Visiting Wakan Village: the walk and what it's like to stay overnight

The little mountain village of Wakan feels like stepping back in time. With a laid back vibe, phenomenal views and a cool climate (it sits above 1500m in elevation), it’s the perfect place to spend a night when road tripping around Oman. It’s also home to a beautiful walking trail that leads to ever more incredible mountain views.

Pomegranates dangle temptingly over the pathway and the sound of rushing water from the falaj (ancient water channels) give the walk a soothing air. If you’re lucky enough to visit when the apricot blossom is in bloom then it will be even more magical.

You could easily visit Wakan on a quick day trip from Muscat, but staying the night allows you to watch sunrise or sunset over the mountains and that’s an experience you don’t want to miss.

Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Wakan Village.

Visiting Wakan Village

A 4WD is required but you don’t need your own

I don’t normally start posts with logistics, but when planning our Oman itinerary, the thing I was always on the look out for was whether a 4WD was required. As we were visiting Oman for over a month we couldn’t hire a 4WD for the entire trip, so finding places that were 2WD accessible was a must.

Although the last 3km of the road to Wakan does require a 4WD, you can catch a lift with one of the locals from the village at the start of the 4WD drive road. We didn’t organise this in advance and simply arrived, parked and changed cars within minutes. I am pretty sure they watched us drive in and knew we would need a lift : )

However, we did take the phone number of the local ‘taxi’ service if you do want to organise it in advance - +968 9698 3305. We had phone signal with both Omantel and Ooredoo in this area (but Omantel was better).

They will then drive you 3km up the 4WD road, which is gravel and well graded, but steep. There is an unfenced cliff edge on one side of the road, but having read that it was scary, I was expecting much worse.

I didn’t think it was bad at all and our driver passed people coming in the other direction with no bother at all. Added to that it only takes around 10 minutes to drive, the first 500m are still paved!

The cost for the local transfer service is 15 Omani Rial for a return journey (approx USD $39). This feels very expensive for such a short journey, but make sure you go with the locals and not the hotel who charge a staggering 28 Omani Rial (approx USD $72). Perhaps the highest cost per kilometre I’ve heard of anywhere in the world!

Despite the high cost, it was still much cheaper for us to do the transfer than it was to have a 4WD car for longer than was strictly necessary.

If you choose to take the transfer service you leave your car at the little parking area at the bottom of the hill.

The Wakan Village Walk

The highlight of a trip to Wakan - and to be honest the only real thing to do here apart from admire the views - is the village walk leading up to a beautiful viewpoint. You can also do much longer walks into the mountains, but the tracks are harder and rougher, and take around six hours (and I believe finish in another village requiring a lift back to Wakan).

We chose to do the main walk for sunrise and sunset and also went a touch further to a better viewpoint than the main one, which we’ll describe in the notes below.

It took us 25 minutes to walk to the main viewpoint at a leisurely pace and less than 15 to walk back down.

The stats

Distance: 2km return to the main viewpoint
Difficulty: Easy, but uphill

Summary: The walk to the main viewpoint in Wakan is all on a very well maintained paved path. It does head uphill for much of the way - there are approximately 700 steps to climb - but the steps are shallow. So shallow that I didn’t believe the step count I’d read online and decided to count for myself. I was shocked there actually were around 700, so definitely don’t be put off.

If you want to continue a touch further the track gets rougher, but even going a few minutes beyond the paved path will take you to our favourite spot.

Starting the trail

The trail begins just beside the Sama Hotel (the only hotel in Wakan) and that’s right by where you will park your car, or get dropped off if you need a transfer. The trailhead is marked by three coloured dashes painted on the wall.

After 40m you’ll pass through a gate and then see a very cute honesty box on the left. There are currently no shops or services in Wakan, but at the honesty box you can buy tea, coffee, juice, rosewater, sesame oil and bags of walnuts! I’d never seen an honesty box quite like it!

From here you continue following the obvious path past the small mosque. The path is lined with pomegranate trees and the fruit dangles right over the trail (though you are not allowed to pick it).

Grapes, figs and apricots are also grown here.

After 170m (from the trailhead) the flat path gives way to steps and from here it is mainly uphill. As mentioned, the steps are shallow and there are several benches along the way.

The climb begins

As you begin to climb the views get better and better. The sound of rushing water from the falaj system makes it especially tranquil and feels quite novel given you’re in a desert environment!

There are some short flat sections but you will mainly walk up paved steps, parts are shaded by the trees, but much will be exposed if you’re walking in the middle of the day.

