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Winter rate
Muscat to Salalah by car — the drive, and a one-way rental to do it in
Muscat to Salalah: 1,000 km, ~10 h on Route 31 via Nizwa, Haima and Thumrait. Fuel stops, overnights and a one-way rental dropped in Salalah, no fee.
The drive in numbers
About 1,000 km. Roughly ten hours of driving, more with stops. One road for most of it: Route 31, from the Nizwa turn south through Adam, Haima and Thumrait to Salalah. Tarmac all the way. A sedan can do it. A 7-seater makes it comfortable. Only take a 4x4 if you want the Empty Quarter at the other end.
The route, stage by stage
| Stage | Approx. distance | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Muscat to Nizwa | ~160 km | Dual carriageway. Last big town with a full range of hotels. |
| Nizwa to Adam | ~70 km | Adam is the last town before the desert. Fill up here. |
| Adam to Haima | ~360 km | Long, straight, hot. Petrol stations but little else. Camels on the verges. |
| Haima to Thumrait | ~290 km | The gap. About three hours with few reliable services. Fill up in Haima. |
| Thumrait to Salalah | ~80 km | The descent off the plateau. In khareef this stretch is in cloud. Arrive in daylight. |
Fuel, cash and food
Fill the tank at Adam and again at Haima. Between Haima and Thumrait assume there is no fuel you can rely on. Some stations on this road take cash only, so carry Omani rial. Food between Nizwa and Thumrait is petrol-station food; Haima has a few simple restaurants. Carry water.
Road conditions and safety
Route 31 is a good road and heavily used by trucks. Long sections are single carriageway with overtaking lanes. Crosswinds pick up in the afternoon. Camels cross the road and do not look first. The main hazard is fatigue on a straight road, so share the driving if you can and do not try to arrive late at night. Speed cameras are frequent. Fines are the driver's responsibility.
Where to stop overnight
If you would rather not do it in one day, Nizwa is the natural first stop: forts, a souq and a wide choice of hotels, with about 800 km left for day two. Haima has basic hotels and rest houses and splits the drive almost in half. Thumrait has fuel and little else.
Which car
- Budget sedan (Elantra, Sunny, Rio): cheapest way to do the drive. Fine on tarmac, no tracks at the other end.
- 7-seater 4x4 (Prado, Fortuner, Haval H9, Pajero): family comfort for ten hours, then Jebel Samhan and the wadis in Salalah.
- Land Cruiser 200 (138-litre tank) or Land Cruiser 300 (110 litres): one fuel stop for the whole route.
- Any 4x4 with low range if you plan the Empty Quarter from Salalah.
One-way rental: how it works
Muscat to Salalah: no relocation fee
Pick up in Muscat at Al Azaiba or Shatti Al Qurum, drive south, and leave the car at our Salalah office. There is no relocation fee for a customer-driven Muscat to Salalah one-way. You pay the daily rate for your rental days, and any add-ons.
Salalah to Muscat: OMR 125
Fly into Salalah, drive north, and return the car in Muscat. The one-way fee is OMR 125 and is shown before you confirm.
Round trip: no fee
Pick up and return in Muscat. Drive down, spend your days in Salalah, drive back. No one-way charge.
Kilometres
The drive is about 1,000 km each way. Your rental includes standard kilometres per day; extra kilometres are OMR 0.100 each, or add 100 km a day for OMR 1.000. For a one-way, add the 100 km a day pack if your included kilometres do not cover the 1,000 km. The minimum rental is 4 days; the widget shows the total.
Muscat pickup points
Al Azaiba, or Shatti Al Qurum, our airport delivery point about 15 minutes from Muscat International Airport. Muscat office hours are 9:00 to 18:00, Saturday to Thursday, closed Friday. Out-of-hours handover costs OMR 50 per vehicle.
Khareef on this road
From mid-July the last 80 km from Thumrait drop into fog and drizzle. Visibility can fall to a few car lengths. Plan to reach Thumrait by mid-afternoon, use dipped lights, and keep well back from the trucks.
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FAQ
About 1,000 km by road on Route 31. Roughly ten hours of driving without long stops.
Ten to eleven hours including fuel stops. Leave by 06:00 and you arrive before dark, even in winter.
Tarmac the whole way, good surface, long straight sections. Dual carriageway around Muscat and Nizwa, then single carriageway with overtaking lanes for much of the desert section. Heavy truck traffic. Camels.
Yes. Nizwa has the widest choice. Haima has basic hotels about halfway. There is little between Haima and Salalah other than Thumrait.
Yes, and there is no relocation fee when you drive it yourself. Return the car to our Salalah office.
OMR 125, shown on your quote before you confirm. Return points are Al Azaiba and Shatti Al Qurum.
No. The road is tarmac. You need a 4x4 only for what you plan to do once you arrive: the Empty Quarter, the upper Jebel Samhan tracks, wadi beds.
Yes, Mwasalat runs the route and the journey takes about 12 hours. The car costs more and gives you Nizwa, Wadi Dawkah and the freedom to stop. Many people fly one way and drive the other; a Salalah to Muscat one-way makes that possible.