USD 
Soft and dewy, rose petals flutter from my hands in a flurry of pink fragrance. It’s just past sunrise in the hill villages of the Al Jabal Al Akhdar mountain region, and it’s the season of the rose harvest. I watch as pickers, clad in snowy white robes – dishdashas, as they’re known here – move between the terraced rose bushes, snipping fragrant blooms and tossing them into scarves slung around their necks.
Occasionally, they pour their fragile harvest onto a large sheet laid on the ground, creating a small mountain of the softest damask petals, still damp as the sun rises from behind the jagged ridges.
On my journey through Oman, I’ll find the rose’s essence wrought into luxurious creams, spa rituals, perfumes – and even my coffee.
The Heart of Muscat
To learn what makes Oman tick, look no further than the roundabout decorations in its seaside capital, Muscat.
A dallah. A dhow. A mabkhara. A khanjar.
A coffee pot, a sailing ship, an incense burner and a dagger – giant sculptures that double as landmarks: “Turn left at the dhow to get to the Al Bustan Palace Ritz-Carlton.”
The coffee pot represents Arabian hospitality; the ship, Oman’s love of the sea; the incense burner, its devotion to frankincense; and the dagger, a link to its peaceful strength – the Switzerland of the Middle East, if you like.
Just five hours’ drive across the desert from Dubai, Oman is a land of dramatic fjords, vast sand deserts, stark mountain ranges and a southern monsoon zone. With only five million people, it remains remarkably serene – and possibly the most beautifully scented country in the world.
The Frankincense Butler
Walk into the white marble lobby of the Shangri-La Al Husn and the air is veiled in a cloud of burning frankincense. It’s the hotel’s signature scent – and Oman’s.
“I grew up in a family where my mother burns luban [frankincense] every day at sunrise and sunset,” says Khalid Al Amri, the world’s only frankincense butler, based at Shangri-La’s beachside resorts in Muscat.
“She burns it at the start of her day to bring positive energy into the house, and at the end of the day to separate from stress.”
Every morning, Khalid tends to his small grove of Boswellia sacra – trees that produce the world’s purest frankincense, prized by perfumers and priests alike.
Oman’s wealth was once built on the curl of this sacred smoke, more valuable than gold. Frankincense filled Oman’s coffers long before oil, and remains woven into life: drop it into water for a sore throat, chew it for fresh breath, burn it to calm the mind.
“As a blessing for a new baby, we burn frankincense for 30 days,” says Khalid, waving a tendril of smoke. “Even Oman Air’s logo – that’s frankincense smoke.”
As he pours me cardamom-infused coffee from a tiny porcelain cup, I’m reminded that this is a country where scent is ritual, and hospitality is sacred.
As he pours me cardamom-infused coffee from a tiny porcelain cup, I’m reminded that this is a country where scent is ritual, and hospitality is sacred.
Where to Stay in Oman
Shangri-La Al Husn
The most luxurious of three Shangri-La Oman properties, Al Husn sits 15 minutes south of Muscat. This adults-only escape (ages 16+) offers 180 guestrooms, a private beach where turtles nest, and the services of a frankincense butler.
Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar
Set high in the Hajar Mountains, this clifftop resort blends Omani design, cuisine and spa traditions. The site is famed for Diana’s Point, named for the Princess of Wales’ 1986 visit. Two hours from Muscat, it features 115 rooms and pool villas with spectacular canyon views.
Stop(over) and Smell the Roses
Head inland to Nizwa, Oman’s old capital. On Friday mornings, its streets fill with the sounds of the famed goat market — men in pristine white dishdashas and embroidered kumars bartering amid the chaos.
Nizwa’s mudbrick old town, once a crumbling ruin, is being reborn. Restored walls now ring rooftop cafes and boutique stays decorated in red, black and white tribal fabrics. As lanterns glow over palm gardens, a local grandfather beckons me for a cup of karak — sweet, milky tea laced with cinnamon and pepper.
“I remember Nizwa before electricity,” he tells me. “Until 1970, we lived by gas lamps and dirt roads.” His grandchildren share crepes striped with date syrup — qurus — before darting back to their football game in the warm night air.
Up to the Highlands
From Nizwa, the road climbs steeply into the Hajar Mountains, past flocks of goats and the occasional wild donkey. At the summit lies Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar, the highest hotel in the Middle East.
Somewhere along the way, someone points out Diana’s Point — the lookout where the Princess once stood. From my own balcony, I see her view: a chain of small stone villages tucked into the folds of the mountains, linked by narrow footpaths lined with rose terraces.
For six weeks each spring, from March to early May, these villages pulse with the rose harvest. Homes overflow with baskets of damask petals, destined for distillation into rosewater used in cosmetics and cuisine.
“I sleep, eat and work here for two months,” says Mahmood al Amry, who harvests alongside his 80-year-old father. Their simple stills capture the roses’ essence — drop by fragrant drop.
Back at Anantara, the spa’s rose rescue ritual awaits. With petals on my face and perfume on my skin, I’ve become the very embodiment of the harvest.
As I share a late-night taxi back to Muscat for my Emirates flight, tales unfold like A Thousand and One Nights.
“My father is 120 years old and had 40 children,” says a geography teacher from the back seat. When we ask his secret, he smiles: “He eats nothing that’s ever been in a refrigerator.”
By the time we reach the airport, the driver turns and says softly, hand to heart, “The road is very short when we speak.”
At Muscat’s gleaming terminal, I shop for frankincense and rosewater instead of chocolates. Oman’s most famous perfumer, Amouage, has its own boutique. I spritz Opus XII Rose Incense — frankincense, myrrh, damask rose — and board my flight literally wearing Oman on my skin.
This feature was originally published in Issue 5 of Dream by Luxury Escapes. Images: Shutterstock, Unsplash, Belinda Jackson.
