Alila Jabal Akhdar — Hotel in Al Batinah South Governorate

We recently spent several days at this spectacularly located hotel. Once the first 15 minutes were over, we had a truly memorable time.||First, the bad news - the first 15 minutes. ||We arrived at the hotel after a 2.5 hour journey from Muscat. Having spent some time on the website before arriving, we had chosen what we thought was the right room type for us. However, within 1 minute of arrival, the person checking us in was very keen to tell us that there were another, upgraded, room available for our stay (at an extra cost, of course) , and asked if we would like to see it. Being polite, and rather startled at this introduction to the hotel, we agreed. I insisted on seeing our original room first, which we did - and very nice it was too. ||We were then led to another room, in a different building, along a slightly uneven path and up a flight of stairs. Since one of us had minor mobility issues (which we hadn't shared with the hotel, to be fair), this wasn't looking very promising. We were then proudly shown the new room, whose main benefit (apart from a slightly better view) was a much larger balcony. However, we couldn't really explore this, since it was pouring with rain at the time ! The irony of trying to sell the advantages of a balcony in a torrential downpour seemed completely lost on our guide.||We quickly decided to reject the upgrade, despite the 'special rate' which had apparently been agreed on our behalf. Even though we explained the practical issues related to mobility, our guide let her disappointment at our decision show, which left us feeling, absurdly, that we had somehow let down the hotel.||So, before we even got properly seated, we were subjected without warning to a blatant upsell attempt, and left feeling slightly guilty about saying 'no'. Later, thinking back on this, we got more and more irritated - our initial impression was that the hotel's main focus was revenue maximisation rather than customer satisfaction.||(To be fair, we raised this later with hotel management. They apologised, and promised to look into what happened. Hopefully, no one else will have to go through what we did.) ||Once we got past check in, though, things quickly got a lot better. ||The original room was, as we thought from the website, nicely designed and appointed, with a good sized balcony (!) and a lovely bathroom area. In addition to being well appointed, it was kept immaculately clean by the hotel staff throughout our stay.||The grounds and other facilities (common areas, restaurant, lounge), were again well appointed, and fitted in well with the location through their low-key style. Nothing flashy or glitzy - it felt as if the intention was to let the location speak for itself.||And boy, did the location speak for itself. The pictures really can't do justice to the spectacular views from the hotel grounds. The surrounding mountains and canyons offered an absolutely stunning backdrop, which changed with the time of day and weather. Even in the rain which we experienced on a couple of days, it was still an amazing view. We were there for several days, and never got tired of it.||The staff were another high point. With the exception of our initial upseller (who kept their distance from us through the rest of our stay!) with hotel staff were friendly, professional, and warm. We thoroughly enjoyed dealing with them, and talking to them. The standard of service they offered was in keeping with the high quality surroundings, and is a credit to them. (We also really appreciated being offered a very late checkout on our last day, due to our late departure. It meant that our departure experience helped to compensate for the arrival one.)||The other standout was the Juniper restaurant. The choice available, and food quality, were utterly superb. We explored as much of the menu as we could, and were never disappointed. Everything we had was tasty and nicely presented. The signature dessert involving honey dripping from a miniature meringue nest, in particular, was a delight.||We probably spent a little longer here than we should have here - this is the kind of place you come to for a couple of days to admire, rather than settling in for a prolonged stay. However, after the first 15 minutes, we had a superb stay here, and will not forget what we saw and experienced for...

I recently stayed at Alila Jabal Akhdar which is one of the most unique resorts I have ever stayed at and can provide an unforgettable experience in ways that other more standard resorts cannot. Alila was not perfect but for me those issues were being dwarfed by the rest.

First of all the resort is special not only because of its location but because of how you can get there. Rather than rent a car or hire a driver for the 2.5-hour journey up the mountain, we used the services of Al Sharqiya Aviation for the 40-minute helicopter flight from Muscat to Alila. While not directly related to Alila, the service received from ASA was great from start to finish including the booking and advance preparation for the flight including flexibility with a last minute time change I requested for the departure flight.

I have travelled by almost all possible ways of transportation to various hotels but helicopter was missing for me and Alila was the perfect opportunity to make an arrival in style. Upon arriving at Alila the scenery was absolutely breathtaking with the resort sitting at the edge of a cliff on two sides and the helicopter circled the area so that we could have a perfect 360-degree view – the pictures don’t even do justice. I have to stay, arriving to an island resort in the Maldives via seaplane is a great experience, but a private helicopter flight to Alila takes the cake.

