Desert Experience: Wahiba Sands & Wadi Bani Khalid Group Tour

Mohammed Al Riyami was our guide and what a fantastic trip it was. Speechless scenery and Mohammed was full of knowledge of the areas, and also enriched us throughout with his amazing family history. This is not a tour to miss out on, from the clean crisp water of Wadi Bani Khalid, you have enough time to explore the different parts of the Wadi before heading out for some local food, then onto the desert where you can sand board too if you like. Mohammed even wrote our names in the sand in Arabic which just completes the whole experience. If you see this, book it, no questions asked!

A brilliant, full day out with an excellent guide (Hamood), who was good fun, knowledgeable and patient with our 5 year old. The scenery was absolutely spectacular and the sunset sandboarding was so much fun. Our daughter particularly enjoyed her camel ride and said it was her favourite part of the holiday. Thanks Hamood, we will always remember this fantastic day!

Amazing trip all thanks to Nabeel. He was very knowledge, very accommodating and hospitable. He even bought us Kalak tea and Omani donuts. Highly recommend!!!

Our guide Abdullah Alhabsi was 5 stars. He was polite knowledgeable, a good driver and great 4WD drive skills in the desert sand dunes. It was delightful he was our guide and also join our table for some meals. Abdullah also assisted me more due to my age and knees in some difficult spots. Thank you so much for an amazing 4 days. The accommodation was excellent all four nights. Gilloman needs to improve some areas of communication, and the trip might be light physical for the under 50 but was difficult for 60-year-old with bad knees. Note no alcohol was available at any of the locations something to be aware, if you like a beer.

We had an excellent day with our driver Abdull B, who made an outstanding trip possible for us with lots of very interesting information. Many thanks, Abdull.

The Wadi and desert were both features expectional landscape and suitable for all level adventure lovers. Our guide Abdullah B was very professional, friendly and quite informative about the places and a very professional and entertaining driver. I highly recommend the companies, place and the tour guide for this trip.

I have done a fair few desert trips in different countries. They can seem a bit repetitive - ride a camel, etc. But I signed up for this one as I wanted to sand board and it was a lot of fun! It's a nice way to get to Wahiba Sands from Muscat. It's a long journey out, but no complaints. Cute camels too, although I don't ride them for ethical reasons.

The tour guide was so nice, the view of both the desert and the wadi so beautiful. I highly recommend everything went perfect even the food was really great.

Best experience. Especially because of the Professional and Kind Tourguides. Murtadha & Nasser Are kind, Funny and make sure Everything is Perfect for you. Special thanks for your Service and hospitality

Amazing time and company (group of 1 other solo female traveller and 2 Italian ladies)!!!! The sunset was truly special. Thank you Abdullah.

We did a day trip which was too ambitious as too much time was spent in the car. You need to inform your guests that 6 out of 8 hours is in a car. At least we can make a decision based on correct information It made no sense. The trip in the desert was not what we expected. It was really not a desert trip. At least not for us. The sinkhole was a disaster. No toilets???? This is totally unacceptable. Where do people go to relieve themselves???? You MUST inform your guests about these things. The food was good and plentiful. Positive however was we met a delightful person who was the 4th person on our trip and our guide Ahmed was really nice.

We loved everything about this adventure. Thank you guide Mr. Muhammad (not sure if correct spelling) for a great day. My wife and I were joined by another couple picked up at a different hotel. They were a pleasure to spend a day with and share this experience with. We loved both major stops. The desert experience was our favorite. We met camels, visited a desert house, and did a lot of high speed desert driving. Mr. Muhammad drive us around in his Land Cruiser safely. The sunset and sand boarding in the desert was a life experience that will never be forgotten.

Awesome tour .....great transport, very knowledgeable guides , our guide mohammad Al riyami was very professional n a treasure trove of info , highly recommend

Today we visited the Wahiba Sands and Wadi Bani Khalid. The locations themselves were already breathtaking—but the absolute highlight of the tour was our guide, Abdulaziz, also known as Abdu. I have truly never met someone so kind, warm-hearted, and attentive. He was incredibly thoughtful, taking care of every little detail—always checking in to see if we needed a restroom break, were hungry or thirsty. Simply put, Abdu was outstanding. The landscapes were stunning: from the crystal-clear waters of Wadi Bani Khalid to the mesmerizing desert sunset. We even went sandboarding, enjoyed a traditional Omani meal, and visited a Bedouin family in their home—which was such a meaningful experience. But like I said, Abdulaziz made everything even more special. He turned a beautiful trip into an unforgettable one. If you ever book with GidOman, I wholeheartedly recommend asking for Abdulaziz (Abdu). You won’t regret it. 😁 P.S. And make sure to buy the handmade souvenirs from the Bedouin family — it’s a great way to support them. 🙏🏻 Kind regards to Abdu if he happens to read this — Dejan & Brankica 😊

Great day out, wonderful guide who was very accommodating, great option if you have limited time for activities, highly recommend.

