Oman Travel Guide:
Essential Tips for Planning Your Trip

Oman is a beautiful country offering an array of historical sites and natural landscapes. However, the country hasn’t been on the tourists’ radar until very recently. This was in a way caused by the less developed tourist infrastructure. So if you are the type of traveler who likes to have plans in place and don’t like to wing it, planning a trip to Oman can be quite a pain. I have traveled to a lot of countries and none, not even Iran and China, had such difficult logistics. The only type of information I found about the logistics of traveling in Oman is the list of places to see and the road trip ideas, which are of course amazing, but not helpful for the planner, like myself 😊

In this guide I will try to provide as much helpful first-hand information about traveling around Oman, as possible to help you deal with the logistics and plan a realistic itinerary.

Everyday Interactions and Safety in Oman

Safety standards in the country are very high. There are very strict laws in place. If you don’t head to completely remote areas alone and follow minimum safety standards, you shouldn’t encounter any problems. Also, unlike some Arab countries we have visited, you won’t be gawked at or catcalled.

We encountered a lot of kind people. Here are a few examples of it:

• One Omani guy – Saud – driving a 4×4 saw us on the road in Al Hamra waiting for a taxi or any other transportation. He stopped and asked how could he help. Even though he wasn’t going the way we wanted to, he just took us from Al Hamra to Misfat Al Abryen, which is about 20 minutes drive uphill. We were quite confused by this at first and based on our extensive travel experiences were waiting all along that he would ask money for this. However, it turned out that he did out of hospitality, just to show us around. I do hope we didn’t offend him by asking what we owed him.
• One Omani woman saw hubby twisting his ankle. She came over to us and brought a French spray, which she said helped her a lot last time she was in the similar situation. She sprayed it herself on his foot, didn’t even give it to me. This was quite a big deal for an Omani woman to approach a stranger, especially a man.
• In Sur we stopped on the street in the shade to catch our breath and find our way. One man came out of a shop nearby with 2 water bottles and gave them to us to help us in heat.

While there are so many kind people, we did notice some unfair treatment of migrants. As in other gulf countries, Oman has a lot of Asian migrants – from what we know about 20% of the whole population are Indian and Pakistani migrants, who as you would guess came here to survive and make ends meet with the least favourable jobs. Omani nationals have privilege over them in everything, including on the bus, where all foreign single men have to sit in the back, while Omanis can sit in front.

These social dynamics did not affect our trip in any way, however, I believe it might be useful information for some travelers.

How Long to Spend in Oman

Oman has a lot to offer from the mountains and canyons to desert and wadies (canyons created by rivers), beautiful beaches and forts (almost all cities have had a fort here. This was a result of tribal divisions historically).

As a result, perhaps a week would be the least I would like to spend there in order to cover the sights around Muscat, mountainous areas near Nizwa and the wadis and other sights along the coast.

That said, many people do a mini city break for a few days, visiting Muscat from Dubai or other nearby cities. This can be a great option, if you want to get a taste in a short time.

Best Time to Visit Oman

Oman has a hot climate around the year. To avoid extreme heat, the best period is winter, when temperatures are relatively milder.

We traveled at the beginning of November and it was still very hot – with temperatures in high 30s Celsius during the day and not much cooler nights.

Visa Requirements for Visiting Oman

Visa procedures in Oman have become more streamlined in recent years making the logistics easy for visitors from a number of countries. A visa free regime is in place for 103 countries. Check your country on the official visa exemption list.

Besides, the residents of GCC countries also get easier visa procedure online. Same applies to most people with valid Schengen visas and visas of the US, UK, Australia and Japan. If you fit in any of these categories, you can travel for up to 14 days. To meet the requirements of visa free travel, you will need to have a hotel booked and a return ticket. Besides, you must have a travel health insurance.

Check visa requirements for your country on the official website.

Transport in Oman

While the long distance flights are relatively more limited compared to cities like Dubai or Doha, Muscat has a number of connections from GCC countries. The Omanair is a quite organized airline in our experience.

