Oman goes from a flooded canyon to empty dunes in half a day.
Reviews of every tour you can book in Oman: which Wadi Shab trip leaves time to swim through to the waterfall cave, what a night out on Wahiba Sands costs, and whether Musandam is worth the drive north.
Four days an Omani week gets built around.
A canyon, the reef islands, a night on the sand and the fjords at the top of the map. What each one costs, and what the people who went say about it.
01The canyon dayWadi Shab & Bimmah Sinkhole Full-Day TourWadi Shab and the Bimmah Sinkhole in one run east of Muscat. The swim through to the waterfall cave is what everyone flies home talking about.
02The island morningDaymaniat Islands Snorkeling Trip with BrunchOut to the Daymaniyat reserve for turtles, rays and reef, with brunch on the boat before the afternoon wind gets up.
03The desert nightWahiba Desert and Wadi Bani Khalid Guided Group TourDune driving into Wahiba Sands, with the palm pools at Wadi Bani Khalid on the way back. The stars arrive once the camp generator goes off.
04The fjord half dayHalf-Day Dhow Cruise, Dolphin Watching, & SnorkelingA wooden dhow out of Khasab, past cliffs that drop straight into the water, with dolphins on the bow most mornings.
Wadi Shab, Bani Khalid or the sinkhole: pick your water.
Rain that fell on the Hajar months ago comes back out of the rock as a green pool. Three ways to spend a day in one, what it costs to board each, and how far east of Muscat you end up.
Muscat, Salalah, and the mountains in between.
A capital squeezed between bare rock and the Gulf, a monsoon-green south, the fjords at the top of the map, a fort town in the interior and two mountains you can drive up. Six bases, and the best day out from each.
Muscat: the mosque before eleven, the water after.
Everything in Muscat →
The capital is a thin white strip between the Hajar and the sea, forty kilometres end to end with no tower blocks allowed. Mornings belong to the Grand Mosque and the souq at Mutrah; afternoons belong to the boats.
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, done right
Non-Muslim visitors are admitted on weekday mornings only, so it goes first in the day and everything else works around it. Arms and legs covered, hair covered for women, shoes off at the prayer hall.
Mutrah souq, the corniche and Al Alam
The old harbour, the frankincense lanes behind it, the Portuguese forts on the headlands and the blue and gold palace at the end of the road. Most of it is walking, none of it is far.
Out to the Daymaniyat reef
An hour offshore to a nature reserve with turtles under the boat and reef that starts a metre down. Morning departures get the flat water; later ones get the wind.
The days out Oman fills before anything else.
Every Omani tour we have reviewed →What the most travellers end up booking across the country, with the price, the length of the day and the reason it keeps its slot.
1
Daymaniat Islands Snorkeling Trip with Brunch
Spend 270 minutes cruising from Muscat to Oman’s Daymaniat Islands with an English-speaking guide such as Captain Ola, Captain Nemo, or Captain B. Snorkel in clear water among turtles, colorful fish, corals, and perhaps an octopus, then enjoy sandwiches, fruit, drinks, and an island stop when seasonal beach access allows.
From · $86
Read our review →
2
Wadi Shab & Bimmah Sinkhole Full-Day Tour
from $40
3
Wahiba Desert and Wadi Bani Khalid Guided Group Tour
from $130
4
Half-Day Sightseeing Essentials Tour and Audio Guide
from $48
5
Half-Day Dhow Cruise, Dolphin Watching, & Snorkeling
from $37
6
Wadi Bani Khalid Oasis & Oman Desert Tour
from $130
7
Daymaniat Islands Snorkeling Tour with Refreshments
from $72
8
Nizwa and Oman’s Historical Gems Tour
from $100
Musandam looks like Norway and runs at thirty-five degrees.
The peninsula is cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE and reached by a coast road or a short flight. Dhows leave Khasab every morning into inlets where the cliffs go straight down, the water is bath-warm and the dolphins come to meet the bow.
Every Musandam day out →The better half of Oman is out past the breakwater.
Nine islands of protected reef an hour from Muscat, turtles coming ashore at Ras al Jinz, dolphins on the bow all the way back in. The coastline runs more than three thousand kilometres and almost none of it is built on.
What Oman charges for a day out, souq morning to private 4x4.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. The cheap end is city mornings and shared minibuses. The top end buys a private 4x4 and a driver who knows which tracks the rain has taken out.
City mornings, souq walks, shared dhow trips and the short runs down the coast road.
