Oman Coast and Canyons: Muscat to Jebel Shams

Muscat, Sharqiya and Al Hajar Mountains · Oman

Moderate8 daysAsia~£1,300 est.

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Overview

Oman is the Arabian road trip done right: superb roads, easy camping, and a government that signposts its wadis. This eight-day loop from Muscat strings the sultanate's greatest hits — coast first, then desert, then the mountains. Run the coast road past the Bimmah sinkhole to Wadi Shab, where a swim through a slot canyon ends in a cave waterfall, and on to Sur's dhow-building yards. At Ras al Jinz, green turtles haul out to nest by torchlight. Turn inland for a night among the apricot dunes of the Sharqiya Sands, then cross to Nizwa for the Friday goat auction beneath the fort's cannon-studded drum tower. The finale is the climb to Jebel Shams, where the rim road skirts Wadi Ghul — the Grand Canyon of Arabia, a sheer kilometre of drop — and the W6 Balcony Walk traverses into the abandoned village of As Sab. The variables: the final ascent to the Jebel Shams plateau is steep gravel and the Sharqiya Sands require deflated tyres and ideally a convoy, so hire a 4x4 throughout; mountain nights are properly cold in winter; and the season is October to March — summer is punishing. Around £1,300 per person including desert camp and mountain lodge.