We spent 14 days exploring Oman with a little rental car and a tent. In this post I’ll share all my top tips, how much we spent and the must see sights to see with a 2wd drive car.

CAR RENTAL

Firstly, the car, we booked through Discover Cars was £370 for 14 days including full cover insurance. We booked the cheapest option with a boot to store our luggage through ‘Drivus’ and were told it would be an MG or similar vehicle. We were given a Chinese made car called a Changan Alsvin which we’d never heard of before but it was a great little car and almost brand new with just 3000 kilometres on the clock. Compared to our old campervans we normally drive it packed a punch and had very quick acceleration and brakes.

Driving in Oman was very easy with nice, wide, tarmac roads and English translation on all the signs. The only negative about driving was the locals seemed to have zero patience for any hesitation on the road, if we took longer than a split second to check we were going the correct route we’d get a honk and then an arm flinging out the window in frustration.

PETROL

We drove 1750km over 14 days and spent £62 on petrol. It’s very cheap! In fact the last two stations only had the premium petrol so had we of only filled up with regular petrol the whole time we’d of probably only spent about £55.

PARKING/TOLL ROADS

All parking lots we used were completely free and we didn’t come across any toll roads in the country. There are a lot of speeding cameras on the roads though so the car rental company will hold your deposit for about 20 days (or longer – do get in contact with them if you haven’t received the money back) after the rental to cover any fees if you got a ticket.

SHOPPING FOR FOOD

Oman has some huge hypermarkets like Carrefour and Lulu. We personally preferred Lulu and we did a big stock up on food in Muscat when we first arrived and then topped up the food in Sur and Nizwa which also had big supermarkets.

They had a great mix of local and western food, we could buy Mexican items like salsa and wraps but also baked beans, pasta sauce and plenty of nuts and dried fruits.

For breakfast we tended to have porridge with cranberries, banana and sugar.

Lunch was peanut butter and jam sandwiches or pot noodles.

Dinner varied from pasta, veggie tacos, hummus-salad wraps, veg chilli and soup.

We only ate vegetarian food and didn’t buy any dairy products so there were no worries about keeping the food cold.

SHOPPING FOR CAMPING GEAR

Wild camping is very popular in Oman and totally allowed, obviously with common sense like making sure you’re camping in respectable places and not someone’s backyard!

We picked up our camping gear in Lulu, finding a two man tent for £12 and a stove for £7. We brought our sleep-matts from England as when I looked online at the supermarket options they just seemed to have the very thin matts or airbeds. We also had our own mini-campstove but read that the gas canisters could be difficult to get so we opted to buy the stove in Oman as they use the most commonly available gas canisters which you can literally buy in any little shop or gas station.

For blankets and pillows we used the ones we got on the airplane to Oman, cheers Qatar airways! They were perfect for the first couple of nights but as we camped in higher elevation we got much colder so we ended up buying a plush, fluffy blanket for £10 and two luxury, thick bath matts for £5 each to help cushion our hips as it turns out the ground in Oman is very hard and rocky!

A few days before we finished our trip I added a post on a Facebook group for travel in Oman about selling our camping gear. I managed to sell everything for £31 but could of probably asked for more as I had so much interest.

WATER

We bought 8 big 5 litre bottles and once a couple of them were empty we refilled them for washing up and cooking and just used the shop-bought water for drinking. You can usually find a tap outside every mosque or in the villages look out for a sort of metal unit with taps. Gas stations also sometimes have taps.

WHERE TO CAMP

It was hot in Oman so we didn’t want to camp far away from the car and carry all our gear a long distance. But having a 2wd meant we were never far from the road so it wasn’t exactly our best camping experiences with headlights often shining in the tent as cars sped past. Some locations were lovely though!

Please bear in mind there were no facilities where we were camping. You can find toilets at some gas stations, mosques, supermarkets etc  but if nature calls when you’re in the wild then make sure you dig a deep hole far away from any water-source and bury your waste.

WEATHER

We traveled in early February and after expecting blue skies every day we were a little surprised to have many overcast days followed by three days of rain, thunderstorms and flash floods! It was pretty crazy weather and not safe to camp in so we had to sleep in the front seats of our car for two nights.

SIM CARD

We normally don’t buy a SIM card when we get to a new country however we wanted to be able to make phone calls incase we had any problems with the car so we just bought a 7GB data package with some minutes included for £14. There’s a few different companies to buy a sim from in the airport arrivals.

HOW MUCH WE SPENT

I kept track of all our expenses in Oman so this is what we spent:

Food, petrol, entrance fees etc £369.27
Car rental = £370
TOTAL = £739.27

Minus £31 for the camping gear we sold = £708.27
TOTAL per day = £50.59

Which is about £25 per person.

MUST SEE SIGHTS

• Bandar Khirin Reserve – The drive to this area from Muscat has plenty of beautiful little spots to take photos and enjoy the view of orange hills and spiky peaks meeting the azure water. There’s lots of beach waters and beautiful inlets but it’s best to explore at high tide because a lot of the inlets dry out at low tide.

• Bimmah Sinkhole – It’s a must see but probably out least favourite sight as it’s overdeveloped and lacks any wild charm.

• Wadi Sham – One of the busiest wadis but it is WOW and totally worth a visit. Arrive by 8am to get the boat across the river and beat the crowds. The canyon is stunning and resembled ones we’d seen in the USA and the water in the wadi is as clear as gin.

• Wadi Bani Khalid – Again not my favourite wadi but we weren’t blessed with the best weather so maybe that implicated our visit. It’s hard to see it at its best as by the time the sun hits the water the crowds have arrived. Still a lovely spot to visit and very easy to access.

• Wadi Dayqah Dam – A really fun drive with dramatic mountain view’s leads to this emerald coloured dam, surrounded by even more mountains.

• Wahiba Sands – We’ve seen a lot of dunes and stayed in desert camps on our travels so we opted to just explore the dunes on our own. We parked up in the village of Raqah where you can just head straight up the dunes and go off exploring. Make sure you have a good map with you as it could be easy to become disorientated on the dunes.

• Birkat Al Mawz – A wonderful oasis that seems to be off the tourist trail. There’s an incredible viewpoint over a sea of date palms and two crumbling mud brick villages set beneath the mountains which you’re free to roam around.

• Jabreen Castle – We prefer natural sights to historic ones but we made sure to visit at least one castle which was Jabreen. There’s an audio guide and plenty of rooms to explore.

• Wadi Damm – This wadi wasn’t actually our favourite due to the water not being crystal clear and the rocks being very slippery, however it’s still worth a visit, especially as the drive to get here was one of our favourites in Oman with dramatic mountains on both sides.

• Jebal Hatt Mountain Road – A fabulous option to drive a tarmac road up to 2000m with incredible views of the surrounding peaks and hikes available in either direction. Be warned – it’s COLD up here, especially when it’s windy.

• Nizwa livestock market – Every Friday locals flock to this souq to sell and barter for goats, sheep and cows. It’s a great way to get a look at Oman’s culture. Arrive by 7am to catch the action. There’s cheap tea and some sweet bready delights available to buy which we were happy to see after skipping breakfast.

• Go on your own adventure – Have a look on google maps and search out some hidden gems. One of our favourite wadis wasn’t in blog posts and remained delightfully peaceful and un-touristy.

I hope this guide helps you plan an epic trip around Oman!