How safe is Oman for travelers?

Crime is not the issue

• Oman is one of the safest countries in the Middle East and street crime is very low.
• Sexual assault against foreigners is relatively rare but does happen, and the FCDO advises the same personal awareness you would use at home.

Alcohol

• Alcohol is legal for tourists in licensed venues - hotels and licensed restaurants - from age 21. This is more relaxed than Saudi Arabia and stricter than the UAE.
• Public intoxication and drink-driving are serious offences carrying imprisonment. There is no acceptable blood alcohol level for driving.
• You cannot buy alcohol in a shop as a visitor, and importing it is restricted.

Drugs

• Possession may carry the death penalty. The FCDO notes there is no distinction between "soft" and "hard" drugs in Omani law.

Dress and behaviour

• Cover arms and legs to below the knee, men and women. Tight clothing draws attention.
• Swimwear only at pools and tourist beaches. Not in a town, not in a shop, not walking back to the hotel.
• Ramadan: no eating, drinking, smoking or chewing gum in public during daylight. No loud music, dancing or swearing.
• Same-sex sexual activity is illegal.

The wadis

• Flash floods between October and March kill people in Oman. The rain that causes them may fall out of sight, kilometres upstream.
• Never drive through flowing water. Never camp in a wadi bed in that season.
• If flooding starts, get to high ground and stay put rather than trying to cross.
• Wadi Shab, Wadi Bani Khalid and Wadi Tiwi are the ones everyone visits, and they are exactly the terrain in question.

Heat

• Extreme heat has caused deaths in Oman from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Summer inland routinely passes 45 C.
• Hike early, carry more water than you think, and take salt as well as fluid.

Driving

• Accident rates are well above the UK's. This is the most likely thing to go wrong on an Oman trip.