My experience in Wadi Bani Khalid and the desert with Abdullah April 27 was excellent. He is a very great and well informed guide: showed us interesting spots on the way, explained the country and places we visited, and was very kind. I learned a lot more about Oman and its nature through him! We are kept up to date about the itinerary (which was very well structured), and he dropped me off at the airport because I have a flight that night — super convenient! He also took a slightly longer route in the desert to show us beautiful spots and I got to take amazing photos. Driving in the desert takes a lot of skills and I felt very safe with him driving! The desert is incredibly beautiful and the wadi is very special and gorgeous - I don’t think I have seen anything like it before. The water is very refreshing and clear, perfect spot to refresh on a hot day like today. Overall I highly recommend this tour and ask for Abdullah!! GidOman is also a very professional company, this is my second tour with them!

Our guide, Mahmood, was fantastic. He clearly enjoyed sharing Oman with travelers. He was knowledgeable and created great experiences for our group including a delicious local family hosted lunch. He went above and beyond expectations and was a wonderful ambassador for Oman!

Great experience. Our Guide for the day - Sultan was ultra helpful. He ensured that we have a comfortable journey. Highly recommended while visiting Oman.

I went on the desert and Wadi Shabi excursion last Wednesday with Abdullah and I highly recommend him. He is a very friendly person as well as a serious driver🥂🌎✌️

Of all the daytrips I have ever booked on Viator, this was one of the most disappointing. The so-called „desert tour“ gives you a stop at a Bedouin house, right at the entrance to the desert. You can ride a camel for 3 OMR, which is a 100m track and back. I‘m all for Bedouins benefitting from tourists but this should have been a 10min stop and then on to the actual desert. Instead, we drove up one tiny dune and stopped. The guide didn’t even bother to get out of the car and told us to take 5min for pictures. I could not believe it. The description had alluded to activities such as sandboarding being offered. This was not the case. I decided to at least walk up one dune - from which I could still see the city just a few hundred meters away. In the end, I slid down the dune without a board, but the guide turned around the car, signaling his impatience. We had spent 2.5h in the car to get there, and one photo was all we got. Not even 10min of driving across the dunes. Crazy. We drove on another hour to the Wadi, which is gorgeous. Unfortunately, we had only 90min to walk in, eat lunch, swim and walk out. The guide told us to stick together and my fellow travelers unfortunately took so long to eat that I spent less than 15min actually in the water. It would have been much better to have a snack in the car and spend at least 2h at the actual Wadi. I couldn’t believe, I’d spent around 6h in a car and almost 150€ for what boiled down to 2 photo stops. I‘d recommend to either rent a car yourself or go with a company that actually offers activities in the dunes and spends the sunset there, etc. Really sad ending to my trip to an incredible country.

I had a fantastic experience on this tour with our guide Sultan (+96895598248). I joined as a solo traveler and was part of a lively group of four travelers from Bulgaria and Spain, which made the day even more fun. Sultan was very communicative before the tour, making everything smooth and easy, and throughout the day, he shared lots of interesting insights about Omani culture, traditions, and daily life. I really appreciated how open he was to conversations and questions, and his flexibility meant I could spend extra time at the spots I enjoyed most. Overall, it was a wonderful tour — I’d definitely book with Sultan again and highly recommend this to anyone visiting Oman!

The trip was amazing. Our driver and guide Ahmed was very knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend Wahiba Sands and Wadi Bani Khalid to anyone considering this trip.

Thanks to Abdullah, our experienced and helpful guide and driver, this trip went extremely well. Wish it could have been longer

We had a spectacular day in this tour. From the start of the day, our guide Aziz was on time picking us up and the car was clean and comfortable setting us up for a nice trip. Aziz was very knowledgeable of each area we visited and told us many useful facts and tips. The desert was beautiful but the highlight was the Wadi! It was truly a day to be remembered and we can’t wait to visit Oman again for a longer timeframe to see all the beauty the country had to offer! And we will definitely be looking for Aziz to show us around once more!