As we could see from our flight, it is amazing that they could build a resort at this particular spot in the mountains – the location could not be more isolated at the far end of a road 2,000 meters above sea level and without much anywhere near Alila. I do not recall being in a resort so quiet before, in part because there were not many guests, but also because beach resorts often have sea noise, resorts in forests have wind and trees, many resorts have lots of animals nearby… but at Alila it was often dead silence, day or night.

The hotel grounds were well-maintained and many common areas were designed to take maximum advantage of the location such as movie night on the edge of the cliff or massage tables on the extreme tip of the resort. The view from the swimming pool was not bad either, and for the colder months they also have an indoor pool. There were hiking trails around the resort with some activities to keep guests occupied in the event that they don’t want to simply relax by the pool to get some sun.

I booked the entry level room and used a Hyatt Globalist Suite Award which upgrades to the “Jabal Terrace” room type. The room was not a proper suite because there was no separate living room, however the bathroom was huge, and the outdoor space even bigger. There was a small terrace in front of the bathroom, and on the other side, a very spacious terrace outside the bedroom with sun lounging chairs and a dining table.

If I had one criticism of our room it would be that internet was very weak and at times unusable from the main terrace so it took away part of the enjoyment because it required me to sometimes sit at the smaller terrace with lesser views instead.

The breakfast was quite good in my opinion, entirely a la carte with a decent selection and we especially enjoyed the vegetarian dish of the day. The dinner menu at Rose Lounge was less impressive; the menu at the Juniper restaurant was not bad, however all in all dining was not as “wow” as the location of the hotel itself and guests are captive on the resort so there is no alternative.

Overall I think if Alila had more stand-alone villas, more room types with a private pool, and better dining, it would be even more attractive. Nonetheless, Alila can provide a once in a lifetime experience and deserves a spot on the bucket list of a number of experienced travelers; adding the helicopter flight was cherry on top for an...

This is our most favourite hotel ever. It is a fabulous luxury hotel which has stunning buildings, rooms and interiors, in a stunning mountain setting and it gets everything right. The staff are all wonderful, from the front desk team, to the restaurant teams to those that clean the pool, tend the gardens and clean the rooms – they all really care about guests having an awesome visit. They are very welcoming and nothing is too much trouble.

We first visited the Alila in 2019 and we’ve been very keen to return. And we were thrilled to find that the young man in charge of the bar in 2019, Shahadat, still works at the hotel and he’s been promoted. For us, this says a lot about the hotel – this is the kind of hotel that values its staff and it looks after them and when staff are amazing at the job they are given, they are rewarded with a promotion. You can tell that the staff love working at the Alila and its fosters a sense that you have come to stay with good friends.

Shahadat is now a very attentive and consummate supervisor in the restaurant and it is a wonderful team of people who look after the tables and serve the truly delicious food cooked by a great chef and his team. Breakfast is a feast with a variety of different cuisines and one can choose as many options as you’d like to try (which is great because the local hikes make for hungry guests!). Lunch is either informal in the Rose Lounge area, which is outside overlooking the canyon or in the main restaurant (which has indoor and outdoor tables).

We enjoyed making new friends - Abdul – Rahman at the front desk, Monica in the restaurant, and Pamela in the Rose Lounge, as well as having a splendid evening of complimentary star gazing with Mimi looking through the hotel’s extraordinarily powerful telescope at Jupiter’s 4 moons, the rings around Saturn and the nebula of Orion. There are lots of activities (mixture of complimentary and chargeable) organised by the hotel but we love hiking through the stunning landscape. A joy of being a 45 minute drive up Jabal Al Akhdar is that the hikes are very quiet and peaceful and one only meets a few people, if at all, and then only briefly. The scenery is stunning and we never tire of gazing over and exploring Oman’s “Grand Canyon”.

And after a day of hiking, it is fabulous to hop into the wonderful, heated infinity pool and watch the sun set. Days then continue with Happy Hour overlooking the canyon, followed by a delicious dinner with a wide variety of types of cuisine and are topped off with a return to beautiful, calm bedroom suites with seriously comfortable beds.

If you want to stay in a luxury and very special hotel to visit during your stay in Oman, choose the Alila – we are already...