If you want to travel on a budget, you can fly into Dubai and take a bus from there to Muscat. It takes about 5-6 hours, if there is no significant traffic or delays on the border.

However, if you, like us can’t driver, I wrote a detailed guide to public transport and where there are no alternatives to hiring cars or guided tours.

Accommodation Guide for Visiting Oman

Oman is certainly not a country for backpackers. Budget travel is quite difficult considering that the hostels and other budget accommodation are limited. However, the infrastructure is slowly developing with more and more options popping up.

Where to Stay in Muscat

The most convenient areas for tourists to stay in Muscat are around Mutrah and Qurum, however these are also some of the most expensive options.

If you would like to find more reasonably priced hotels, I suggest looking at Al Khuwair or Al Gubrah areas along the Sultan Qaboos highway.

Where we stayed in Muscat: We stayed at Wyndham Garden Muscat Al Khuwair on two different occasions. I highly recommend this hotel. Staff were very welcoming and helpful with whatever we needed. The rooms were spacious and clean. The location was pretty good, close to the main road, which allowed us to catch buses without issues. Prices are also mid-range and reasonable.

Where to Stay in Sur

Finding accommodation in Sur actually turned out to be quite challenging, as the city is usually not popular with tourists and options are very limited. The best neighbourhood to stay at is the Al Ayjah, near the major sightseeing spots and the waterfront. However, I was unable to find any hotels that met my needs in that area.

Where we stayed in Sur: We stayed at Best Western Sur, which is not centrally located and required us to get a taxi to the sightseeing areas. However, the hotel ticked all the other boxes I generally look in the hotels. Namely, the room was clean and spacious. Prices were reasonable considering the averages in Oman. As a bonus, the staff was also great. Considering all this, I do recommend this hotel, you will just have to grab a taxi.

Where to Stay in Nizwa

In Nizwa tourists opt for one of the two major locations to stay at:

• the historical center near the Nizwa fort and souq. If you choose this area, you will be closer to attractions and can easily walk among them. However, it will be difficult to find food places anywhere nearby. We stayed around here and had to go to the modern center, especially to the Grand mall every evening.
• the modern part of the city near the Grand mall would make evening outings convenient for you, but you would need to grab a taxi to reach the sightseeing spots.

Where we stayed in Nizwa: I can’t recommend the place we stayed at. It wasn’t sufficiently clean or comfortable. I should have paid more and stayed at my first choice – Intercity Hotel Nizwa.

Money Matters for Visiting Oman

Oman is by far not a budget destination. Here are a few tips on how to save money, while in Oman:

• Budget accommodation is still possible to find, albeit difficult. Consider hostels or inns.
• it’s even more difficult to save on transportation. If you drive, hiring a car can surprisingly be the most budget-friendly option. Otherwise, see my guide to public transportation for details on what locations are reachable by buses or shared taxis. Tours are by far the most expensive option, but if you don’t drive and would like to reach any remote areas, they are the only option.
• Restaurants are quite expensive. Even grabbing a coffee in a café can be a challenge for a budget traveller. You could look for cheaper donner places, but honestly those don’t taste good at all. My suggestion is to get food from supermarkets instead.
• Most sightseeing spots have reasonably priced entrance fees, so you shouldn’t have issues in that area. Some, like mosques, wadis, mountainous town visits are entirely free – if you don’t consider transportation issues.

Money exchange in Oman is quite straightforward. As everywhere in the world, refrain from exchanging too much at the airport, as the rates are terrible and with a commission on top of that.

ATMs are easy to find in Omani banks and they don’t have big fees, if your card is travel friendly. We opted for this option at the airport and Nizwa with no issues.

SIM Card and Connectivity in Oman

Internet connectivity in Oman is generally decent. We found a local sim card Ooredoo at the airport and bought 2 GB internet for one week at a very reasonable price.

What to Wear in Oman

There is no official restriction on clothes in Oman, however you won’t see anyone with shoulders or knees uncovered. In fact, locals wear traditional clothes most of the time: women are fully covered in black, while men wear white.

