Discover Oman 🇴🇲
About the country
Oman is a beautiful country in the Middle East, Asia. It is a situated on the coast of the Arabian Sea and the golf of Oman, sharing borders to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman’s culture is Muslim and the official language is Arabic.
What Oman has to offer
Safety
One of my favourite things about Oman is the possibility to discover a very different culture in complete safety. Although solo female travellers are not very common in Muslim culture, I have felt most welcome to the country. Omani people are very respectful and open minded I have found. With a very low crime rate, Oman is definitely one of the top destinations to discover without worries about safety !
Nature lovers
In Salalah
Salalah Oman has so much to see and my favourite part was definitely the landscapes. The country has so much variety from mountains to deserts and beaches and the scenic roads thru mountains between cities makes going around much more fun. My recommendation for nature lovers is to go to the south of the country, in Salalah. Salalah is the second biggest airport in Oman which means it is easy to find good international flights. Some of my favourites near Salalah were iftalqqot beach, coconut beach, Ain Athum and Darbat waterfalls !
In Tiwi
Another amazing place to visit for nature lovers is the north east of the country, in Tiwi, where you will find caves, mountains, rivers and more such as Romantic Cave, Wadi Ash Shab, Jebel Khadar and Bimmah Sinkhole.
Architecture
In Muscat
Oman’s architecture and history is also very interesting and beautiful, I would recommend more the north of the country for this. Muscat the capital of Oman is where you can find the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. A must see in my opinion ! You can see from the outside at anytime but if you want to visit inside you will have to plan as it is scheduled for visit only certain times of the day. It is also a great experience to simply walk around this beautiful city and enjoy the local food.
In Nizwa
Another amazing place to visit is the village of Nizwa. Walking in the old town, visiting the fort and the souq is a great experience and it is near some of the best hikes !
Visiting Oman
Transportation
The best way to go around Oman is to rent a car. Rentals are not very expensive there and there is not much traffic so it is an easy place to drive. Just be careful for the camels on the road;) If you do not rent a car you can hitch hike, Omani people are very kind and you will find people offering rides easily ( like anywhere be careful who you hop in with ) or you can take taxis if you have a larger budget. They do not use Uber instead they have an app called Otaxi ! Muscat to Salalah is about a 10 hours drive so I would suggest taking a domestic flight as they are usually quite cheap !
Where to stay
As Oman is not yet very touristic, I haven’t found much airbnbs or hostels. My go to was hotel rooms on booking.com ! You can find some very nice places for as little as 50$ / night !
Best dates
Best time to go is July-August as it is the green season in Salalah. It is the season to see the waterfalls. Some of the bigger ones go from April to October but they do dry completely so if you travel in other dates do not waste your time on waterfalls, you will not see them unfortunately.
Also know that if you travel during Ramadan, there are little to no restaurants open for tourists.
What to bring
Oman has very warm weather so bring light clothes but also remember it is a Muslim country so nothing too revealing. They are open minded and won’t mind you being less covered but simply to be respectful of their culture I would advise clothes that cover shoulders, knee length shorts and no cleavage. A basic tee shirt and pants will do perfectly fine !
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