Since I moved to Salalah, the road trip from Salalah to Muscat was in my mind. But since its a thousand kilometer trip one way and takes around 10 to 12 hours, I didn’t plan journey from Muscat to Salalah by car until September 2019.

This post will hopefully guide all those who want to travel from the beautiful city of Salalah to the capital Muscat by car with family and friends.

Experience of Muscat to Salalah road trip was different than that of driving from Salalah to Muscat as the later one was done in a single stretch, while the former one was with an over night stay. For my Muscat to Salalah drive experience with hotel stay in Haima, read Muscat to Salalah Road Trip Post

This post will cover my first hand experience of road trip from Salalah to Muscat via Haima, the most prominent town in Al Wusta Governorate. 

Salalah to Muscat Road Trip by Car via Haima

There are although two highways that connect Salalah with Muscat, Haima will come on the inland highway. The other highway, which is also known as the coastal highway, goes through Duqm. The trip on the coastal highway is my bucket-list, which I will plan soon and cover on my blog. 

Whether you are traveling from Salalah to Muscat, or any other part in Northern side of Oman like Jabal Akhdar, Jebel Shams, Nizwa, Seeb, Sohar, most probably you will pass through Haima as it’s the shortest route. This post covers drive through Haima Highway. 

You can continue to Dubai or other parts of United Arab Emirates (like Sharjah, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Ummal Quwain, and Fujairah), through Haima.

Haima is ideally the middle point of Journey from Salalah to Muscat. 

Type of Vehicle to Drive with

My road trip from Salalah to Muscatwas in Nissan Sentra, 1600 cc, saloon / sedan vehicle. Most people recommend to drive in 4×4 car as this will be more comfortable and have a better road grip.

On various places on the road, there are signs that desert dunes are located and can cross the road if windy. So with a 4×4 vehicle there wouldn’t be a problem. Luckily we didn’t have any sand storm that day and there wasn’t any hindrance.

You can book 4×4 vehicle online, if you want to travel in it.

Salalah to Muscat Road Condition

Road is entirely marked and have proper sign boards throughout the journey. Some of the uncommon signs will be for the sand dunes and diversions. The diversions were due to road construction at the time of traveling (at some part building the dual carriageway).

From Salalah to Thumrait, the road is dual carriageway. While from Thumrait to Haima, the road is single carriageway. From Haima to Muscat, the road is dual carriageway, except for a few kilometers, where the construction is ongoing for the overhead bridges or making of dual carriageway for the remaining patches. 

There is a lay bay every 10 kilometers on the single carriageway.

Type of Vehicles on the Road

The road is mostly used by private cars, trucks, trailers and bus services like bus service from Dubai to Salalah by GTC,  and within Oman bus services by Mwasalat, Gulf Transport Company, Gulf Line Transport, Salalah Line Transport, Desert King and Al Ghazal). On the single carriageways, beware of the long vehicles and drive with caution. Overtake only wherever permitted.

Is it safe to Drive?

The drive from Thumrait to Haima requires more caution and attention due to single carriageway. In the day time, there is hardly any difficulty in driving from Haima to Muscat as it’s a dual carriageway. 

Don’t drive at night unless necessary. Everyone I consulted with before driving to Muscat / Salalah forbade me to drive at night. This is mainly as the highway is not lit and in single carriageway it will be quite difficult.

Salalah to Muscat Road Trip by Car

My friend, who has traveled from Salalah to Muscat more than 20 times by road, advised me to start the journey early in the morning. Taking his suggestion seriously, we started the journey at 4:30 am, which is before the sunrise.

For the ease of understanding, I am dividing this journey into some parts, like Salalah to Thumrait, Thumrait to Haima, Haima to Adam, and Adam to Muscat. 

Part 1: Salalah to Thumrait – The Journey in the Mountains

After leaving the house in Awaqd Salala, our first stop was the coffee shop at the fuel station besides Dhofar University on 18th November Highway. We already purchased Croissant and other things last evening from Lulu Hypermarket in Al Wadi for the journey.