Considering the fact that the country is not very touristy, I do suggest to everyone to have your knees and shoulders covered to be more comfortable. I did wear long dresses and short or long sleeves, while hubby wore trousers and t-shirts. We refrained from wearing shorts or anything sleeveless.

In mosques, you would be required to be covered down to the ankles and up to wrists. They are particularly strict at Sultan Qaboos Mosque. I opted for wearing a long sleeve dress and even put trousers under, which was not greatly comfortable, but much better than renting their clothes on the spot (I have had that experience in Iran and those clothes are suffocatingly warm). Don’t forget to bring your scarf to the mosque, as you need to have your hair covered.

You will need to dress conservatively even on the beaches. Bikinis are frowned upon at most public beaches, therefore, prepare relevantly. This rule doesn’t apply, if you are at the private hotel beaches or pools.

Finally, while weather will be warm whichever time of the year you visit, I suggest carrying warmer jackets with you. Trust me this is essential, as any shopping malls or buses are terribly cold. I hated those blasting air conditioning, because even with my jacket on, I felt chilly all the time.

Essential Apps for Traveling to Oman

In addition to the usual travel related apps, here is the list of Oman-specific apps that can come handy. All of them have options for App store, as well as Play store.

Mwasalat: while the app is not great, it can still work to provide information about bus routes in Oman and inside Muscat. You can also buy tickets through the app, but I would go for the website instead.

Otaxi: this is the best app for ordering taxis without haggling.

NordVPN: given that some of the social media and chat pages, like TikTok, Line and Telegram are occasionally restricted in Oman (it’s not an official ban), you will need a VPN. NordVPN works really well. If you prefer a free but limited alternative, check out the TunnelBear app.

What to Book in Advance for your Visit to Oman

While Oman is not a very popular tourist destination and you won’t have to book attractions in advance, there are still a lot of preparations you need to make:

Accommodation: While it is possible to find hotels last minute, I still suggest to book at least a couple of months in advance. This is especially important if you are visiting during the busy times, such as December and January. Besides, if you are staying at any other location outside Muscat, the accommodation options are rather limited and your preferred hotel might be sold out.

Bus tickets: While it’s probably possible to get your bus tickets on the spot, it’s best to book them in advance on the Mwasalat website.

Tours: In some remote locations, which are inaccessible by public transport, tours can be the only viable option for non-drivers. Given that there are fewer tourists in Oman, group tours sometimes get cancelled due to limited number of people, who sign up. Therefore, better to book the tours and rearrange if something goes wrong, rather than try to find an available option last minute. GetYourGuide and Viator are great resources to choose the tours you prefer.

In Oman, you won’t have to book any attraction tickets in advance. You can very easily buy them on the spot without any queues and any delays. That’s one of the perks of visiting less touristy destinations.

Food and Café Culture

In Omani cities, people’s daily hangout spaces are the malls. It may sound surprising to many, but you may have seen similar in UAE. Most restaurants and cafes are located in malls, people meet here, walk around and socialize here. On the first day when we arrived and decided to walk around the central areas of Muscat in the evening, we felt that the city was empty. We met very few people on the streets, including on the corniche, which left us very surprised. After this we headed to a shopping mall for food (as we didn’t find any food places elsewhere), which was full of people. After this we observed people socializing and spending time inside the malls.

I usually look for restaurants before travelling and note most popular cheap spots that are considered tasty by locals. Oman was challenging in this sense as well – it was practically impossible to get any good suggestions, except a couple in areas, where we would not end up, unless we went specifically. So we had to wing it and find whatever was around. We tried the chain donner places, small cafes, places inside shopping malls (btw most places inside shopping malls are British, Canadian, etc, hardly ever local). None of them were good though, so I have little to recommend. Afterwards we just switched to supermarket food, which was cheaper and less of a hassle.

That said I do have a few suggestions for coffee places, if you need them:

Muscat coffee shops:

• Aroma Mocha Oman Avenues Mall
• Especiale Cafe – near Sultan Qaboos Mosque
• ERA Cafe – near Al Alam Palace
• Mani’s Cafe in Qurum

Nizwa coffee shops:

• Athar Cafe – with excellent views over the Nizwa fort
• Divano Café – inside the Nizwa Grand Mall

Best One-week Itinerary Tips for Oman

Here is my itinerary for first-time travellers to Oman. I tried to include options for people, who rely on public transport and taxis, as well as for those who are driving.

