From our exploration of Wadi Qurai, we continued on to Jabal Al Akhdar – The Green Mountain – and its Sayq Plateau.

We had 4×4 so drove ourselves up the mountain – the road is fairly new and like a well maintained mountain pass, hair-pin turns but easy to navigate. It is definitely doable without 4×4, but there is an enforced requirement that only 4×4 are allowed to drive up.  The ability to explore and move about this area independently is worth renting a 4×4!

Once we arrived at Sayq Plateau, we did drive around some of the villages, descending into the canyon from the huge hotel-looking residence of the Qatar royal family and found ourselves on roads that very much needed 4×4, so it was worth having for real!!!  Not for the faint of heart, driving around and checking things out was super cool and worthwhile.  A word of caution, it looked to us like the dirt roads between villages might connect, but they do not, and the ones we drove were absolutely not for the faint of heart!  That I don’t have pictures should indicate how intense it was 🙂

The road in the top left corner is the one we ultimately descended and drove around on the very dicey valley roads . . .

Looking back at Sayq Plateau from our 4×4 adventure!

We ended up driving around all over the plateau, checking out hotels, camping areas, and generally exploring – a really cool place! Also note on Google Maps it appears the paved road might connect to Shorfet Al Alamin, but it does not!  The only way in and our of Jabal Al Akdar is the way in.  We found this out by following the map to a dead-end at which point Google recalculated and told us to go around 🙁  

We ultimately stayed at Sama Hotel, which had only been open a week and was a great find!  Dinner included, jacuzzi (although not very warm, if I’m honest!), and super stunning views, the place was totally worth it for the 75 OMR we paid (2 people, dinner/breakfast included)

Al Sama Hotel had a lovely view and nice grounds, for a decent price 🙂