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Swimmers in the turquoise pool of the Bimmah Sinkhole

⁨Oman⁩ guide

Oman

The forts of Nizwa and Bahla, walks in the Hajar wadis and a mountain night.

Why ⁨Oman⁩?

  1. Nizwa and Bahla forts

    The forts of Nizwa and Bahla in the old interior towns.

  2. Wadi walks

    Walks through Hajar rock, with water running in the wadi.

  3. A mountain night

    A night in the Hajar mountains on a week-long drive.

Before you go

  • Currency

    Omani Rial

  • Language

    Arabic

  • Time difference

    GMT+4

  • Getting around

    Car

  • Driving

    On the right

Popular destinations in ⁨Oman⁩

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Best time to visit ⁨Oman⁩

November to March

  • January

    Best time to go

  • February

    Best time to go

  • March

    Best time to go

  • April

    Good time to go

  • May

  • June

  • July

  • August

  • September

  • October

    Good time to go

  • November

    Best time to go

  • December

    Best time to go

Places in ⁨Oman⁩

Compare flight tickets to ⁨Oman⁩

Trip plans for ⁨Oman⁩

Local tips

  • Insider tips

    1. Pick two of coast, mountains and interior; all three in a week is a driving holiday, not a trip.

    2. Fly to Salalah rather than driving. It is a thousand kilometres and the road is a full day each way.

    3. Two forts are enough for most: the country has dozens that repeat, but not Nizwa and Bahla.

  • Money

    1. The Omani rial. Cards work in Muscat and hotels; cash is useful in the interior and at smaller forts.

  • Customs and safety

    1. Oman is more conservative about dress than Dubai; outside a hotel, cover shoulders, upper arms and knees.

    2. Long empty distances: water and a full tank before mountain roads; some wadi tracks need four-wheel drive.

  • Food and prayer

    1. Islam is the state religion and halal is the norm; hotels serving otherwise do so in a separate, labelled part.

    2. Mosques in every town and village; prayer rooms at the airport, malls and service stops on the long roads.

Getting around ⁨Oman⁩

  • Car

    There is no substitute. The roads are good and empty, the distances are long, and the wadis and mountain villages are reachable no other way.

    Recommended

  • Bus

    Coaches connect Muscat with the main towns and run the long road south to Salalah, which takes most of a day.

  • Taxi

    Covers Muscat itself, where the city is strung out along the coast and nothing is walkable between districts.

  • Domestic flights

    Flights reach Salalah in Dhofar; the rest of the country is driven.

eSIM plans in ⁨Oman⁩

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About ⁨Oman⁩

Oman is three places in one. There is the coast, with Muscat strung along it; there are the Hajar mountains immediately behind, cut by wadis with water in them; and there is the interior, with the old fort towns and the sand beyond. A week covers two of the three.

Oman built less than its neighbours and kept more. There is no skyline; the towns are low and the forts are the tallest things in them, and that is the country's whole character rather than an accident.

The far south is a thousand kilometres away and behaves like a different country. Salalah and the Dhofar coast have their own climate and their own season, and reaching them is a flight rather than a drive.

Photo credits

Photographs on this page, with their licences.