Oman Map

Oman wraps around the south-eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates to the north-west, Saudi Arabia to the west and Yemen to the south-west, and its long coast faces the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Two pieces lie apart from the rest of the country. The Musandam peninsula, on the Strait of Hormuz, is cut off by UAE territory. The tiny Madha exclave is surrounded by the UAE and itself contains a UAE enclave, the village of Nahwa. Oman covers 309,500 square kilometers and has about 5.5 million people (UN World Population Prospects, 2025 estimate). The December 2020 census counted 4.47 million, of whom 2.73 million were Omani citizens.

The Hajar Mountains and the north

The Al Hajar range curves for some 500 km from Musandam to Ras al Hadd, the easternmost point of Arabia. Its highest peak, Jebel Shams, rises to about 3,000 meters above Wadi Ghul, a gorge often called Oman's Grand Canyon. Nearby, the Jebel Akhdar plateau grows pomegranates, walnuts and Damask roses on terraces at around 2,000 meters. Between the mountains and the sea lies the Batinah plain, Oman's main farming strip of date gardens and the most populated area outside Muscat. Inland towns such as Nizwa and Bahla depend on aflaj, ancient channels that carry groundwater to the fields; five of these systems are inscribed by UNESCO. South-east of the mountains lie the dunes of the Sharqiya (Wahiba) Sands. The flat gravel plains of Al Wusta then stretch south towards the Rub' al Khali.

Dhofar and the khareef

Dhofar, the southern governorate around Salalah, is unlike the rest of Arabia. From about mid-June to mid-September, the south-west monsoon (the khareef) brings mist and drizzle to the coastal mountains and turns them green, while the rest of the peninsula is at its hottest. Frankincense trees grow in the drier valleys behind the mountains. The ancient trade sites of Khor Rori, Al-Baleed, Shisr and Wadi Dawkah form UNESCO's "Land of Frankincense". Dhofar was also the scene of a leftist insurgency against the sultanate from 1965 to 1975.

When to visit

October to April is the season for Muscat, the mountains and the desert. Summer on the northern coast is very hot and humid, and the interior regularly passes 45°C. Salalah reverses the pattern: its khareef season in July and August draws crowds of visitors from the Gulf. Green turtles nest year-round at Ras al Jinz near Sur.

Governorates and towns

Oman has 11 governorates (muhafazat). Its main towns include:

• Muscat: the capital region, a string of districts squeezed between mountains and sea. Old walled Muscat holds the Al Alam palace, Mutrah has its souq and corniche, and the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (2001) stands near Bawshar.
• Sohar: the medieval port of the Batinah, now Oman's main industrial port and free zone.
• Salalah: the capital of Dhofar, with a deep-water container port on the Arabian Sea.
• Nizwa: the old interior capital, known for its 17th-century round-towered fort and its Friday livestock market. Nearby Bahla Fort was Oman's first World Heritage Site (1987).
• Sur: an eastern port that still builds wooden dhows. Qalhat, an old trading port near Sur, became a World Heritage Site in 2018.
• Khasab: the main town of Musandam, whose steep-sided inlets (khors) are explored by boat.
• Duqm: a fishing village on the Arabian Sea transformed since the 2010s into a special economic zone with a port and refinery.

A maritime sultanate

The Al Busaid dynasty has ruled since the 1740s, when Ahmad bin Said drove out Persian forces. In the 19th century, Oman's rulers controlled Zanzibar and much of the Swahili coast; Sultan Said bin Sultan moved his court to Zanzibar in 1840. After his death the African and Arabian domains were divided between his sons, and the split became formal in 1861. Oman kept Gwadar, on the Makran coast, until it sold the town to Pakistan in 1958. Sultan Qaboos bin Said took power from his father in 1970 and built the modern state on oil revenue, with exports flowing from 1967. He was succeeded in January 2020 by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

Ibadi Islam, a school distinct from both Sunni and Shia Islam, is the dominant tradition among Omanis. Oman keeps a neutral foreign policy and has served as a go-between in talks between Iran and the United States, most recently in 2025. Under Vision 2040 it is diversifying away from oil, and it will become the first GCC state to levy a personal income tax: 5% on high earners from January 2028.