Muscat International Airport (MCT) → Muttrah transfer

Muttrah is the old trading port of the capital: a curved corniche facing the harbour, the covered souq behind it and white houses climbing the rocky slopes. Dhows and the occasional cruise ship moor at the port.

Accommodation is mostly small and mid-range hotels and guesthouses rather than large resorts. Travellers who like to explore on foot, in the cool of the evening, tend to choose it.

Muscat is a long, narrow city stretched along the coast, so the route runs east along the main highways past the newer districts before dropping down through a gap in the hills to the harbour.

Most of the time is spent on multi-lane roads. The variation between 49 and 62 minutes comes almost entirely from rush hour, which builds on weekday mornings and again from mid-afternoon.

Allow roughly four hours between hotel pickup and an international departure: about an hour on the road, a buffer for traffic through the city and three hours at the terminal. For evening flights in the working week, add another half hour.