The green Jebel Akhdar mountains and Lady Diana's roses

Ascending the Saiq Plateau, situated more than 2030 metres above sea level, is a geological and geographical experience full of pioneering afflatuses, because the entire Jebel Akhdar range, the Green Mountain, is a web of canyons from whose peaks, when the rain falls, roaring waterfalls cascade down and iridescent rainbows settle. On the terraces, damask roses are cultivated and apricots and pomegranates ripen. Lady Diana loved to carve out two weeks a year with her children to enjoy these spectacular rugged views and the scents of the plantations: a scenic viewpoint bears the name of the unfortunate princess, while the rarefied atmosphere of an authentic mountain village can be felt at Seeq, and an exciting Village Trail unfolds from there. If the village of Al Aqor rises right on the edge of a precipice, the Alila Jabal Akhdar Oman hotel stands as if poised on the edge of a ravine. Its cottages are erected with local stone and wood, hydroponic greenhouses and vegetable gardens provide fresh fruit daily, and 600 roses are grown in the garden. Guests can wander along the butterfly trail, venture along the Via Ferrata suspended between the gorges, admire the fossil collection in the small museum, book a table for a chilling dinner a few centimetres above the void to enjoy a plate of shuwa, the lamb wrapped in banana leaves slowly cooked in underground ovens at an altitude of 1970 metres.