Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort

The road up to Jabal Akhdar leaves the village of Birkat Al Mouz, passes a police checkpoint that admits only four-wheel drives, and climbs 2,000 metres in about 35 kilometres. At the top, on the Saiq Plateau, Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort stands on the edge of a canyon in the Al Hajar Mountains, two hours from Muscat. Jabal Akhdar means Green Mountain, and the name refers to the terraced farms of pomegranates, walnuts and Damask roses on the slopes below the resort.

History

The Omani state tourism developer Omran built the resort and brought in Minor Hotels to operate it under the Anantara name. It opened in October 2016, the brand's first mountain resort and its second in Oman after Salalah. The site had a famous visitor long before: in November 1986 Prince Charles and Princess Diana were flown to the plateau by helicopter and photographed at the canyon edge. The viewpoint, inside the resort grounds, is called Diana's Point.

Architecture and design

The architect Lotfi Sidirahal of Atelier Pod drew the resort as a village of stone-walled buildings around courtyards, with crenellated walls, wooden doors and water channels modelled on the aflaj that irrigate the terraces. The buildings are faced in local stone and step down towards the cliff. The main pool is an infinity pool on the canyon rim, and the public rooms open onto terraces with the drop below. In winter the plateau sees frost, and rooms have fireplaces as well as air conditioning.

Rooms and suites

The 115 keys divide between rooms and suites in the main buildings and 33 villas with private heated pools along the cliff and in the gardens. Deluxe rooms face the canyon or the gardens; the suites have terraces. The villas range from one to three bedrooms, each with a walled courtyard, a pool and a view of the canyon, and the largest, the Royal Mountain Villa, has its own staff quarters.

Dining

Al Maisan is the all-day restaurant, serving breakfast on a terrace over the canyon. Al Qalaa, in a tower-shaped building, serves Arabic and Omani grills. Bella Vista cooks Italian and Mediterranean food with a terrace of its own. Al Baha is the pool bar. Dining by Design, Anantara's private-dining format, sets a single table on a platform at the cliff edge for dinner at sunset.

Wellness

The Anantara Spa has treatment rooms, a hammam and a programme built around the plateau's rose water and frankincense from Dhofar. There is a fitness centre, an archery range and a climbing wall, and the resort organises guided walks along the terraces of the villages of Al Aqr, Al Ayn and Ash Shirayjah.

Weddings and events

The resort holds weddings on lawns and terraces over the canyon, with a ballroom and meeting rooms for indoor receptions and conferences. Villas with their own pools serve as bases for wedding parties. The cliff-edge Dining by Design platform is used for proposals and small private dinners.

Location

The resort lies on the Saiq Plateau above Nizwa, in the Al Hajar range. Muscat International Airport is about 150 kilometres away, a drive of two hours, the last 35 kilometres on a mountain road where the police insist on four-wheel-drive vehicles. Nizwa, its fort and its Friday goat market are 45 minutes below. The rose harvest on the terraces runs through April, when the mountain is at its coolest and greenest. It is a luxury mountain resort in Oman rather than a city hotel, and the altitude keeps summer temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below those of Muscat.