Some of the remote locations are accessible by public transport or without a 4×4 vehicle, therefore, for many travellers tours would be the only way to visit them.

Day 1 – Muscat – forts, souq, palace;

Day 2 – Sur and surrounding areas

If you are taking public transport, you will have to skip the sites on the way to Sur and take a bus from Muscat to Sur

If you are driving from Muscat, see Bimmah sinkhole and Wadi Shab.

Day 3 – Wadi Shab

You can head to Wadi Shab either by bus #36 from Sur or by shared taxis, but this is complicated.

If you drove here from Muscat, then on this day see Sur itself and head to nearby beaches, like Al Hadd.

Day 4 – Head to Nizwa

If you are driving, you can see the Wahiba sands and Ibra on the way. You can even spend a night in the desert, if you like camping. However, in case you don’t have your own tent, the accommodation here is terribly expensive.

Day 5 – Nizwa fort, Bahla fort and Jabreen castle

Day 6 – Al Hamra, Misfat Al Abryen, Jebel Shams.

This day can be difficult by taxis, you might have to skip Jebel Shams if you don’t drive.

If you are driving, you can do all 3 in one day. In case you would like to hike in Jebel Shams, include more days here.

Day 7 – Birkat al Mouz, Jebel Akhdar.

If you don’t drive a 4×4 or take a tour, Jebel Akhdar will not be accessible by taxis.

There are a number of other hiking locations nearby, so if you would like to do this, include more days.

Day 8 – return to Muscat. You can also plan a boat trip to Daymaniat islands.

If you have more days and hire a car or join the tours, there are also other interesting places that are more remote and difficult to get to:

• There are also night tours to see the turtles, which come out of the sea near Al Hadd to lay eggs. For this it’s best to stay at the Ras Al Jinz Reserve
• Villages Wakan and Bald Sayt.
• Wahiba Sands – if you would like to explore sand dunes and stay at the camps.
• Salalah – located in the south of Oman, this area’s natural sights are very popular.
• Khasab Musandam, which can be reached by boats.

Other Tips for Traveling to Oman

• Omani cities are not easily walkable with only a few exceptions, like corniches or the old town areas. Everything is designed for cars to drive easily. Crossing larger roads can be very difficult. Sidewalks are often non-existent. Considering all this, be careful when walking and consider taking taxis in some locations, even if distances are short.
• People are very conservative. Given that exposure to tourists is still limited, this is even more pronounced. Therefore, act and dress accordingly.
• Alcohol consumption is highly regulated. You can find it in some hotels and bars, however, drinking on the street is strictly prohibited and can result in huge fines. Importing alcohol is also restricted.
• If you are visiting during Ramadan, you won’t be allowed to eat or drink anything, smoke, play music or dance in public during the daylight hours. In fact, I would suggest avoiding traveling during this period, as restaurants and cafes will close during the day, sightseeing spots will have more restricted hours and in general it will be more difficult to get around.
• E-cigarettes are illegal in Oman. I am not sure how strictly they enforce this rule, but better safe than sorry.
• Swearing loudly, rude gestures or spreading rumours all are prohibited by law.
• Pharmacies are modern and have great stuff. We had to use them when hubby twisted his ankle. So don’t forget travel insurance.

See Also

Public Transport in Oman: A Practical Guide

A practical guide to public transport in Oman, including buses, shared taxis, routes you can cover, aand when tours or car rental are unavoidable.

Hello I am Ket,

A traveler, planner, and sweet tooth behind Hit the Road Ket.

Travel isn’t just my passion – it’s a lifeline for my mental health. Having lived in three cities and explored 60 countries (and counting!), I created this blog to share my experiences, smart tips, and itinerary advice with fellow travel lovers.

I’m all about making the most of limited time, finding scenic routes, and turning every trip into something memorable – coffee in hand, of course.