Getting around Oman: transport and apps

Driving

• There is no passenger rail network in Oman. The car is the transport system.
• Roads are excellent and well signed in English and Arabic. Fuel is cheap.
• Distances are long and empty. Muscat to Salalah is 1,000 km of desert highway. Carry water, fill up when you can, and do not rely on finding a service station.
• Accident rates are well above the UK's. Speeding fines are automatic and attach to the rental.
• Four-wheel drive for the mountains and the sands, and do not take a saloon car up Jebel Shams or into the Wahiba.

Wadis and flash floods

• Wadis flood October to March after heavy rain, and the rain may fall many kilometres away and out of sight.
• Do not cross flowing water in a vehicle, at any depth that looks manageable. This is how people die here every year.
• If you are caught, get to high ground and stay there. That is the FCDO's advice and it is the right one.
• Do not camp in a wadi bed in the rainy season, however dry it looks.

Buses and taxis

• Mwasalat runs intercity coaches between the main towns, including Muscat to Salalah, and they are comfortable and cheap.
• Otaxi and Marhaba are the ride-hailing apps in Muscat. No Uber, no Careem.
• Shared taxis (baisa taxis) run fixed routes in the cities for very little.

Getting to Musandam

• Musandam is a separate exclave north of the UAE, reached by flight from Muscat or by driving through the UAE - which needs a UAE visa and two more border crossings.

Worth having

• Otaxi and Marhaba - the Omani ride-hailing apps. Uber and Careem do not operate here.
• The Royal Oman Police eVisa portal for the visa, and it is also where you check your application. The call centre is 80080011 inside Oman and +968 22848200 from abroad.
• Offline maps. The mountain and desert tracks are poorly mapped and unsignalled, and this is the app that matters most in Oman.
• A weather app that carries official warnings, for the wadi flooding.

Drones

• A drone needs a valid licence in Oman, and flying one without is an offence rather than a telling-off. Do not bring one on the assumption you will be fine.

What not to photograph

• Government buildings and military sites are off limits.
• Ask before photographing people, and expect no to be the answer more often than in other Gulf countries. Oman is more conservative in this respect than its reputation suggests.