Postcard from the Edge

A beautiful cliff-top hotel in Oman was the perfect location for an Esquire fashion shoot

Lured by the promise of winter sun and extraordinary landscapes, Esquire’s fashion team travelled to the Sultanate of Oman with photographer Tom Craig last December, to photograph 22 pages of key looks from the spring/summer menswear collections for our previous issue’s Style & Fashion special.

This choice of location, on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsular, turned out to be a spectacular one. Our hotel, the Jabal Akhdar — it means “Green Mountain” in Arabic — turned out to be beautiful and remote, almost 2,000m above sea level in the Al Hajar mountains. Perched on a cliff edge, it overlooks a spectacular gorge, as breath-taking and photogenic as views can get, and one which is accessible from over half of the resort’s spacious suites.

It is this rugged mountain range that guests are encouraged to explore. The Via Ferrata (“Iron Way”) climbing route is for adrenaline junkies who like heights. But there are also hikes down to the wadi with qualified local guides to discover hidden villages or more spectacular scenery. For the slothful, the hotel’s two pools and spa — with seven treatment rooms, a steam room and a jacuzzi — offer more restful relaxation alternatives.

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Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort, Al Roose, Sultanate of Oman. Rooms from £640 per night for a mountain-view suite; alilahotels.com/jabalakhdar

Clockwise from top left: the resort’s outdoor infinity pool; the outlook over the Al Hajar mountains from one of the guest suites; photographer Tom Craig and model Jordan Barrett at work on the Esquire fashion shoot in Oman