After you’ve been walking for 820m you’ll pass through another gate and past a little ‘pond’ which was full of croaking frogs - another unexpected sound in the desert!

You’re now just 180m from the main viewpoint and as it is throughout the walk, the trail is impossible to stray from.

At the 1km mark the paved path will end at a small covered seating area and this is where the walk that most people do ends.

The view is stunning, but it’s not quite as good as from our favourite spot, which we nicknamed ‘meditation rock’.

Meditation Rock and beyond

If you don’t mind a very short (100m) extra walk along a rougher path then we highly recommend carrying on to meditation rock. We were very lucky that one of the friendly hotel staff told us he likes to meditate on this rock every morning and recommended we went to see it. I’m so glad we did because the views were even more special.

To get there from the paved path, look for the track on the right leading uphill and marked by the coloured dashes.

The path is a little rocky but not too bad and it only takes a few minutes. After 100m you will see the rock and this is a wonderful place to sit and contemplate the incredible views.

We visited for sunrise and sunset and I can still remember the feeling I had there. There are no sounds but that of the birds, and the silence coupled with the panoramic mountain views was magical, especially at sunrise.

We did continue for a further 1.5km beyond meditation rock, but it’s a lot steeper and the path is rockier - you definitely had to watch out to make sure you didn’t twist an ankle.

The views are sensational and the the path is narrow and feels at one with the mountains, so if you fancy a longer hike, then I’d definitely recommend it.

Mountain goats roam the area and you get to walk beneath the giant cliffs, which was very dramatic. To my knowledge this path continues for hours, so you can just choose your own natural turnaround point.

We turned around when we got to a very narrow somewhat sketchy bit, if you go for 1.5km you’ll know when you’ve come to it (at this point the elevation gain is 340m).

Wakan Village Walk: sunrise vs sunset

We originally intended to walk the trail only for sunset, but the valley was in full shadow and you can’t actually see sunset from the viewpoint. It was pretty and the soft light was nice, but it wasn’t a patch on sunrise.

From the viewpoint you can watch the sun rise from behind the jagged mountain tops and it casts a beautiful golden light over the valley. Both times we walked, there was no one else around, but if you are visiting in peak season then I imagine sunrise might be quieter.

To be honest it was so quiet it’s hard to believe that it could ever get crowded here, but I have heard weekends in December - March can be busy. We visited on a weekend in October for reference.

Wakan apricot blossom season

During the spring time apricot trees blossom all around Wakan. The pictures look absolutely beautiful, so if you are lucky enough to be visiting then, it will be extra special. Like cherry blossom viewing with a twist! We heard different things from different people regarding exact dates, but general consensus seems to be mid February to the end of March is the best time to see them.

Some people said they even last a little into April, so if you are making a special visit to see the blossom it might be worth contacting the hotel to ask them how it’s looking - just not via Facebook because they don’t reply : )

Staying overnight at Wakan Village

The Sama Heritage Home

Booking.com

Currently there is only one hotel in the village, the Sama Heritage Home. It’s a beautiful old heritage property built sympathetically on the mountainside. The views from the terrace are stunning. The rooms are small but sweet, with some nice traditional touches.

There are only nine rooms so it feels very peaceful. The ensuite bathrooms are dated but functional and there’s even AC - which we didn’t need because it’s lovely and cool up in the mountains.

The rooms are sold as half board and dinner was a biryani (chicken, beef or veg) with various sides. I really enjoyed the dinner, but wasn’t mad keen on the breakfast. The omelette was nice, but I always prefer to eat the local bread rather than western breads which tend to taste stale (everywhere not just in Wakan!).

There’s a cute little sitting room which I imagine is super cosy in winter as there’s a fireplace. The staff were really nice and we’re very glad we stayed. It is pricy for the type of room that it is, but I guess that’s due to the remote location.

I’d say one night is enough because once you’ve done the walk there isn’t much to do and there isn’t really any comfy chill out areas. There is plenty of seating, but nowhere you’d really stretch out with a book or something.

In terms of connectivity, there is no wifi, but we had phone signal with both Omantel and Ooredoo (though Ooredoo was fairly weak).

You can check the reviews and prices on:

Getting to Wakan Village

Wakan Village is located around 135km and around a 1.5 hour drive from Muscat (on a clear run). It’s around 210km and 2.5 hours from Nizwa. As mentioned you only need a 4WD for the last 3km and can get a local transfer if you don’t have one.

There is no public transport to this area, so if you don’t have a car you’d need to take a tour or hire a taxi.