Northern Oman is beautiful but if you want to settle in one spot, Ṣalālah is the place to choose. One would happily spend a fortnight exploring the province and its ancient ruins, its holy shrines, and its spectacular landscapes of water, rock, desert and sudden, lush greenery. These are the best things to do in northern Oman
- SHOP IN SALALAH
At night, Ṣalālah's souks are bustling. This is the place to buy frankincense for about £4 per kilo; the sellers are the most approachable female Omanis you'll come across. From Ṣalālah it is an easy and beautiful drive into the mountains to the tomb of Nabi Ayoub (Joe's Tomb), where the custodian will show you a footprint in the rock that suggests the Prophet was a giant (it's at least half-a-metre long).
- BEACH HOP IN ALAJAH
Dhofar is an hour-and-a-half flight from Muscat and all but untouched by tourism. The capital, Alajah, sits on a white-sand beach which runs for 980km in each direction. At dawn, you can watch the soldiers in smart, striped pantaloons riding horses westwards.
- EXPLORE DESERTED MIRBAT
You can head east, past the ruined city of Sumhuram (from which, it is said, the Queen of Sheba set off to visit King Soloman), and along a vast, sweeping bay to Mirbāt, a town of deserted old houses with massive studded doors and intricately carved shutters to which I'm dreaming of retiring.
- GO WILDLIFE-SPOTTING AT MUGHSAIL
Drive west to the mountain-framed beach of Mughsail, where flamingos stalk delicately along the margin of a lagoon, and frankincense trees, once the source of fabulous wealth in Oman but now gnarled and dead-looking, grow in the dry wadis.
Pictured: the lush riverbank of Wadi Shab
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