Muscat Festival 2016

The highly anticipated Muscat Festival is a month-long celebration of multiculturalism in all its forms. With sports tournaments, musical performances, sailing races and even parachute displays, the 2016 edition is set to be the biggest and best yet.

About the festival

Since 1998, the Muscat Festival has drawn tourists and locals of all ages and backgrounds to Oman's capital city. Scheduled to run from January 15 to February 14 2016, the festival's unique attractions include a large on-site heritage village, where visitors can learn more about Omani culture and traditions. In 2015, the event drew over 1,200 participants from 60 countries with its impressive roster of events, including trick-riding, fashion shows and theatrical performances. The goal is to make the event even bigger and more exciting for 2016, as evidenced by the jam-packed schedule viewable on the festival website.

Events and attractions

The sheer variety of attractions sets Muscat Festival apart. Local and foreign performers will captivate audience members of all ages with traditional folklore dances – even kids will be drawn away from the theme park rides by the gravity-defying antics of the Russian acrobats. Pick your favorite Omani college and cheer on their beach volleyball and beach football teams, or form your own team and join the open basketball tournament. Would-be Olympians can pit themselves again the best of the best in the triathlon, marathon or half-marathon, while petrolheads can check out the GCC Motorcycle Championship.

Naseem Park will play host to the Family Village, which incorporates a Children's Theater with a repertoire of comedy shows, talent contests, folk tales and clown acts. A mini planetarium will allow kids to explore advances in astronomy, while the nature pavilion will showcase both living and mummified birds and reptiles, as well as an environmental-awareness module.

At Amerat Park you'll find an arts and crafts exhibition and a snow village replete with mountains and ice sculptures. Pause outside for a photo with the strolling polar bear, penguin and sea lion mascots before settling in to enjoy a twice-daily show that uses pyrotechnics, water, fireworks and multimedia technology to dazzle and delight its audience.

A variety of venues will also host cultural lectures, reinforcing the intellectual side of the festivities. On January 19, the Theater of Higher College of Technology will host an evening of folk poetry, with other offerings including a forum on Arab sculptors, a lecture on disunity and Omani society, and a session on narrative feminist literature.

Location

Over the course of the festival, you can watch performances and events at venues throughout the city. The central Omani Heritage Village, a major festival venue, is located just a 30-minute car ride from our Radisson Blu Hotel, Muscat. Other main venues include A'Seeb Beach and Qurum National Park, the latter of which is the largest park in Muscat and boasts colorful gardens, an immense boating lake and plenty of green space.

Transportation

The Muscat International Airport is a hub for international travelers, serving flights from over 27 countries. As Oman lacks a rail network, the best way to travel between larger cities is the intercity bus system. In the city's metropolitan area, local public transportation choices include mini-buses and taxis, making it easy to nip quickly from one event to the next.