Oman

While Dubai raced to build the tallest towers, Oman chose another path — preserving tradition, refusing spectacle, winning on authenticity. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the modern Arab world, its main prayer hall carpeted by a single hand-woven piece that took 600 weavers four years to complete.

The geography is extraordinary and underexplored. The fjords of Musandam — the "Norway of Arabia" — cut into the Strait of Hormuz. The Wahiba Sands offer classic desert dune camping. Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain, rises to 3,000 metres with rose terraces and a clifftop Alila resort that is one of the finest hotels in the Middle East.

Oman is the rare Gulf destination where you can still encounter the Arabia of the imagination — frankincense souks in Salalah, wadis with turquoise pools, sea turtles nesting at Ras al Jinz — without crowds, and with genuinely warm hospitality.