The forts of Oman are undoubtedly one of that country’s “glories”.

At Muscat airport, or at one of the forts themselves, you should try to get hold of a little brochure (“Visit Oman’s Forts and Castles”) produced by the Directorate General of Tourism which lists 22 different forts. (Alternatively have a look at http://www.mnhc.gov.om/fortcastles.html)

There are few hill tops which are not surmounted by a watch tower and few towns which don’t possess a castle or fort in some state of disrepair or renovation! In fact it sometimes seems that Omanis are obsessed by battlements and crenulations as they are used at every opportunity for town entrances and newer buildings and even to decorate the top of the plastic water tanks which sit on the roofs of Omani houses!

Oman therefore had many castles and forts to choose from for its WHS recommendations, but only 1, Bahla, has made it to the full list. Another 2, Rostaq and al-Hazm, are on the tentative list. So why has Bahla been chosen? The above web site isn’t very informative merely stating “Due to the importance of the fort UNESCO listed it in 1988 AD”

The fort is certainly very large – the largest we saw. It is also “conveniently placed” for tourism standing a few miles outside Nizwa, one of Oman’s most attractive cities. - which itself has a fine fort and, one suspects, that its potential in Omani tourism played a large part in its selection.

A difficulty with Bahla is that it appears to be undergoing almost complete reconstruction, and has been doing so for many years. My Lonely Planet of 1993 mentions it and when we visited it in Feb 2005 it is still closed for reconstruction. As the photo shows, parts of it are hidden by enormous scaffolding.

So my recommendation is, by all means pass it and walk round it but plan to visit some other forts both to see them without the scaffolding and to get inside – if they are open that is! It became a bit of a joke that whatever time you arrive to look round an Omani fort it will be closed!

It is perhaps only necessary to visit inside 1 fort since they all seem to have similar sets of rooms (to the non-specialist that is). Nizwa and nearby Jabrin are convenient if you are in the mountains and Nakhal and Rustaq if you are staying in Muscat. There is a standard entrance price of 500 baisa (.5 Rial) For the rest just take in the outside wherever you see one!