Who/ how?

We used www.rentalcars.com (no affiliate). We like this site as its good for finding deals and easy to book and pay online. You can see the pick-up point and the whole process is very easy.

You will need to check that your license is valid to drive in this country. Often you are required to have an international driving permit. You will need on arrival at the car hire place:

• Driving license
• Passport
• International driving license (usually)
• Credit card (They usually pre-authorize a deposit in case of accidents etc.)

Just remember to check all the details of the agreement. Some hires come with limited mileage and high damage excess or theft excess.

Also, many hire cars standard insurance does not cover the roof, underside, windows and tyres of the car but extra insurance can be added for this. A second driver often costs more.

If you hire a 4×4 check that they allow you to take it off the road if that is your intention.

2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive

4WD isn’t necessary as most of the places are accessible by 2WD with the exception of Jebel Shams and going far into the desert. Separate tours can be organised for this. The price of hiring a 4×4 is at least twice the price or more.

At the time it was £400 for 4wd for 7 days whereas the price of a regular 2WD was £130 for 1 week. The good news to counter the price is fuel costs are pretty low and petrol pumps are attended so you don’t even need to get out of the car to fill up.

Our Advice

If you can afford to hire a 4×4 then we would say go for it. The freedom and ability to go off-road and explore other lesser known areas would be wonderful. However, if you want to keep costs down, we recommend the 2wd. We had no problems visiting the majority of places.

ROAD RULES

WHERE TO STAY

Hotels are pricey, Therefore the best way to make it more affordable is to buy a tent and some camping equipment and make the most of the outdoor experience. Camping equipment can also be hired in Muscat.

Legal?

Wild camping is legal anywhere in the country (apart from private or military land) so you can literally pitch your tent anywhere. (white sandy beaches were our favourite). All of the camping spots we stayed at in this guide are listed more specifically at 6 best camping spots in Oman.

Couchsurfing

Another option to save on accommodation costs is to use www.couchsurfing.com. Oman has some of the friendliest people we have ever met and a good Couchsurfing community, so if you’ve never tried it then this could be the best experience you’ll ever have.

We actually couch surfed for 3 nights in Muscat and had the most amazing host and an unforgettable experience!

How long is needed to visit Oman

We would suggest at least 10 days to see the highlights. Although it would be possible to squeeze a lot of it into 7 days at a push.

We spent 10 days in total in Oman. 7 on the road and 3 in Muscat. We would love to of had longer to explore  and next time we will explore more of the country. (We will be back for sure!)

Our Oman Road Trip

Below is a guide on how to spend 1-week wild camping through Oman in a normal 2WD car followed by a few days in Muscat. The route starts and ends in Muscat, travelling down the coast, then in towards the desert and back up past Nizwa. For all of the best places to visit in Oman check out our blog on best spots in Oman with 2wd

DAY ONE

Muscat airport  – Bandar Al Khairan viewpoint – Wadi Dam camping spot

Drive time: 2:20

Drive distance: 167km

After picking up the rental car head to the supermarket to pick up some camping equipment and groceries. There are 2 supermarkets near to each other, Lulu’s and Carrefour however We popped into both of them and got all of our groceries and camping equipment we needed for the trip.

First stop

The first place to stop along the coast is the Bandar Al Khairan viewpoint, which is about 50 mins (50km) drive from Muscat.

You can park the car at the cliff top and take in the beautiful view of the enclosed beach below. This spot was very quiet with almost nobody around when we visited. If you are short on time, then this place would also be a nice place to camp for the first night.

You can leave the car parked at the top and walk down to the beach below, a lovely quiet spot with a beautiful view.

Next

Drive on to Wadi Dayqak Dam which takes an hour and 15 mins (113km) from the viewpoint.

Option 1: If you have time you can make a visit to the dam on your first day and either camp near the dam or find a camp near to the bimmah sinkhole therefore you can visit early and get this place to yourself. 

Option 2: We didn’t have time to visit the day in day 1 as it was getting dark therefore you can go to the camping spot(23.13243, 58.90206)and save the dam for the morning.