The journey from the Dhofar Mountains on the northern side was not more than 60 km / hour due to heavy fog from Gogub to Qairoon Hairiti. Expect this every khareef season, which is from June to September and due to this the mountains turns green. 

Our first stop was Thumrait, the third largest wilayat in Dhofar Governorate after Salalah and Mirbat, where we prayed the salat al Fajar in the mosque besides Shell Fuel Station. Check the Google Map location of the fuel station

Although the fuel in the car was around 80 percent, but we still refueled to be on the safer side. However, I found while driving that there were couple of fuel station from Salalah to Haima and it wasn’t a problem. Since my car runs 500 kilometer plus with full tank, the next fueling station in Haima will be ample for our requirement.

Part 2: Thumrait to Haima – The Single Carriageway Journey

During the trip from Thamrait to Haima, we stopped at one place for tea and toilet. The toilet was ordinary. In this restaurant, you can also have breakfast. Check the location of this place on the Google map.

Just at the suburbs of Haima (before reaching the main town), we got our car filled for the next five hundred kilometer journey. There was a beautiful mosque besides the fuel station. The mosque seems to be pretty new. The mosque has praying area for both men and women, ablution area and public toilets. As its new construction, toilets are pretty decent and clean. Check the Google Map Location of the Mosque

When we reached Haima it was around 10:30 am. Here, we found a normal restaurant for eating breakfast or brunch. The food was good, but the ambiance and cleanliness was not impressive. Therefore, will rate it 4 out of 10. Check the Google Map Location of Wahat Haima Restaurant

Seemingly, it was one of the few options, so anyways we opted for this one. If you find any better restaurant in Haima, kindly share in the comment section of this post.

We ate Anda and Paratha in a family hall, which had only one cubical with table and chairs.

Anda masala was delicious and this is my recommendation. 

There are couple of hotels in Haima, where you can stay overnight, in case you start the journey late and want to break it at this point. You can read my guide for Haima Hotels.

Part 3: Haima to Adam – The Dual Carriageway Journey

After a rest of couple of minutes and breakfast, we resumed our journey towards Muscat.

One important thing to note is that there is literally nothing (just barren land) from Haima to Adam. So if you want to pray or have something to eat or drink or have toilet breaks or fuel your car, you must get all these done at Haima.

There is newly constructed dual carriageway from Haima to Adam, with some diversions for the ongoing bridges construction. The areas you will pass through is desert only. 

We didn’t stop at Adam. However, there are some public toilets, commercial markets, restaurants, and fuel station at Adam.

We stopped at a mosque (مسجد جامع متان Jama Matan Masjid) after Adam for praying Zuhr and Asr together (Qasr prayer). This mosque was splendid and newly constructed as well. There are toilets but they are inside the mosque boundary so only Muslims can use it. Google Map Location of Matan Masjid

The time we reached this mosque was around 1:30 pm, and when we got out of the car it was pretty hot, which we are not used to as we live in Salalah. 

Part 4: Adam to Muscat via Nizwa – The Last Leg of the Road Trip

Via Highway 31, we passed through Nizwa, one of the oldest cities in Oman and the largest one in Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate. The most important landmark visible for Nizwa was Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. 

From the mosque, we drove on Highway 15 and reached Burj al Sahwa in Muscat (Google Map Location of Burj al Sahwa) via Birkat al Mouz, Izki, Imti, Samail, Bidbid, Fanja, Murayrat, Al Jafnayn, and Rusayl in Ad Dakhiliyah and Muscat Governorates.

This whole part of the journey is through where people are living.  When we reached Muscat and headed towards our accommodation, which was in Al Qurm. Our road trip came to an end at 3:40 pm, which is 11 hours from the time we started.

Recommended Place to Stay in Muscat

There are many hotels and resorts in Muscat and you can Book them Online at Booking.com. I booked my accommodation in Muscat by Booking.com, which I usually use to book stay anywhere in the world.