Multi-Day Tours in Oman

Multiday tours in Oman are three journeys on one map. The north is a loop through the Hajar mountains, where Jebel Shams tops out just above 3,000 metres on a summit that is a military zone; the highest ground open to hikers is the South Summit at 2,997 metres, reached on the W4 trail. The east is the Sharqiya Sands, 180 km long and 80 wide with dunes up to 100 metres, and the coast beyond them at Sur, Ras Al Hadd and Ras Al Jinz, where green turtles nest all year, most from June to September. The south is Dhofar, around 1,000 km from Muscat by road, green in the khareef monsoon from June to September, with the Empty Quarter beyond it.

Oman multiday tours here mostly leave Muscat as private road packages of two to twelve days. Two days is a single night out, in the dunes, on the east coast or on Jebel Shams. Three to eight days stack Nizwa, the mountain loop, the wadis and one or two desert nights. The twelve-day route runs on through Duqm and the south coast to Salalah. A group departure of about ten days adds the Emirates, and the W4 summit trek is a two-day walk with a camp on the plateau.

Practical. Direction decides the climate. In July Sur averages 40.6C by day while Salalah, under khareef cloud, holds 28.3C. In January the coast sits near 26C, yet the Jebel Shams plateau at 2,764 metres manages only 8.5C by day and 2C at night, so a winter trip packs a fleece beside the swimsuit. Salalah gets about 100 mm of rain a year. A flight is the sensible way to reach it, because the road takes most of a day.