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Bahla Fort

Bahla Fort

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  • r_pasc
    Berlin, Germany25 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Magnificent Castle/Fort, definitely worth a visit! Enjoy the discovery though the many ways…
    Very well maintained (restored) castle/ Fort. You can discover many rooms, there are lots of stairs and hidden paths. Like a small labyrinth on various level…and you always have spectacular views. Worth a visit for sure.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 3, 2023
  • Beer Traveller
    Novo Mesto, Slovenia496 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great fort experience
    A splendid Omani fort. Plenty of parking in front. Entry fee is 4 OMR and totally worth it. Very clean place, big enough not to feel crowded, but still small enough to easily discover its walls and rooms. Also pretty calm and quiet. Definitely worth to visit it.
    Visited November 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written November 7, 2023
  • Jeff K
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania2,364 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Decent Fort
    This fort is very old and has been restored very well. I found it somewhat dull, though, as I had visited Fort Nizwa the day before. I was more impressed by Fort Nizwa, largely due to its informative exhibits.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written January 14, 2024
  • MarcusHurley
    Calne, United Kingdom10,818 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Restored mud brick castle
    Our visit was part of a tour, Private Full Day Nizwa Fort Nizwa Souq Bahla Fort Jabreen Castle. Bahla's Castle is just across the road from the mosque so being both Friday and the start of Ramadam. the area was busy! The castle was huge and older than Nizwa with a solid stone base level and various towers properly organised for defence. The fort was built of mud brick to guard frankinsense trade routes, probably in the 12th century and is the largest in Oman. Construction was certainly cruder than Nizwa, or at least the finish of the buildings, with no smoothed walls or decoration. The heat was pretty oppresive by now so Deb went to sit in the shade whilst I clambered up stairs, along walls and in and out of rooms, vaugely following the perimiter of the wall. There were a few other tourists around but most seemed to be following Deb's example so I had the place almost to myself as Juma had gone to perform his prayers in the Friday Mosque. The rooms outside the kasbah, fortified citadel, were all bare of both decoration and furnishing but the walls were thick enough to allow niches to be built in to them. I couldn't go to the top of the tower as that was ladder access only and blocked off but there were nice views over the oasis from the walls and several other mudbrick buildings in various states of decay. The town is apparently surrounded by the original city wall, or as original as it can get being patched up after each rainy season. The kasbah had massively high rooms on the ground floor and some beautiful wooden doors as well as Islamic inscriptions in the entrance hall. I spent some more time exploring here before returning to Deb for us both to walk around the handicraft section next to the (closed) cafe where she was sat. This was very pretty with some lovely modern design touches to show off the pottery workshop's output. We didn't spend as long here as at Nizwa as there was no exhibition and most of the rooms were empty. The place was far more of a military building than one with any unneccessary decoration or luxury.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written March 18, 2024
  • scotdoc2015
    Birmingham, United Kingdom236 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Old history of significance
    Quite far from Muscat ~ 120Km but well worth it if you like to see UNESCO sites and historic places. Not well looked after. Fee on entry. Self tour required. Careful of steps. Sit down inside in café and take it all in.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled solo
    Written March 20, 2024
  • WMBandit
    Shanghai, China2,055 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Fort!
    Great fort UNESCO and I prefer this over Nizwa because there are fewer people. It is not as commerical as Nizwa and you are left on your own to do your own exploring which I love. Toilet on site- clean and all good. Entry 4 Omani Riyal Opening hours Sat to Fri 9-5pm You can scan code to get information. Really enjoy the day and you can easily get shared taxi back to Nizwa or Muscat. The care and workshop was closed but there are cafe outside in the souq.
    Visited April 2024
    Traveled solo
    Written April 27, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles563 reviews
Excellent
186
Very good
261
Average
95
Poor
17
Terrible
5

These reviews have been automatically translated from their original language.
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SeshKomanduri
Bengaluru, India285 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Solo
This is another interesting fort in Bahla (Nizwa area). Like the Nizwa fort, it is not a very large fort but has an interesting labyrinth of passages and rooms.
Entry fee for foreigners is currently 3 OMR. I went there early in the day (9AM) and had the entire fort for myself!
For a person who has seen very large forts in India, the size itself is not impressive. But it has its share of historical significance. The fort is believed to have been built between the 12th and 15th century by the Banu Nebhan tribe who inhabited the area at the time and were known for controlling the trade of frankincense at the time.
With restoration efforts, a good part of the fort is now well preserved

It is now one of the 5 UNSECO World Heritage Sites in Oman

The Fort timings are from 9AM to 7PM. Reason I say this here and have also included in the title of the review is because the information you find on the internet says 9AM to 4PM. I went with that and got my itinerary messed up a bit. It was only after getting there at 9AM in the morning that I saw that the board with the timings had a small paper stuck on it saying 7PM.
Written August 18, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

TravelBoss
2,424 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2024 • Couples
This fort/castle is located a short distance from Jibreen fort/castle and also close to Nizwa fort/castle.
Most tourists will visit one or more of these forts, often on the same day.

This well-restored fort is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We therefore had high expectations.

From the outside it looks very impressive. To be honest, we were quite disappointed with the inside. Little to no information boards, no audio tour and little to no design of the rooms. Apart from a few signs, the fort is rather bare.

