(See photos below)
I don’t know about you, but the colour turquoise reminds me of the Maldives, or Bora Bora, or just, any island for that matter. The problem with Islands (yes, I’m complaining about Islands), is that they all look the same. Beaches, palm trees, ocean and that’s it. What’s funny is, you’ll probably see a blog entry on here soon about how in awe I am of a particular Island i’ll end up visiting.
What’s remarkable about Ain Sahban though is that it’s not an island, or an ocean, or on a beach. It’s a turquoise natural hot spring located in the mountains. Located west of Sohar, the hot springs us a sulfur hot spring. Yes, you can smell the sulphur which, I ended up getting used to when I went to Iceland many many years ago, and lets face it, sulphur basically smells like boiled eggs so, is it really that bad?
The hot springs isn’t straight forward to find, but google maps does a fantastic job of taking you there, sort of. Like with many hidden gems in Oman, google maps will take you 95% of the way there. The remaining 5% of the trip will rely on asking strangers or having someone with you who’s been there before. Generally speaking, these sorts of places always have some sort of life occupying them. There’s always a little village or a couple of houses situated near them, so don’t be afraid to put your window down and ask for directions.
Once you drive through the rugged terrain, you will approach a little…village? I’d call it more of a mini complex of small houses. Park your car and walk down the falaj until you approach a wadi. You’ll start noticing the water being coated in a white powdery substance. Follow the water until you approach what looks like the Middle Eastern version of the Icelandic blue lagoon.
I didn’t swim in the hot springs cause, well, the weather was hot enough, so I was looking for cold water to cool off, but I remember how surprised I was at seeing how blue the hot spring was. Amazement took over me for a good 10 minutes.
I recommend watching some YouTube videos on driving to Ain Sahban just to familiarise yourself with the surroundings so that when you end up driving there, you can sort of reference the videos you watched in order to keep yourself on track.
I recommend going here during the afternoon, maybe at around 2pm so that you aren’t being burned by the midday sun. It also means you don’t need to drive back in the dark either. Weekdays Is generally a good time to go if you don’t want too many people there. I went during the weekday and there wasn’t a soul in sight.
