Is Oman Expensive to Travel? A Full Detailed Trip Budget and Tips
Scribbled by Claire ⬩ 04 Apr 2025
Are you planning for a trip to Oman but are wondering what the prices are like? Read on for a complete, itemised budget for a one-month trip to Oman, including car hire, food costs, hotel prices, petrol, beverages, activities and attractions, to help you budget your own trip.
‘Is Oman expensive to visit?’ is, for some almost unfathomable reason, one of the first questions we are usually asked about the country.
The Middle East, especially the Gulf, has a bit of a reputation for being expensive. These nations are often overlooked by budget travellers due to cost and lack of affordable accommodation, and Oman is no exception to this.
However, if you want to experience an incredible country in the Middle East on a lower budget, an Oman road trip is one of the most cost-effective methods. We travelled Oman several times on a (relatively) small budget and aim to encourage more people to visit our favourite country.
During our first epic month on the road in Oman we recorded every expense, so have been able to break down all our spending. We hope this post helps you organise your own trip and demonstrates that it can be accomplished on a budget!
Below is a detailed list of our costs for a month in Oman during 2022. We have since returned and spent another month in Oman in 2023, and again in 2024, both of which had almost the same total budget!
Our most recent trip in 2026 was, once again, very similar in price.
Prices in Oman haven’t changed significantly over the years, it seems!
IN THIS GUIDE //
Is Oman Expensive to Visit?
THE CURRENCY IN OMAN
IS OMAN EXPENSIVE – TOTAL BUDGET
IS OMAN EXPENSIVE?
– DRINK COSTS IN OMAN
– FOOD COSTS IN OMAN
– ACCOMMODATION COSTS IN OMAN
– CAR RENTAL COSTS IN OMAN
– GAS COSTS IN OMAN
– ATTRACTION COSTS IN OMAN
– MISCELLANEOUS COSTS IN OMAN
HOW YOUR BUDGET MIGHT DIFFER
IS CASH OR CARD BEST IN OMAN?
FINAL THOUGHTS
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THE CURRENCY IN OMAN
All our costs are recorded in rials (OMR), the Omani currency. The rial is broken down into the sub-unit of biasas, 1000 of which make up a rial.
The currency is moderately strong – this is one of the reasons why Oman can be quite pricey depending on your home currency.
Currently, in 2025, these are some relevant conversions:
1 GBP gets you 0.50 OMR
1 USD gets you 0.38 OMR
1 EUR gets you 0.43 OMR
1 AED gets you 0.10 OMR
Check for up-to-date conversion rates for your home currency.
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RELATED | 13 BEST WADIS IN OMAN
Is Oman Expensive: Our Total Budget
The grand total for our 29 day Oman road trip for two people was 1358 OMR.
This works out around £1400 (US$1747) per person, which is about £48 (US$60) per person per day.
This may be considered expensive, but not crazy high considering Oman is regarded as an expensive country and we were there for an entire month with a four-wheel drive car.
In fact, I’d say that Oman was pretty affordable!
Our Oman budget total does not include international flights to Muscat, insurance or visas (which you must pay for if you stay more than two weeks). For a shorter trip, many nationalities would get this visa for free. If you’re not sure, find out how much a visa will cost for different nationalities.
We’ve always found the best car rental prices for Oman on DiscoverCars. It’s our go-to car comparison website for every road trip because they have such good insurance. You can save loads of money and get great-priced comprehensive coverage.
Is Oman Expensive?
We broke down our budget totals above into the following categories:
Food and Drink
Accommodation
Car Rental
Gas/Petrol
Attractions
Miscellaneous
Below, we have written about them in detail.
Drink Costs in Oman
Alcohol: there is no alcohol category because, for the most part, Oman is a dry country, and we did not buy any while we were there. If you want an alcoholic beverage, you will have to frequent one of the classier hotel establishments, mostly in Muscat, which was not in our budget! It is also possible to bring in a moderate amount of alcohol at the airport duty-free.
We were also on a mega road trip – there were rarely times it would have been sensible to drink anyway (Oman has very strict drink-driving laws).
Soft drinks: we purchased six-litre water containers from the supermarkets for our drinking water. These were very good value, costing around 0.4 OMR.
