Tiny houses & cabins in Jebel Akhdar

Jebel Akhdar - the Green Mountain - is where Omanis go to escape their own summer: terraced villages step down a plateau at 2,000 metres in the Hajar range, cool enough that farmers here grow roses, pomegranates and walnuts instead of dates. Every tiny-house option on the mountain is a stone chalet, several built into the terrace walls themselves with heated pools, saunas and jacuzzis looking straight out over the drop.

This is the priciest cluster in the region, averaging 284 euros a night, and the chalets deliver on it - proper suites rather than simple cabins, several clearly built for a couples getaway rather than a family trip. The Sayq Plateau and the terraces at Al Ayn are the reason to leave your balcony: March brings the rose harvest, when growers in Al Ayn distill rosewater the traditional way, and the cool air holds from March through October while Muscat below swelters. A 4x4 is not optional - the final climb up the mountain requires one, even though Muscat itself is only 1.5 hours away.