Oman

Best time to visit

Best time to travel

October to March suits the north, mountains and desert; Dhofar’s khareef, roughly 21 June to 21 September, wraps Salalah in mist and drizzle and turns its hills green while the north swelters.

Travel tips

Travel by Ildy tips

• Use Nizwa as an inland base: it lies roughly 150 km from Muscat, and Bahla Fort and Jebel Akhdar are the classic outings from there by hire car.
• Taste Omani halwa, a glossy sweet of ghee, saffron, cardamom and rosewater — often from Jebel Akhdar — and, as at weddings, take the halwa before your cup of cardamom-scented kahwa.
• Be in Nizwa on a Friday morning for the livestock auction beside the souq, when goats and cattle are led around a small ring while buyers call out bids; it winds down by mid-morning.
• Oman’s aflaj, gravity-fed water channels, are UNESCO-listed through five systems including Falaj Daris at Nizwa; together they stand for some 3,000 aflaj still working across the country.