The picture in the brochure is a resort pool outside Muscat with a mountain behind it, and plenty of visitors never go further than that pool. They miss the country. The best of Oman sits inland and to the east: the Hajar range with its terraced villages and canyon rims, the wadis where turquoise water runs between vertical walls, the red dunes of the interior, and the empty coast where turtles come ashore at night. Almost all of it is reached by road, and the most famous parts need a particular kind of car. At the foot of the Green Mountain the police run a checkpoint that turns back anything without four wheel drive, which is the clearest possible statement of what kind of trip this really is.
Getting in has just been reorganised, so treat older advice with suspicion. Many nationalities currently enter on a free short tourist visa of around two weeks, the categories were restructured recently and the list of eligible passports is being confirmed, and longer stays need a paid electronic visa arranged in advance. Officers may still ask for an onward ticket, an accommodation booking and travel insurance, so carry all three rather than assuming the free category means no questions. The only reliable source is the official police visa portal, not the lookalike sites that charge for a free product. Compare flight and hotel prices for Oman once the dates are fixed, because the cool season is short and the good desert camps and mountain rooms fill with it.
Where you sleep decides how much driving each day holds. Muscat has hotels and serviced apartments along the corniche below Mutrah Souq, the easiest arrival night and a short drive from the great mosque. Nizwa has heritage guesthouses in the restored mud brick lanes of Harat al Aqr beside the fort, the natural base for the Friday livestock market and the mountain roads. Jebel Akhdar has mountain resorts and small guesthouses on the Saiq Plateau above the rose terraces, cool at night even when the plains are hot, and reachable only past that checkpoint. And the Wahiba Sands have desert camps set among the dunes beyond Bidiyah, where the evening is the reason to go and the drive in is the reason to plan.
The car hire decision is really a route decision. A saloon handles the coast, the capital and the main highways perfectly well. A four wheel drive is legally required for the Green Mountain, strongly advisable on the road up to the canyon rim of Jebel Shams, and essential in the dunes, where tyres have to be let down and a first timer is far better off leaving the car at the edge and taking the camp's own transfer. Check what the rental agreement says about unpaved roads before you book, because standard cover often excludes exactly the tracks you came for, and fill up at every station in the interior, since they thin out quickly. The rest is walking and waiting: the best known wadi starts with a short boat crossing and continues on foot to pools you swim through, and the turtle reserve on the eastern tip runs guided night and dawn visits only, booked in advance, so time the coast around the booking. Check car hire and travel insurance prices for Oman with the off-road clause in mind, because that exclusion matters more here than the daily rate.
The season is the cool half of the year, and outside it the interior is punishingly hot. The exception is the far south around Salalah, where the summer monsoon turns the hills green and brings visitors from across the Gulf while the rest of the country bakes. Local customs are relaxed but real: dress covering shoulders and knees away from the resorts, alcohol only in licensed hotels and restaurants, and during Ramadan eating and drinking in public by day is not done and opening hours shift around the evening meal. Personally, I would skip the beach resort entirely on a first visit, hire the four wheel drive from the airport, and spend the nights in the mountains and the dunes rather than beside a pool that could be anywhere.
Q: Do you need a four wheel drive in Oman?
A: Legally for the Green Mountain, where a police checkpoint turns ordinary cars back, and practically for the dunes and many wadi tracks. The capital, the coast road and the main highways are fine in a saloon.
Q: Do you need a visa?
A: Many nationalities currently receive a free short tourist visa, but the categories were restructured recently and the eligible list is still being confirmed. Check the official police portal, carry proof of onward travel, accommodation and insurance, and arrange a paid electronic visa for longer stays.
Q: When is the best time to visit?
A: The cool half of the year for almost everywhere, since summer in the interior is extreme. The far south is the exception, green and busy during the summer monsoon.
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