I also have an unfortunate Coca Cola habit which is not cheap in Oman. Six cans of coke cost about 1.50 OMR and I can burn through a lot of diet Coke on a bad camping day. This means your budget could be a little less than ours if you don’t drink 6-12 cans of diet soft drink daily (I’m trying to quit this).
Coffee is far cheaper if that is your jam. It is very, very affordable, or even free when browsing in markets.
Food Costs in Oman
We bought most of our food at supermarkets. Carrefour and Lulu are some of the nicest, classiest supermarkets we have ever frequented anywhere in the world. Lulu was our absolute favourite due to the numerous fresh food options including salads, breads and hummus, so we rarely craved anything else. They really are a joy to shop at – I still dream of them to this day.
Prices: the supermarket prices for food products were reasonable. I’d estimate them to be a little more expensive than the United Kingdom, but the products were way nicer. The prices were on par with the United States, in general (although I know prices vary so much across the country – it’s just an estimate). The quality of the food was significantly better than anything I have experienced in the USA though. If you want an up to date idea of what supermarket food might cost, check online – the Lulu website is decent and in English.
Restaurants: as we were camping, we did not eat in many restaurants. When we did, we chose small curry places with vegetarian options. These curries were incredible value and always excellent quality. Our favourite restaurant meal cost us 0.5 OMR each.
If you have an emergency pizza craving, there are a few local pizza restaurants with mediocre quality but inexpensive prices (much lower than the UK or USA).
Accommodation Costs in Oman
⬩Camping: wild camping is always free. If wild camping is something you would consider for your own Oman road trip, check out our camping in Oman guide.
⬩Hotels: alongside our free camping nights, we had a hotel when we arrived for two days, a hotel in two other towns and another before our flight out. This means our total monthly accommodation budget was reasonably small, with only five hotel nights.
⬩Prices: hotels in Oman are not too expensive unless you are looking for five-star luxury. The quality of our hotel rooms have always been superb value for money and most included an excellent breakfast. 2026 update – we have visited three times since our first trip, and the hotel prices haven’t really increased much at all. We usually pay 15-30 OMR per night, depending on the quality and location of the hotel.
Be aware that bookable hotels are less common outside of the main cities and towns in Oman, especially in the south.
⬩Hostels: there is a distinct lack of hostels in Oman, so anyone travelling on a shoestring accommodation budget, or solo, may struggle.
⬩Parking: a huge bonus – there are no hotel charges for parking. This means your road trip budget will likely have absolutely zero parking fees apart from the possibility of a few charges around Muscat.
Car Rental Costs in Oman
The rental car budget is the biggie for any Oman road trip.
The cost will depend on which car type you choose – prices can be more than double for a four-wheel drive vehicle. We’ve written in detail about driving in Oman, including vehicle rental and logistics, so head over there for more information. We’ve discussed when a four-wheel drive is needed to help you decide if it’ll be necessary for your trip.
Our four-wheel drive Toyota Fortuner was booked through our favourite portal for 28 days and was the largest segment of our trip cost.
Since that first trip, we have rented four more cars in Oman, all Fortuners (apart from one sedan). In our experience, rental prices have actually decreased slightly each year (or maybe we were just lucky). All cars were booked through Discover Cars because they have the best insurance.
Mileage surcharge: rental companies in Oman commonly put an included mileage limit on their rentals. This means a car will often come with 200-250 kilometres a day included, with a surcharge for any usage exceeding that. This isn’t a problem if you don’t head all the way south to Salalah in your car (which we always do!). The surcharge isn’t unreasonable, but it is definitely worth factoring into your budget.
Always check in advance – it’ll be obvious if these surcharges are applicable on the rental webpage.
Gas Costs in Oman
Gas in Oman is super affordable! Like, under 0.25 OMR a litre, levels of affordable.
This meant that we could travel 7000 kilometres around Oman with a relatively inefficient car and it not break the bank (considering the distances involved, anyway).
Attraction Costs in Oman
Oman charges moderate prices for attractions, but never for anything outdoorsy, like wadis, villages or hikes.
Some examples of things we’ve spent money on in Oman over the years:
Khor Rori: 2 OMR per car, UNESCO ruins near Wadi Darbat
Wadi Shab: 1 OMR per person for the boat ride
That was the extent of the spending on attractions in Oman over the entire of our first month!
