Tours and Tickets by VS Private Tours
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Review of: Mystical Muscat
This was an outstanding tour and a highlight of our trip to the Middle East. Valentina reached out to us over WhatsApp in advance of our trip to answer any questions. Our tour guide was wonderful. Zaher was very knowledgeable about Oman and was able to answer all of our questions. He even brought some cake that his wife made for us to snack on. We saw the Qaboos Mosque, the Royal Opera House, the Souq, Corniche, Fish Market, and Al-Alam Palace. Zaher even stopped a few times on the route to let me snap a few photos. The vehicle was comfortable, roomy, and well air-conditioned. Everything was right on time. I can't recommend this tour enough.…
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Date of experience: May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
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+1
If I could give Valentina a 100 star review, I would— that is how amazing my trip with her was. If you are planning a trip to Oman— Valentina is the best tour guide to show you this amazing country. Let me begin by explaining my situation. I am an exchange student from the US currently studying in the UAE at the American University of Sharjah. I wanted to come to Oman because I heard it was a very beautiful and safe country, but I have never traveled alone before, so I wanted to be extra careful. I searched for a tour guide and spoke to many people, mostly local Omani male tour guides, and they all seemed wonderful, but I was not completely satisfied. That is until I found the VS tours website. Valentina came highly recommended by a girl who’s YouTube video I watched about her solo trip to Oman. I sent a quick request for an itinerary on the website and I was amazed by Valentina’s quick response. She sent me a full itinerary with so many details and was quick to make any change I requested. She was so kind and helpful when I was emailing / messaging her, but I was amazed that she was even more kind in person! She picked me up after my 8 hour bus ride even though I had no cell service and was unable to communicate, and dropped me off to my hotel. She picked me up early the next morning and we headed to the dayqah dam and then went off road driving through wadi arbein. This was amazing! Valentina has a lot of experience with off road driving so I felt very safe and comfortable throughout this very cool experience driving through the mountain. We visited the bimmah sinkhole where I was able to go swimming and then hiked up the amazing wadi shab. Valentina then took me swimming through the wadi and into the hidden cave. She even gave me a waterproof phone holder so I could get some amazing photos in the water, and she didn’t complain at all when I asked her to take a million photos of me! We went down the mountain after swimming, took the boat, and headed back to my hotel. We were supposed to take the highway to get back to Muscat but Valentina so generously offered to drive through wadi arbein and back to dayqah dam so I could see how beautiful it was in the night. This is just a small example of how Valentina went out of her way to give me the best experience in Oman. The next day we started with the grand mosque, went to Muttrah for the fruit & vegetable market, muttrah fort, and the traditional souq. We also stopped at the al alam palace, forts, and drove around old Muscat. Here, Valentina gave me so much information about the history of Oman, I was very impressed by her wealth of knowledge! Then, even though it was not on the itinerary, Valentina took me on the most beautiful sunset boat tour on the Oman gulf. This was such an amazing part of my trip that I will never forget, and it really shows how Valentina went above and beyond my expectations because it wasn’t even originally in the plans but she still found a way to make it fit! Then, on my last day, we were able to fit everything that we didn’t do the prior day, plus all that was planned for that day! We went to nizwa and saw the amazing traditional oasis irrigation system in birkat al mowz, the nizwa fort, and the traditional nizwa souq where I was able to buy a lot of souvenirs for my family! Then we drove to the al hoota cave which was a wonderful experience. After the cave, we went on the amazing off road path through wadi bani awf. Valentina’s driving skills and wealth of knowledge was especially awesome here because this was a very steep and adventurous path, which I really enjoyed. She then took me through wadi mistal and then we went up to the top of wakkan village. Wakkan village was very high elevation but Valentina managed to drive all the way at the top which was an amazing view and would not have been possible if there had been anyone else driving. We then drove past a very awesome celebration by the Nakhal fort and went to the hot springs where we were able to soak our feet with all the little fish! It was a very cool experience that I have only seen in movies. Overall this trip was amazing and I owe it all to Valentina. I saw everything I wanted to see plus more because of how amazing and generous she is. Valentina is not only a tour guide, but also an author and artist. She gave me a gift of her book that she also illustrated for which I read and loved, and I was able to see some of her awesome sketches and paintings! Valentina also told me many both interesting and funny stories of her experience for the past many years in Oman and when she was in the UAE. If you have a chance to book a tour with her, please do it. You will have a wonderful experience with her because she is kind and funny and has a lot of experience to share. Thank you Valentina!…
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Date of experience: May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
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Review of: Mystical Muscat
She is a very kind and friendly person, like a friend I know for a long time. We enjoy together mystical streets and natural beauties of Oman together. She was always on time, well prepared and with a big smile (: Already missed her.
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Date of experience: February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
2 Helpful votes
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I contacted Valentina a few weeks in advance and asked her to set up a custom wadi trip (Wadi Shab + Wadi Tiwi) based on our likes and our time constraints. I chose a combination of Wadi hike and 4x4 exploration. The whole tour was perfect and she adapted along to our pace and stamina while making the trip as comfortable and educational as possible. She has a true passion for Oman and is great at communicating it. Strongly recommended.…
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Date of experience: December 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
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Review of: Wadi Shab Adventure
We had an amazing day with Valentina going to wadi Shab and then Sur. I highly recommend this tour and Valentina is a great tour guide who has a lot of knowledge of Oman and gave us many interesting facts, she’s keen to make sure we had a good time and we felt that she really cares about our experience in Oman. We had such a great day this wadi is beautiful and Valentina took us to the end where we swam through beautiful turquoise pools to reach a hidden cave with a waterfall, a magical place made all the more special in good company, thank you so much Valentina!!!…
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Date of experience: November 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
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