In Nizwa, besides the impressive fort itself, there was also information, a small museum/exhibition room/exhibition and some crafts to see. The Jibreen fort is well oriented and has an (albeit difficult to understand) audio tour.
This fort is mainly empty on the inside.
As far as we are concerned, the least of all three.
If you are short on time, I would skip this one.
In about an hour you will have seen it as far as we are concerned.
Google
Written May 8, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MarcusHurley
Calne, UK10,818 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Couples
Our visit was part of a tour, Private Full Day Nizwa Fort Nizwa Souq Bahla Fort Jabreen Castle. Bahla's Castle is just across the road from the mosque so being both Friday and the start of Ramadam. the area was busy! The castle was huge and older than Nizwa with a solid stone base level and various towers properly organised for defence. The fort was built of mud brick to guard frankinsense trade routes, probably in the 12th century and is the largest in Oman. Construction was certainly cruder than Nizwa, or at least the finish of the buildings, with no smoothed walls or decoration.

The heat was pretty oppresive by now so Deb went to sit in the shade whilst I clambered up stairs, along walls and in and out of rooms, vaugely following the perimiter of the wall. There were a few other tourists around but most seemed to be following Deb's example so I had the place almost to myself as Juma had gone to perform his prayers in the Friday Mosque. The rooms outside the kasbah, fortified citadel, were all bare of both decoration and furnishing but the walls were thick enough to allow niches to be built in to them. I couldn't go to the top of the tower as that was ladder access only and blocked off but there were nice views over the oasis from the walls and several other mudbrick buildings in various states of decay. The town is apparently surrounded by the original city wall, or as original as it can get being patched up after each rainy season.

The kasbah had massively high rooms on the ground floor and some beautiful wooden doors as well as Islamic inscriptions in the entrance hall. I spent some more time exploring here before returning to Deb for us both to walk around the handicraft section next to the (closed) cafe where she was sat. This was very pretty with some lovely modern design touches to show off the pottery workshop's output. We didn't spend as long here as at Nizwa as there was no exhibition and most of the rooms were empty. The place was far more of a military building than one with any unneccessary decoration or luxury.
Written March 18, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Iolanda Guerra e Andrade
Lisbon, Portugal3,736 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022 • Friends
This UNESCO fort is one of the historic fortresses in the area. It is said to have been built between the 12th and 15th century and inhabited by the Banu Nebhan tribe, who at one time controlled the trade of frankincense. We were unfortunately unable to visit it. It was nevertheless interesting to get an idea of what it looked out from the outside.
Written November 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

RLR53
Pisa, Italy5,853 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Friends
Before entering, we walked around to find the place from which to take the best photograph and it is definitely impressive. Built on the hard steep rock, some embankments allowed the floors to be leveled. Inside there is no furniture but sellers of rather expensive handicraft products. While local music plays at a decidedly high volume in the bar we walk through the various rooms. It is not possible to visit all the towers because some have access stairs without handrails and we don't want to risk breaking our necks. Clean bathrooms
Google
Written November 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

WMBandit
Shanghai, China2,055 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2024 • Solo
Great fort UNESCO and I prefer this over Nizwa because there are fewer people. It is not as commerical as Nizwa and you are left on your own to do your own exploring which I love.
Toilet on site- clean and all good.
Entry 4 Omani Riyal
Opening hours Sat to Fri 9-5pm
You can scan code to get information.
Really enjoy the day and you can easily get shared taxi back to Nizwa or Muscat. The care and workshop was closed but there are cafe outside in the souq.
Written April 27, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Molnár István
Kecskemet, Hungary31 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019 • Family
We got there afternoon but was lucky as could go inside. This is a large Fort so need at least an hour or 2 to get around it. We find this Fort to be the best in Oman. The only thing we missed are the interior furnishing and some signs with information about the Fort.
Written January 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

TravellerWalesUK
UK70 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022
Bahla Fort is, as we were told, the only fort in Oman on the UNESCO World Heritage Listt. On arrival the staff at the entrance collected or fee and gave us a map of the fort. We were impressed by its size from the outside; but the fort was even more impressive on the inside. The fort had so many stairs which did limit how much we could see (we are in our late sixties and, for us, it was a hot day). The views from the fort were good – you get great views across the town. Well worth a visit.
Written March 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jonahNJ
Pennington, NJ11,757 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022
Among our stops in Oman, my wife and I visited the approximately 500 year old Bahla Fort. This Fort is massive and has all manner of rooms, impressive rampart and a majestic tower. However, as of March 2022, it was not set up to fully welcome visitors. There were no exhibits or brochures to assist visitors. I learned that the Fort has undergone a renovation. Hopefully exhibits can be added which will not damage the integrity of the Fort.

Across from the Fort is an ancient mosque which is unique in its simplicity and 3 doors. This is not a mosque that is currently used for regular prayers and there are no domes.

The Bahla Souq is a short walk away and has a variety of vendors of the typical items found in souqs throughout Oman.

There were very few visitors when we visited the site. This is a good site to see the architectural history of Oman as compared to the modern structures that are more popular with visitors to Oman.
Written August 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

luca q
Milan, Italy702 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2024 • Friends
Among the many forts in Oman this is certainly the largest and most majestic of all.
It's nice to visit inside (even if it's really big), but there are no guides or audio guides to get some interesting information.
All of the many rooms are empty so it gets quite boring and repetitive after a while.
The view from the top is beautiful.
Google
Written April 14, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Bahla Fort, Nizwa

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