The full days: Wadi Shab, the Daymaniyat boats, Nizwa and the run into the sands.
Private 4x4 days with a driver, the Empty Quarter runs and nights out at a desert camp.
Three Omani days with no equivalent anywhere else.
Reefs and dunes turn up all over the Gulf. A nine-island marine reserve, a donkey path traversing a mile-deep canyon wall and the sand sea that swallows Saudi Arabia do not.
The Daymaniyat Islands
Nine low limestone islands sit an hour off Al Mouj, run as a nature reserve since 1996. Green turtles nest on the beaches through the summer, which is why landings stop from May while the boats keep snorkelling the fringes. On a calm morning the visibility runs past twenty metres and the reef starts about a metre under the hull.
- 1Daymaniat Islands Snorkeling Trip with Brunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,317 reviews
- 2Daymaniat Islands Snorkeling Tour with Refreshments★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 426 reviews
- 3Snorkelling Tour with Tasty Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 403 reviews
The Balcony Walk on Jebel Shams
Wadi Ghul drops close to a thousand metres below the rim of the country’s highest mountain, and an old donkey path traverses the wall of it to the abandoned village at As Sab. Three hours out and back, no ropes, a great deal of exposure. The plateau above sits near three thousand metres and wants a fleece even in June.
- 1Nizwa Fort-Nizwa Souq-Misfah Al Arbyeen-Jebel Shams – Private Full Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 220 reviews
- 2Nizwa and Jebel Shams Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 153 reviews
- 3Private Day Trip to Nizwa & Jabal Shams (The Grand Canyon of Oman)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 57 reviews
Into the Rub al Khali
The Empty Quarter starts a couple of hours inland from Salalah and does not stop until Saudi Arabia, six hundred and fifty thousand square kilometres of dune with nobody living on it. Drivers run out to the edge for sunset, the sand goes the colour of rust, and the silence when the engines are switched off is the part nobody manages to describe.
- 1Sunset Desert Safari Salalah Tour in Rub Al Khali – Empty Quarter★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 91 reviews
- 2Sunset Desert Safari – Rub Al Khali – Empty Quarter★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 79 reviews
- 3Empty Quarter Desert Sunset tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 55 reviews
Four Omani bookings that take no interest in your flight.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast. These four are tied to visiting hours, nesting seasons and boat permits, and they are decided before you land.
- 01Guided Walking Tour of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in MuscatNon-Muslim visitors are admitted between eight and eleven in the morning, Saturday to Thursday, and not at all on Friday. Miss the window and it is a photograph from the car park.
- 02Snorkelling Tour with Tasty LunchThe islands are a reserve. Boats carry permits, landings stop through the turtle nesting season, and the operator and the date decide what you actually get.
- 03Daymaniyat Island Snorkeling with Turtles TourRas al Jinz runs guided visits in fixed evening and pre-dawn slots with a cap on numbers. Walk-ups are turned away at the gate.
- 04Wahiba Desert and Wadi Bani Khalid Guided Group TourThe camps out on the sand have a few dozen beds between them and the cool months go first. Getting in needs a 4x4 and daylight.
While Muscat bakes, the hills above Salalah turn green.
The Indian Ocean monsoon drags cloud over Dhofar from late June to early September. Waterfalls run at Wadi Darbat, camels come down to graze beside the road and the temperature sits twenty degrees under the interior. It is the one season when the south is the trip and the north can wait.
By place, coast to interior
By kind of day: water, dune, fort or wadi
Muscat, the wadis, the sands, Nizwa: the loop nearly everybody drives first.
The Omani tours we reviewed most recently.
The rest of the new ones →
Wahiba Sands and Wadi Bani Khalid Full-Day Tour from Muscat
Read our review →
Wadi Shab & Wadi Tiwi : Guided Adventure (Customer Own Car)
Read our review →
Wadi Shab Parking Meet the Local Guide for Self drivers
Read our review →
Wadi Shab &Bimmah Sinkhole &Heart shaped Cave &Pebble Beach
Read our review →
Sunset desert safari Salalah with Dinner in a Bedouins camp
Read our review →
West of Salalah private tour – fascinating mountains and beaches
Read our review →
Private tour – Empty Quarter desert adventure – Wadi Dawka + Ubar
Read our review →
Explore Samhan Mountain – Half-Day Getaway with Lunch Included.
Read our review →
Where Sea Meets Rock: A Scenic Journey to West Salalah’s Shores
Read our review →
