Oman
Forts, mountain villages and wadis with turquoise pools, under three hours from Mumbai.
- Best time to visit
- Oct–Mar
- Getting around
- Car with driver or a 4x4
- Currency
- Omani Rial (OMR)
- Ideal length
- 6–8 days
Oman is the Gulf at its most unhurried
Oman is often treated as a stopover, but it deserves its own trip. Muscat is low-rise and calm, with the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the Mutrah souk and a corniche of whitewashed houses. Inland, the Hajar mountains hide mud-brick villages, terraced gardens and wadis with pools you can swim in, and the Wahiba Sands give you a night in the dunes under the stars.
October to March is the season: warm days and cool desert nights. A week covers Muscat, Nizwa, the mountains, the desert and the coast at Sur. Salalah in the south runs the other way, with its monsoon turning the hills green from June to September. Safe, easy for families and very close to home.
The country, region by region
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The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the Royal Opera House, Mutrah's souk and corniche, and boat trips to watch dolphins and snorkel off the Daymaniyat Islands.
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Nizwa's round-towered fort and Friday livestock market, the mud-brick villages of Al Hamra and Misfat, and the terraced 'green mountain' of Jebel Akhdar, cool even in summer, with roses in spring.
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Red-gold dunes for a 4x4 drive, a camel ride and a night at a desert camp, with the pools of Wadi Bani Khalid on the way.
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Wadi Shab's turquoise pools and hidden cave, the Bimmah Sinkhole, Sur's dhow-building yards and green turtles nesting at Ras al Jinz.
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Oman's exclave on the Strait of Hormuz: dhow cruises through the 'fjords of Arabia', dolphins and snorkelling. Reached by road from Dubai or a short flight from Muscat.
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The far south: frankincense trees, long empty beaches and, in the khareef monsoon from June to September, misty green hills and waterfalls.
Things worth actually doing
Tap the ones you would like on your trip.
Good to know before you go
Visa: apply online
Most Indian travellers get a tourist e-visa from the official Royal Oman Police site, evisa.rop.gov.om, before flying. Some visa and residence holders get easier rules; we check and handle it.
Go between October and March
Summer passes 40°C in Muscat and the interior. Salalah is the exception: green and cool in the June to September monsoon.
Dress modestly
Cover shoulders and knees in towns and villages; at the Grand Mosque women need a headscarf. Swimwear is fine at hotel pools and beaches.
Fridays and Ramadan
Friday is the weekly holiday, and during Ramadan eating in public by day is not allowed. We plan around both.
Read before you go
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