Salalah to Muscat via the Empty Quarter edge, the Hajar Mountains, and the turquoise wadis of the interior.
Land in Salalah
Dhofar does not feel like the rest of Arabia and it is not supposed to. Between late June and early September the khareef monsoon turns these hills green, which is why half the Gulf holidays here; outside it, the same hills are bare and the coast is empty. Collect the 4×4, buy water in bulk, and walk the corniche at dusk.
West to Mughsail and the blowholes
The coast road runs 45 km (28 mi) west to Mughsail, where the sea forces water up through limestone vents at the back of the beach — loud and unpredictable, and worth timing with a rising tide. Beyond it the road climbs the Jebel Qamar in switchbacks toward the Yemeni border; turn back at the viewpoints rather than pushing on.
The frankincense coast
East of town, Wadi Darbat holds pools and, after the khareef, a genuine waterfall. Below it sit Taqah and the excavated harbour of Sumhuram at Khor Rori, from which frankincense left for Rome — one of four sites in the UNESCO Land of Frankincense listing. The Museum of the Frankincense Land in Salalah makes sense of all of them in an hour.
North to the edge of the Empty Quarter
Two hours inland the green stops as if switched off, and the road runs onto the gravel plain that fronts the Rub al Khali — the largest continuous sand desert on earth. Shisr, marketed as the lost city of Ubar, is a modest excavated site around a collapsed limestone sinkhole; the emptiness beyond it is the reason to come.
The long coast road north
Today is distance: roughly 550 km (340 mi) of empty highway up the Arabian Sea coast to Duqm. Fuel is cheap and stations are frequent enough, but stretches run an hour between them, so top up when you can. Duqm itself is a port under construction with a rock garden of wind-cut limestone on its northern edge.
Into the Wahiba Sands
Turn inland for the Sharqiyah — still widely called the Wahiba — a 180 km (110 mi) band of dunes running north to south. Deflate to about 15 psi at Al Mintirib before entering, follow existing tracks, and let the camp guide you in for the last stretch. The dunes take colour twice, at first light and at the last twenty minutes of sun.
Wadi Bani Khalid, then the coast at Sur
Out of the sand by mid-morning and into Wadi Bani Khalid, whose lower pools are the busiest in Oman and whose upper ones, twenty minutes further on foot, are not. Then down to Sur, where a working yard still builds wooden dhows by eye and a lagoon of them sits in front of the town.
Turtles at Ras al Jinz, and Wadi Shab
Green turtles nest at Ras al Jinz year-round, peaking in summer; visits are on booked ranger-led slots and no white light is permitted on the beach. Later, Wadi Shab: a 45-minute walk in, three pools to swim, and a slot in the rock at the end that opens into a cave with a waterfall. Dry bag essential.
Inland to Nizwa
Nizwa was the capital of the interior imamate and still feels like the country's conservative heart. The round fort tower is worth the climb for the sightlines it was built for, and the souq below it sells silver, dates and pottery. Friday morning brings the livestock market, which starts early and is over by nine.
Jebel Shams and Misfat al Abriyeen
The rim road climbs to about 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above Wadi Ghul — the Grand Canyon of Arabia, which for once is not much of an exaggeration. The Balcony Walk (W6) traverses the wall to an abandoned village and takes three hours return. Descend to Misfat al Abriyeen, a mud-brick village irrigated by falaj channels that still work.
Forts, then Muscat
Bahla's fort is a UNESCO site and the oldest of the group; Jabreen, ten minutes away, is the one people remember, because it was built as a residence and still has painted ceilings. Then the motorway drops out of the mountains to the capital, which is long and low and forbids high-rise building by decree.
Muscat
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque opens to non-Muslims on weekday mornings only, with covered arms and legs and a headscarf for women. Then the Royal Opera House, the Muttrah corniche at the end of the afternoon, and the souq behind it — which is genuinely old and genuinely a souq, whatever the cruise-ship hour makes of it.
Good to know
This is a self-drive route and works badly any other way; intercity buses connect the big towns but not the wadis, the rim road or the sands. A 4×4 is genuinely required for Jebel Shams and the desert camps, and most rental contracts void insurance on unsealed roads with a 2WD.
Drive the Salalah leg south to north rather than the reverse: a one-way drop fee is usually cheaper than doubling back 1,000 km (620 mi), and the route builds from empty coast to mountains rather than the other way round.
Oman is conservative and relaxed at once. Cover shoulders and knees away from beaches and hotel grounds, ask before photographing people, and expect Friday middays to be quiet everywhere.
Summer inland is brutal — 45 °C (113 °F) is normal in June and July — while Salalah in the same weeks is cool and green under the khareef. October to April is the comfortable window for the whole route.
Shorter or longer?
Skip Dhofar entirely: fly into Muscat and run the northern half — Sharqiyah, Sur, Wadi Shab, Nizwa, Jebel Shams, back to Muscat.
Keep Salalah and the frankincense coast, then fly Salalah to Muscat instead of driving the coast road, and pick the route up again at the Sharqiyah.
Add the Musandam peninsula in the far north for the fjords, and Masirah island off the east coast for wind and empty beaches.