The Jebel Akdhar forms part of the Hajar range running inland through the heart of Oman. Its name means ‘Green Mountain’ – a reference to the abundance of vegetation above 300m, where a scattering of limestone villages are smothered in vine…

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The frankincense port town of Mirbat is one of Oman's more hidden gems and visitors arrive to the sight of two miniature horse statues sitting atop a pair of columns. They act as a reminder of the history of the place, which was once a cent…

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‘An elegant town with very fine houses’ is how the Portuguese admiral, Afonso Albuquerque, described Muscat in 1507 – a gloss that still holds true today. With its low-slung skyline of traditional, white-painted architecture, domes and mosq…

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This remote town on the edge of the Western Hajar Mountains was the Omani capital in the 6th and 7th centuries and remains the country’s principal centre for study, culture and the arts. Its historic core holds several ancient mosques, whol…

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As the only mosque in Oman to welcome non-Muslim visitors, this impressive structure in Muscat is fascinating to look around. Despite its classical architecture, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque was only completed in 2001. Consisting of two…

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Sur, 130km / 93 miles southeast of Muscat, served for centuries as the lynchpin of maritime trade across the Arabian Sea. Ships constructed here sailed as far afield as China and Zanibar, and the town’s great tourist attraction today is the…

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Capital of Oman’s southeastern Dhofar province, Salalah is the country’s second city and birthplace of its ruler, Sultan Qaboos. Between July and September, monsoon rains from the Arabian Sea have a transformative effect on its dramatic lan…

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This deep trench in the Hajar mountains is often dubbed ‘Oman’s Grand Canyon’, and with good reason. Although not as extensive as its American cousin, the resemblance is striking. Vast cliffs of sedimentary limestone plunge more than a vert…

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The Musandan Peninsula is the wild, rugged and mountainous promontory jutting into the Straits of Hormuz from the southern flank of the Gulf. Although a Governorate of Oman, it is geographically separate from the rest of the country and mor…

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The vast, bone-dry desert stretching across the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula has been known since it was first explored by Wildred Thesinger in the 1940s as ‘the Empty Quarter’. To the Bedouin tribes, its wasteland of shifting sa…

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Everyone who travels to Oman wants to experience the distinctive atmosphere of the Arabian Desert, and if it’s towering, finely sculpted dunes you’ve come to see, the Wahiba Sands is the place to head. Known locally as ‘Ramlat al Wahiba’, t…

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