DAY TWO

Wadi Dayqak Dam– Bimmah Sinkhole – Wadi Shab – White beach camping spot

Drive time: 2:30

Drive Distance: 104km

Head to the dam in the morning whilst it’s still quiet, we had the place to ourselves whilst we were there and it was truly beautiful and serene(opens 8am-10pm/ cost: free). Alternatively, if you went to the dam day before then head for the sinkhole(8am-8pm/cost: free).

All of the sites we visited in Oman have good clean toilet blocks which are perfect to freshen up after a night of camping with no shower in sight. Failing that there’s lots of wadi’s to bath in.

Next

After the dam head on to the Bimmah Sinkhole. The natural beauty of the sinkhole really is breathtaking, we’ve never seen anything quite like it!

Follow the steps down to the turquoise paradise and jump in for a cool swim to escape the hot sweaty sun. Be prepared for some little fish nibbling at your dead skin in the shallow parts of the waters(fish spa, anyone?).

If you swim to the back of the sinkhole there is a rope to help climb up onto the ledge for some cliff diving(highly recommend its great fun).

After swimming in this blue lagoon get back on the motorway and head for wadi shab(7am-5.40pm/cost: just that for the boat).

You will arrive at a parking lot and some toilets which look nothing like a wadi and the pictures you have seen but don’t worry.

You will see some small boats so head for them and you will need to Pay 1 OMR each for the return trip across the river which is where you being the walk to the wadi.

Walk

The walk takes about 30 minutes. It’s a really beautiful walk among palm trees and cliffs and across small rocks. It then opens up to the beautiful rock pools where you can walk up along the cliffs for a nice view overlooking the Wadi pools.

“The secret waterfall” 

We recommended the swim/walk right to the end of the pools in search of a small hidden waterfall. To  reach it you will have to swim to the cave which has a narrow entrance. The only way through is to go in sideways and grab hold of the cave edge to pull yourself along. You will end up in open water where you’ll find the secret waterfall. There’s some rope you can pull yourself up and slide down which is great fun.

Take the boat back across to the car park and head to White Sands Beach to camp for the night(22.89329, 59.22217).

DAY THREE

Wadi Tiwi – Sur – Ras al Haad – Ras Al Jinz – Al Shiya beach camp spot

Drive time: 2:15

Drive distance: 157km

When you arrive at Wadi Tiwi(open 24 hours/ cost: free) you will again see a parking lot and toilets. The walk to the rock pools is up some steep and winding roads for about 5km through the villages. This is where a 4WD would benefit you because trust us we didn’t make it to the top in our regular rental car.

The car might be able to make it half of the way and you can then park it on the side of the road and walk the rest.

It is possible to walk

Another option is to leave it at the car park and try to hitch a lift up. Lots of locals go this way as there are villages and houses along the road.

After 5km you will see a brown tourist sign which states you can hike to Khalid. From this point, you can hike up to the waterfall which is 2 hours each way. Or, as we opted to take a short walk to the pools.

As we were making our way through the little village to the pools a local boy helped us and showed us the way. We had the pools all to ourselves and laid back in the fresh cool waters and admired the little waterfalls between the large white rocks.

Next

After relaxing in the rock pools get back on the road and continue along the coast and make a stop at Sur. A quiet but beautiful town with a lovely beach that’s worth a visit.

There is a watch tower that you can climb to the top off(for free) that has a beautiful view. It is overlooking the suspension bridge and little boats in the blue ocean bay. There is also a few supermarkets here to top up on supplies if needed.

 Next, you should head towards Ras Al Haad, a little fishing village with a beautiful lagoon and WW11 old runways still visible. However, you may want to skip it and head straight for Ras Al Jinz which is just 15 minutes away. The main point of interest here is the incredible turtle reserve. 

Turtle reserve

You can visit the turtle museum for 2 OMR each and the turtle reserve for 7 OMR each. There are two chances to visit the turtles, either at night or in the morning. The morning one is at 5am and the night one is 9pm. Booking ahead is advised.

The tickets for the night visit can be bought at 7.30pm onward. The ticket gives you a group number and at 8.30pm they start to call through the group numbers. There was a lot of people there, including big group tours who were staying the night at the hotel. We were in group 9 and didn’t get called until 9.50pm.

