Day passes for beach clubs in Oman

I'm taking a trip to Muscat in March (with a ten year old child) but am not staying at a hotel. I would like to have access to some nice beaches and was wondering if Oman is similar to Dubai where you can purchase 'day passes' in order to use hotel swimming pools/changing facilities etc. I would appreciate any information on this topic. Thank you!

The only one that I have personal experience with is the Hyatt. I do know that several other hotels also offer day passes, while there are one or two that do not.

The Hyatt's day pass was ~6 rial back in 2008, so I'm not sure if it has changed since. I was very pleased with it, I found all of the facilities to be top notch. I have done the same at hotels in other countries in the Middle East, paid much more, and was very disappointed.

It may be worth giving some of the hotels a call to see which are possibilities.

Most Hotels have a day use for a fixed price that varry, you can check for the current price by contacting them direct by email or phone, eg. Shangri La, Al Bustan Hotel, Inter Continental, Hayat, Crown Plaza. I believe the price will be around 10 rial or slightly above. You can also spend the day at Oman Diving Center for nice beach/snorkelling access with also small pool for 3 rial and they have drinks / food and other facilities.

The Intercon does day passes during the week for 5 rials, and its lovely, but they wont let non-guests in at the weekends. I think a lot of the other hotels are the same.

But Muscat has much nicer public beaches than Dubai, no? Why not just go to Qurm beach for free??

It depends on what you want to do at the beach... Qurm is packed with boys playing football. Seriously, I once saw them set up their game around a young girl--probably 3 or 4 years old--who was sitting in the sand and making a sand castle. They kicked the ball around her, ran around/over her... I can't believe they didn't care!

And if you want to lay out on the beach in a bikini, sure, you can do it at the public beaches, but personally I feel more comfortable at the dive center, where I don't worry about being stared at, offending the locals, boys kicking footballs over my head, etc. I will gladly pay for that peace of mind.

I have heard that Oman Diving Center is a nice place :-), but the food there is very expensive there :-(

you can stay at an apartment it's like a hotel rented daily & with receiption. you will be have all house facility, and there are a good small hotels cleaned which i could advice you to stay in. i have been worked in hotels long time for two year i knew most of hotels in muscat. prices are good don't worry about it, am omani and i knew my country

you most wellcom any time

Ahmed

if any one want to know more about tour in Oman visit this link
http://www.omantourism.gov.om/wps/portal/mot

i knew is not much in this sit but you will get an idea

Thanks for the info. I ended up trying to go to the Shangri la but even though they do day passes, THAT day the hotel was fully booked so they didn't allow entry. Luckily the Oman dive center is just next to it and it ended up being wonderful. If you have kids, you can rent snorkeling stuff and there is an area in the shade too. Al Bustan is nearby and is the nicest hotel there BUT don't do day passes. The restaurants are good there though and it is well worth stopping there. Lunch affordable to my surprise! The best and most practical day passes were at the Grand Hyatt. 10 OR for adults and 5 for kids (Intercon slightly cheaper rates but didn't try it) This pool has a lazy river and kids (and adults) like it!Fabulous Indonesian poolside restaurant there too and the beach is 2 steps away in the diplomatic area. Pretty nice sunsets. Thanks again for all of your advice.

Lyonnaise