On our subsequent trips, we also visited:
Jabreen Castle: 3 OMR
Bahla Fort: 3 OMR (card only)
Samail Castle: 3 OMR (card only)
Al Bilad: 1 OMR
Nizwa Fort: 5 OMR
National Museum of Oman: 5 OMR (card only)
Oman Across Ages Museum: 5 OMR
Entrance to the Grand Mosques of Muscat and Salalah is always free.
Miscellaneous Costs in Oman
This section includes anything else, such as camping gear, one taxi, two sim cards, the Oman Off-road book, car wash and some electronics.
Sim cards: our sim cards cost 9 OMR each for 10 Gb of data. We chose Orange and picked them up in arrivals at the airport. It was easy and they worked really well across the country. The second trip we choose sims from Ooredoo for a similar price. On our most recent trip, we used e-sims from Airalo because they worked out cheaper than a physical sim (and it’s much simpler!).
Car washing: our car had to be washed before we returned it (it was bad). This cost us 4.2 OMR for a team of guys at a garage who took half an hour to clean it, inside and out. Over the years we;ve had our car washed quite a few times and it has always been between 3-4 OMR.
Camp gear: we bought some camping items including cooking equipment, gas, two folding chairs, a blanket, disinfectant, bin bags, some car charging adapters, and a bucket. These were all purchased from Carrefour at a very reasonable price. We already owned the rest of our camping equipment.
Oman Off-road: the Oman Offroad book was a big spend. It costs 25 OMR and we bought it from WH Smiths in the Muscat Airport arrivals area.
Taxi: we took one taxi in Muscat which cost 11 OMR for about a 15 minute ride. They are pretty expensive!
LOOKING FOR SOME OMAN INSPIRATION?
Explore some wadis:
Take a look at our 13 favourite wadis
Hike Oman’s favourite Wadi Shab
Live in a fairytale at the Wadi Damm pools
Explore the quirky white pools of Wadi Abyad
or the magnificent waterfalls of Wadi Darbat
Explore the cities and mountains:
Feel intrepid on an Oman offroad mountains itinerary
Discover what dramatic means with this Salalah itinerary
See some offbeat spots around Sur
Explore Oman’s cultural heart in Nizwa
Prepare with our Oman driving guide
Max out your time with these Muscat day trips
Check out Muscat’s best viewpoints
Have the best two-day city break in Muscat
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How Might Your Budget Differ From Ours?
There are lots of possible ways to save money or spend more than we did in Oman!
Below are a few thoughts about what you can expect.
Hotels Costs
If you choose not to camp, you’ll have to pay for hotels in Oman. This would obviously be an increase on our budget, somewhat. However, we find Oman’s hotels are generally very well-priced for the quality that you get, so we’d still encourage a visit! Throughout our later trips, we mixed in more hotels between our camping and were always happy with the value for money.
Here is a rough guideline for prices:
Budget hotels, apartments or guesthouses: from 15 OMR a night
Mid-range, western style hotels: from 25-30 OMR a night
High-end, luxury hotels and resorts: from 50-200 OMR or more a night
Oman has some incredible luxury hotels, ones that rival anywhere in the world. If you want to splurge, our favourites in Muscat are the Al Bustan Palace and the W Muscat, and the Anantara and the Alila at Jebel Akhdar. These hotels are out of this world (and usually out of our price range!).
We book every hotel in Oman on Booking.com. It’s offers the best range, reviews and prices.
Rental Cars
Our rental car costs are always kind of huge.
Four-wheel drive vehicles do not come cheap in Oman, plus we always get the extra insurance through Discover Cars because roads can be rough and you just never know (we’ve never had to claim in Oman, though).
If you wanted to more than halve our car costs, consider getting a two wheel drive car. They can’t go as crazy in the Omani mountains, but it’ll give you space in your budget for hotels if you don’t want to camp.
Guided Activities
Our budget didn’t include any guided activities, however there are quite a few things that many visitors love to do that often involves, or even requires, taking a guide.
These will inevitably increase your budget above ours. Activities like:
Snorkelling in the Daymaniat Islands (Oman’s offshore jewel with fantastic marine life)
Exploring the impenetrable Snake Canyon (the most scenic canyon in Oman, but essential to take a guide)
Day tour of Wadi Shab and Bimmah Sinkhole (very popular tour and great for time saving)
Jebel Akhdar four-wheel drive tour (you need a four-wheel drive to access the mountain)
Desert tours (a tour is essential unless you are highly experienced with dune driving)
Dolphin watching (lovely excursion from Muscat and great for people who don’t swim)
These types of day trips add to your budget, but are worth it if they are your vibe! We book all our tours on Get Your Guide, because I like to be able to read reviews before I choose.