Finally 

We were taken down to the beach to see the female turtle laying eggs.We then released some baby turtles and helped them find their way to the ocean. The guide was very hepful and explained how the female turtle buries the eggs.

You are allowed to take photos but not with flash and we were lucky and got to hold one of the baby turtles as we helped him find his way to the sea, in all we were finished by 11pm.

We would recommend doing the morning visit if possible as it would probably be less busy and a better way to see the turtles on the beach as the sun is rising.

Onto the campsite

After the turtle reserve head for Al Shiya beach to camp for the night. Park the car at the top(which looks like an old compound and you have to drive through an old gate ) and walk down the steps to the beach.

There was nobody else around and we had the beach to ourselves. This was a beautiful place to camp although there was a bit of rubbish at the time which was sad to see. 

DAY FOUR

Wadi Bani Khalid – Al Wasin, Camping spot in the desert

Drive time: 2 – 3 hours

Drive distance: 150km

The drive from Al Shiya beach to Wadi Bani Khalid takes around 2 hours, so we recommend setting off early. You will arrive at another parking lot and then it’s a short walk to the first pools. These first few pools are big and open with a little bridge across to a restaurant and toilets.

Cover up

We were advised that to swim in these pools ladies needed to wear a t-shirt and shorts. Guys also needed long shorts(no budgie smugglers). But past these pools where the waterfall and rock pools are located, bikinis are fine.

Past the main pool

Keep going past the pools and over some rocks and you’ll find the entrance to the cave where some young local boys were sitting.(they expect money to show you inside. It is your choice if you want to or not)

The cave is very short to climb down into and dark, it’s also really hot once your down there. Personally i dont think its worth the effort but the walk to it is bea

After spending a few hours at Wadi Khalid head towards Al Wasin(the desert). We wanted to spend one night in the desert without paying a hefty tour price to stay at one of the camps.

So with a little help from Google maps, we found a road which leads into the desert surrounded by sand dunes and accessible to 2WD. There are some houses along the road but we found a spot not visible to any houses so  that we didn’t disturb anyone.

Desert camping

This was a great camping spot and our favourite night wild camping. We had sand dunes to our left and the stars shining above us, all without the price tag of a dessert tour. We cooked dinner, lit a fire and star gazed until a couple of local lads gate crashed. They could speak no English but we just hung out around the fire.

The same friendly locals came back in the morning and offered us breakfast. We managed to communicate a little bit with the help of google translate.(honestly the people in Oman are incredibly nice).

DAY FIVE

Nizwa – Fort and Souq – Al hoots cave – Camping spot by the road

Drive time: 3 – 4 hour

Drive distance: 250 – 315km

After shaking the sand off from the dessert drive on to Nizwa. The Nizwa Fort is the main attraction here and costs 5 OMR each entrance fee. If you have time there is also another village called Bahla with another fort to visit and also a nice place to visit called Al Hoota Cave.

One of the top places to see in Oman is Jabel Shams. It is a mountain with some small hikes at the top for some of the best views around and also camp up there for the night. The only problem is that you need a 4×4. It’s a legal requirement and you will not be allowed to drive past the police check in a normal car(or so we are told).

If you are wanting to spend a night at Jabel Shams then you can head to the car park located at Bayt ar Ridayal castle. As we walked out of the car park towards the sign that states 4×4 only we were approached by someone offering tours to Jabel Shams. The price was a bit out of budget so we decided not to, but in hindsight, it would have been nice to see, but at least we have something to go back for.

We would recommend looking for somewhere to camp around this area, or back towards Seeb. We stayed on a little gravel area just off the motorway but wouldn’t recommend it if can you find somewhere better.

DAY SIX

Bidbid Castle – Botanical Garden – Muscat Marina – Seeb beach camping spot

Drive time: 1:11 

Drive distance: 92km

As you head back towards Muscat there isn’t much to stop for along the motorway although we did make a brief stop at Bidbid castle. Nearer Muscat there is some botanical gardens on the outskirts of the city and also another wadi called Wadi Khloud if you have the time to make a stop.

Marina

We would recommend a visit to the marina. This is a chic little place to stop at with cafes and restaurants along the walkway down to the marina. From here head to the seafront where there is a long stretch of beach. They also have some food Van’s that open in the evening to grab a kebab skewer or burger. Although the beach is quite busy is does quieten down and you can find a quiet spot down on the beach.

