the beach park and the children enjoyed playing on the sand while P climbed up the lookout tower accessible at low tide.