Qantab - Flagpole hike

Qantab is a beautiful fishing village nestled among the mountains - it is quite a dramatic sight and the village itself is well worth for a visit. There are multiple trails, longer and shorter, marked, unmarked (check google maps for inspiration) - this time we came to do the hike up to the flagpole.

It is not a beginner hike at least not the Qantab side of it - it is VERY steep, sometimes basically you climb on vertical walls and it is also quite exposed. There is no shade, so do it either in the morning or later in the afternoon - we started quite late in the morning and just exactly managed to stay in the shadow of the mountain. I honestly do not want to know how it is to climb here in full sunshine :). 

Once you reach the flag pole the 360 degree views are absolutely stunning to direction. You can spend some time on the top exploring different routes but eventually you have 3 options:

1. You climb back down to Qantab the same way you came. I would not recommend, personally would not like to climb that path downwards. 

2. You start to follow the well prepared, nice and wide path down to the other side and you hike to one of the secluded beaches. The paths to some of them are obvious or even marked. From the beach you can be picked up by boat but this you need to arrange upfront in Qantab, on the beach you can find boats and fishermen. Maybe not during Friday though.. Here is the number we had, Omar 9666 8339 - he was super helpful but only checked our message Friday afternoon understandably. If you are bit more well prepared than us and contact him advance I am sure it will work out.

3. Since we did not have a boat and did not want to go back the same way we came up we started to follow the nice path down to the other side. There are some great viewpoints, even benches. so clearly this path was developed. Up until they decided to put some more houses or hotel on the side of the hill and the path got abruptly cut off. We did not have an other choice so we scrambled down to the newly constructed terraces and hoped that the road for the machinery will lead us down. Well, that got cut off either, so we just scrambled down in a water flush. Eventually we made it down but we were like 45 min away from the car - we tried to call for taxi, but again it was Friday...With no taxi, so we started to walk following google maps until we reached a closed gate and a fence. At this point we had enough, so we elegantly jumped the gate and eventually made our way back to the car :). If you want to avoid all this, park a car somewhere closer to the exit point if you can come with 2 cars. 

Besides the hiccups at the end it was a fantastic trip, we enjoyed the challenge of the climb and the views. If we go again we will arrange a boat pick up though :). 

Bonus of the trip: since it was early February and after some rain the side of Qantab mountain turned into a beautiful wadi, it was mesmerizing!

Location for parking: 23.5590,58.6283
Flag Pole: 23.5547, 58.6322
Exit point through the construction site on the Muscat Bay side : 23.5528,58.6419

You park your car at the school and start walking towards the mountain, soon you will see the firs blue dot - keep following them, the path is clear. If the Muscat Bay side was not ruined that side would be a great family hike - shame. But it is ruined, so it is NOT a beginner hike. Our trip took close to 4 hours, reaching the pole was almost an hour. Bring water, wear hat and sunscreen, good shoes!

Parking next to the school - we are going up there!

Follow the blue dots!

The view were getting better and better!

Yep, it is not always easy..

This is where the path was cut off - those terraces are construction sites

Unfortunately slowly one by one all natural beaches disappear around Muscat and mega-developments are taking over :(

Qantab view - we were happy to see it :)

In 2023 March we had a trip here with the Badass Ladyhikers - this was the last weekly hike organized by me . We rented a boat to drop us at a secluded beach and we hiked from there and back - this rout is much less exposed and really easy. It was a really fun trip !