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''It's also possible to hitch the taxi's that roam the roads. If you do it right, you can get about 20% of your lifts in free taxis. If you are walking besides the road, turning around and thumbing when a car passes, but not thumbing for a taxi, often they stop anyway. They drive up besides you, and ask you where you are going. Tell them "maafi fluce"(I have no money), and tell them that you are walking to your destination. Often they will let you in for a free ride, it happens quiet often if your walking on the side of the road. And don't worry, once your in, they will not then turn around and ask you for money at the end of the ride - Oman's taxi drivers are the nicest I've ever found in the world.''
Although english is spoken by virtually everyone and most signs are in both languages, learning how to read and pronounce arab letters can be a good idea. People will open up even more at foreigners showing the smallest effort to learn their language. <br/>
''Many locals were surprised when they noticed me reading arab letters! Sometimes I found it helpful to know pronunciation of letters when trying to say a city's name, as with english spellings don't tell me the difference between "t" and "T" (and there is one). Arabic Alpha is a free app for iPhone an Android and I found it most helpful of all things I tried.''<br/>
''It's not mine and neither get I paid for saying this. ;-) --Marcel''
== Muscat ==
''Travelling as a couple or two couples I made a different experience in the capital: Many a times we'd wait less than 5 minutes and someone curious stops and literally turns into a free taxi, abandoning their own business and driving us where we wanted to go (within Muscat, which still can take more than half an hour) out of hospitality and curiousity.''
Muscat is a pain to get out of, it is an incredibly long, stretched and highly dense city, as all the people live along the coastal strip. One thing to try is finding a small entrance to the main road, and try waving to cars about to enter the highway, tell them you have no money for a taxi, if they could take you to where they are going. ''Or tell them that and why you don't spend it on transportation insteaOof , instead of lying. Omani Omanis speak a decent english.'' Often times they will take you all the way to where you need to go in the city. As they hardly never see a backpacker, you are more of a novelty than the hordes of retired tourists and aging ex-pats that crowd the place.
== Southern Oman (Dhofar) ==
The Dhofar region around Salalah in the south is quite hitchable. Many guest workers (mostly Pakistani and Indians) hitchhike to work there so it is nothing unheard of.<br/>
''Marcel, 2017: Wow, in I disagree. In 3 weeks and 3000km I haven't seen a single local hitchhiking. Autostop seems to be more known than in Iran, yet also in the south people seemed to wonder how I got to the place where they picked me up.''
It is recommended to make sure that clarify if your lift can take you into the next town, or drop you at a gas station close to the road. The heat is not as bad as in most other places in the Arabic Peninsula, but bad enough. You will still need good sun protection and water as you will sweat a lot. Inside towns or on gas stations though you can usually cool down as most bars, supermarkets and shops offer air conditioning. Due to a special climate the weather is moderate and extremely humid between June and September. It is said that there is a lot of tourism coming to Dhofar in this time to see (''well, or not'') the supposedly neverending thick mist covering all Salalah area.
There are free public toilets, sometimes also including showers, on the beaches west of Salalah. As of April 2010 they were reasonably clean. '''Al Fasayah''' is the secret spot in this area and for sure without amenities, given it's remoteness. After some 40 or 50km from Salalah towards Yemen there's a sign for Fasayah or Fazajah to the left. From there it's 10km of hiking down to the beach, enjoy! A skilled and adventurous driver could do it with a 2WD but many locals wouldn't even dare in a rented 4WD4x4! ''Hitch the Salalah-Yemen street in a pickup or jeep and chances are the driver's gonna bring you down to the beach, but be prepared to walk back up on yourself! The mountain panorama is gorgeous and ten times worth it, even if you turn around without going the long way down to the beach. ''
==Musandam==
==Visa info==
Oman has a '''common visa facility''' with [[UAE]], if . If you obtained your [[UAE]] visa in [[Dubai]] airport ''(probably also when coming by [[ferry]] to Dubai, not [[Sharjah]])'' and it is still valid for at least 3 weeks; then you can get a 3-weeks free visa for [[Oman]]. '''ONLY if you asked for an extra stamp at the airport/ harbor where you enter the emirate of Dubai!''' ''I entered UAE by ferry in 2017 and at the Omani border an officer told me free Omani visa gets only who declared upon entering Dubai that he or she wants to go to Oman and got an extra stamp from Dubai's officer.''
It's only the countries mentioned on this site that are benefiting from this: [http://www.rop.gov.om/english/dg_passport_visa_dubai.asp]. What that website does not mention though, is that this is ONLY possible if you '''go through the [[Hatta]] border''' (I hitched from [[Dubai]] down to [[Al Ain]] border, only to get the information that I had to go through [[Hatta]]). You still need the exit-stamp from [[UAE]], even though you want the 3-weeks free visa.
The price of the "normal" visa has increased and there are many websites that provides provide the old (cheaper) price. Check this website for the correct prices: [http://www.rop.gov.om/english/dg_passport_visas.asp]<br/> In 2017 it was 5 Omani Rials (12.5$) for ten days, extendable by ten days in police offices dealing with immigration and visa. 30 days day visa costs 20 Rials (50$) and is extendable as well. Extensions are only possible '''for the same amount of time and same price''' as original visa and time probably starts counting the day you're extending it. So going to immigration offices two days after you entered Oman is a waste of money. <br/>''In Salalah the process took 3 hours including waiting time and one hour spent at a copyshop not far from the immigration office where we needed to get an official letter stating our wanting to get a visa extension. This letter was required by police, along with payment only possible by credit card. (But they quickly found a local who payed with his card and I gave him the cash.)''<br/>
Find the location of Salalah immigration police at openstreetmaps.org - at least in [[Muscat]] the extension can be done as well, not sure about other cities.
I hitched a hundred thousand kilometers on this planet and Oman beats it all. Yes, part of it may be since I like arabian culture, but there's more to it. People, especially in the southern half, are so warm and hospitable, simply want to help where they can and satisfy their genuine curiousity, ''while'' actually remaining respectful. In some other places on earth I've met a massive hospitality, that however was bigger than freedom of both host and guest. In Oman I (male...) felt accepted and tolerated and no one seemed to try to force their culture/mind/thought-of-what's-right-and-wrong on me. <br/>
The country's safe and clean (even kinda proper and made up here and there), wildcamping wasn't a deal at all. Weather will be '''very''' hot in summer, best time temperaturewise is November through February/ March. ===[[Martin]]=== I landed in Dubai and got a stamp for free since they now have an agreement with Schengen citizens. I then hitchhiked from there to the Hatta border in Oman and I got a free 21-days visa on the border. However, you first have to get out of UAE and cross the border checkpoint where you'll have to pay something like 7 euros. I think they give it back to you if you keep the paper and go back to the UAE but I'm not sure since I then took a plane from Oman. That was in January 2018 and it was really easy. The border officers were interested in my trip from France to India hitchhiking. There are a few kilometers between the UAE border and the Omani border. Try to get a car before the UAE border or just catch a truck in between! Enjoy Oman, really nice place to travel and meet local people. Nature is also amazing!
== Cities ==
== Links ==
* [http://abgefahren.hitchbase.com/DE/blogs/alex/20090213/just-hitching-rides-a-journey-eid-christmas Just hitching rides: A journey from Eid to Christmas], abgefahren Blogs (article partly based on)
== Nomadwiki & Trashwiki ==
{{nomadwiki}}
[[Category:Western Asia]]
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[Category:East Route from North Cape to Cape of Good Hope]]