If you’re interested in some more independent (and affordable) activities, check out our posts on the best of Oman wadis, off-roading the Hajar Mountains, visiting some isolated beehive tombs, checking out a totally empty fort, and more.
Food and Drink
Our food budget was pretty low, because we often eat from the supermarkets or low-cost local restaurants. Choosing higher-end restaurants will increase your budget, and drinking alcohol (in the few places that serve it) will increase your budget even more!
Alcoholic beverage prices are at a premium (and mostly only available in the high-end hotels), often upwards of 5 OMR at the low end.
Restaurant prices varies considerably, but if you want to eat, for example, in the popular Bait Al Luban on the Mutrah Corniche, mains costs 5-8 OMR upwards. Food in the five star hotels is significantly more!
More recently, all the way up to mid-2026, we’ve visited a lot more restaurants in Oman of all styles and budgets. The food is very decently priced compared with anything in Europe and North America, even for non-local foods.
If you’re interested, we’ve listed our favourite restaurants in Muscat on our two-day itinerary. Check it out if you’re interested (all the restaurants have menus online so you can directly see the up-to-date prices).
CAR HIRE FOR YOUR OMAN TRIP
We always rent our vehicles all over the world, including our recent trips in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Morocco, with Discover Cars. They’re often the most affordable, plus they paid out immediately on an insurance claim we made when our car took some heavy damage in Sicily. We fully recommend them.
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TAKE A LOOK BELOW OR CHECK CAR RENTAL
Is Cash or Card Better in Oman?
Both cash and card are generally accepted in Oman.
We seldom paid on debit/credit card for anything on our budget Oman road trip. In hotels we paid a mixture of cash and card, although in all shopping malls, almost all gas stations and hotels you can use a credit/debit card. We personally prefer cash because it is easier for us to monitor our spending, but in Oman there is not much need for cash in the larger towns – card is accepted in most places.
Some smaller shops and restaurants in more rural areas only took cash. Once, we stopped at a gas station that did not take card. This was unusual though.
A FEW MORE IDEAS FOR YOUR OMAN TRIP
Go camping:
Sleep under the stars at these amazing wild camping locations
Plan your trip with our Oman camping guide
Camp atop Oman’s highest mountain
or camp in the palest of Oman’s deserts at the Sugar Dunes
or have a totally unique adventure:
Spot the most remote beehive tombs in Oman
Wander around Oman’s most photogenic fort
Learn about livestock at the Nizwa goat market
Take a look around Oman’s most unique fortification
Find a way into Bat’s 5000 year-old tombs
Figure out which of Oman’s UNESCO sites are worth visiting
Take a chill day on one of Muscat’s beaches
Drive up Oman’s most popular mountain
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Final Thoughts: Oman Trip Costs
We hope this post helps you prepare for your Oman road trip!
‘Is Oman expensive?’ is, by far, the most popular question about our trips to Oman, so we were more than happy to answer.
The lack of accommodation expenses and pricey attractions are significant savers on this Oman budget. The takeaway here though is that to be on a tight budget for an Oman road trip, the best option is to wild camp. It is safe, fun, and completely free. We have written an extensive guide to camping in Oman if you would like to go down this route.
We are not the most frugal of travellers (and are normally crap at keeping to a budget), so you could easily aim for a significantly lower budget than we had. Fewer hotels, lower food costs (give those cans of coke a miss) and a two-wheel drive vehicle would reduce this price considerably.
We hope this helps you prepare for your trip!
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Thank you, Claire + Nick
Very interesting. I am looking to do a trip in November driving from Dubai airport into Oman.
Are the wadi’s ok to swim in? Curious about fishing an whether this is easy and possible to cook the catch.
Will follow you guys on insta too.
Hi John,
Generally speaking, the wadi’s are fine to swim in – we previously swam in a number of them. We don’t fish and we didn’t see many people fishing in the wadis. However, we did see lots of people fishing around the coast.
Hope you have a great trip in November.