DAY SEVEN

Muscat

Sultan Grand Quboos Mosque – Royal Opera House 

We actually met with our couch surfing host and had a well-earned shower and some breakfast before heading out.

Visiting the Sultan Grand quboos mosque is the perfect start to the morning because It is only open to tourists from 8 am till 11 am (closed Fridays) and is one of the most beautiful and elegant mosques we have see.

We were invited in for coffee and dates by some local Muslim volunteers who explained the Islamic religion and their beliefs. It was really interesting to learn about and helped give a better understanding of their culture and life.

The next place to visit is the Royal Opera house. We wanted to visit here while we still had use of the car. The building is absolutely stunning and well worth a visit even from the outside. You can get some great pictures at night.

We then spent the rest of the day buying some supplies and then hanging out with our host. He took us to a really cool beach hot spot which has a few street food vendors and where the locals hang out. There is also a really nice coffee shop on the seafront.

DAY EIGHT

Matrah Souq – Mutrah fort – Al Alam Palace – the corniche

You can visit several nice sights of Muscat which are all in one area. First of all, you can visit the Matrah Souq which is near the seafront for some good old retail therapy.

The area is popular with tourists with lots of stalls selling every saviounevs you can want from cashmere scarfs to jewellery. You can even pick up a traditional hat. Just Remember to barter the price if you do want to buy something to be sure you don’t overpay.

If you continue walking along the corniche you will see the Mutrah fort. The fort was actually free to visit (the board stated 1 OMR but the man said we didn’t need to pay and was free.) At the top of the fort, there are great views of the bay which should not be missed.

We ate in a restaurant for the first time in Oman and the food was really good.  If you come out of the souq there are many restaurants nearby.

Further along, you will find your way to a beautiful park and eventually Al Palace. We decided to take a bus as the walk is quite far. The palace is beautiful with closed off streets around it. You cannot go inside but this place reminded us of Buckingham Palace in England. 

DAY NINE

Muscat

Boat trip – Royal Opera House at night

We would recommend booking a boat trip for sunrise to go dolphin spotting. We were lucky that our couch surfing host had his own boat and took us out for sunrise before he had work. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dolphins but we did see several turtles and jumped in for a snorkel with them.

The shows at the Royal Opera House can be fairly inexpensive but if it’s not your thing then we suggest visiting in the evening anyway to see this spectacular building lit up. we also went inside for a few drinks which cost us a staggering £50(budget gone!)

DAY TEN

We had to leave Muscat to head back to Dubai by bus.

Oman exceeded our highest expectations and we cannot wait to go back and explore the rest of it. We want you to use this Oman road trip itinary  blog to help you plan your trip. Please feel free to change up the itinerary to suit your needs and we would love to hear your route and adventures.

This route can be done in reverse and if you’re short on time some of the Muscat sights can be done in less time.

A story about how we ended up in Oman 

We never planned to go to Oman but because our laptop broke we had to get it fixed in Dubai which meant we had to wait for the repairs. There were also no cheap flights for another 10 days.

Of course, we didn’t want to wait that long in Dubai so looked for other options. Oman was the perfect escape although we had to leave the hostel the next day with absolutely no visa or any solid plans in place.

So around 12am we decided we would go to Oman and sat up late trying to mess about getting the E visa and book car hire. We had no idea if we would get the visa in time. We waited nervously for the visa and got excited with every email that came through.

Did it come?

It was time to board the bus with no visa but we thought we would risk it, that’s what makes travel exciting right?  So we got on the bus and in our slightly worried state, we read the visa information again and realised we were able to make use of the new Dubai Oman joint visa as we had flown into Dubai. Out mistake, how did we miss it?

Well on the list of countries entitled to use this we were looking for the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England but none of the above appeared. It was listed as BRITAIN which we completely overlooked.

But the visa did come through or at least we think it did because we didn’t get the email until much later but the guys at customs seemed like they thought we had a visa even though it wasn’t needed in the end.

So anyway that was a waste of 5 Rial. But hey we made the mistake so you guys won’t have to. Take note and check the country is listed.