I hope you’re enjoying my Oman Adventures Guide!

Wadi Qurai is a really cool wadi located about an hour from Muscat, and on the way to Nizwa.  It’s an easy stop for a few hours exploration, hjking, and swimming!  Even better, it’s not a well-known wadi, so won’t be as crowded as other wadis near Muscat.

As we were driving, I noticed the sign for the town of Wadi Qurai  and googled to see if there was anything worth exploring.  I found a few write-ups that made me think it was worth breaking up the drive for some exploration, and it was! 

Just off the main highway, about 40 minutes from Muscat on Highway 15, follow the signs for the town and drive toward the obvious cleft in the rocks that a wadi would flow . . . and it’s there. 

It’s easy to find the start as you have to cross the wadi on about 10’ high falaj . . . you can walk in the water though so it’s less balancing.

Adrienne with the super balancy part in the background!

It’s a super beautiful canyon with some fun rocks to climb over . . . not super difficult, but no easy hiking trail either!

The hike up-canyon was full of natural beauty and scrambling as we followed the falaj up in search of its source to swim in!

We found the source and it was glorious!

. . . and swimming was done!

There are some super fun and beautiful pools to swim in about an hour in.  We went a bit further than the big pools but it didn’t look like there was much more to see, which was confirmed by the more knowledgeable expat group we ran into.  

We continued beyond the main pools found initially and it didn’t seem like there was much else beyond . . .

All good things come to an end . . . headed out!

Overall, Wadi Qurai is a really cool wadi to explore.  Follow the falaj and the obvious path of the wadi and have fun with the rocks and terrain!!!  

We were there on a Friday and only encountered one expat group while at the pool and one group of Omanis walking in as we were walking out – for being so close to Muscat, it is not crowded and this makes it worthwhile in and of itself!

Overall, this is a worthy stop on a road trip or as a stand-alone day trip from Muscat!

Getting there: Getting to Wadi Qurai is incredibly simple. From Muscat, simply take road 15 towards Nizwa and remain on this road for 76km before exiting to the right. The journey should take a little over one hour in good traffic

From there, we were off to Jabal Al Akhdar for more exploring!