It was excellent, we both enjoyed it very much. Ahmed was a great guide and was very attentive and knowledgeable. The desert driving was incredible. Wadi was beautiful and peaceful.

We had an lovely trip to the Wadi and the Dessert. Our guide Khalid made sure we all had fun and that we were feeling well and comfortable troughout. It's was an amazing expirience.

GidOman, thank you very much for this wonderful day! The wadi and desert were like part of another world and special thanks to our guide Khalid who have made this excursion easy, joy and full of laugh!

Amazing experience! We had a very kind and well informed guide Khalid who went out of his way to host us. They picked us up on time from our hotel and we had a great time. Would definitely recommend!

Just terrible. Our guide Aseel was all the time at his phone, explained nothing. He didnt plan anything well. "Here was a restaurant but i cant find" i mean are you really a guide? - well, result; he bring us to a bad place where we couldnt eat anything. Then when we went to desert, the car stucked at the beginning, have to wait around 20 min.. and guess what: we didnt even go there and he just drive us out; saying the tour is after the camel ride finished. Im like what?! We didnt even see anything. After i complain and said i want go inside the desert, he was about to take us to 1,5h distanced place. Well, hello, its almost getting dark, can you not just drive us here nearby any place? After i complain again he drive back and take us to desert. He just didnt care about the schedule and was always at his phone. Kinda pushed us too much to go to tea house and camel ride, WE JUST DONT WANT CUZ YOU RUINED OUR DAY. HE WAS VERY RUDE. Asking my cousin "Are you muslim?" (She covers her hair!?) My cousin said yes. He: "Are you sure you are muslim?" I mean what kind of rudeness is that! We literally was shocked! We are from Turkey! My cousin covers her hair and i dont - freedom! He looked to me and said: here in oman if a wife doesnt cover her hair the husband will kill her. My respond: i will kill the husband! So respectless, so shamefull, and no planning! He ruined our day!

Very well organised tour. Fahad was a very knowledgable and caring guide and a skilled driver. Seeing the local nomads, visiting the sand dunes and desert and having the adrenaline experience when going in 4x4 vehicle through the sand dunes was just fantastic.

We loved the wadi and how beautiful and clean the water was. The sands were so pretty. The Bedouin house was a cool experience.

I can only highly, highly recommend this tour and company. We were a group of five Europeans living in Mumbai and came to Oman for a long-weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of India, and we booked this desert experience & wadi trip from our first day in Oman. The entire experience was simply amazing! To begin with, we had initially booked for 4 people, but in last minute a 5th person decided to come along - which the company was very accommodating with. We were communicated with well in advance to ensure we were ready, being prepared for the trip and the necessary equipment and clothing. We were picked up at the agreed upon time by our guide, Abdallah - the best guide ever - at our hostel. With a very relaxing energy and a good conversationalist, we were brought to Wahabi Sands to experience the desert and drive around. Abdallah was very patient with our group as we ran around to explore and take photos, and accommodated the entire day based on our needs and wants. A recommendation is to get coffee from this coffee-booth by the public restroom we stopped at before the desert. Cannot remember the name, but the guides will surely know it! After the sand dunes, we stopped at a beduin-tent for some Omani coffee and dates, and the opportunity to buy some shawls or scarves etc. Next we went to the Wadi Bani Khalid for a swim and exploring the canyon, and even with a cave at the end. These mountains and nature has so much to offer, and we wish we could stay longer! Abdallah allowed us to go beyond the normal amount of time, which we really really appreciated. Must not miss this if you are in Oman for a few days! Great way to see a lot in little time.

Abdullah took us on the tour. We had a lovely and exciting! day. Recommendable to every one. Part in the desert was the best. Thanks Abdullah!

Abdullah very good guide. Gives good information, has good humor and is very respectful! The tour was a good balance between driving and walking

This trip was the most unique and interesting experience for us thanks to our fantastic tour guide Khair. He made this trip unforgettable to us, we can only highly recommend!

I did the tour today with Yaqoob and thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Yaqoob was fantastic, 10/10 for everything! The desert scenery was stunning and the wadi was amazing to witness. Sitting with the Bedouins having dates and coffee was a lovely experience. If you get Yaqoob as your driver, you won’t be disappointed, he is excellent!

Full of kindness! What else ! Thé désert simply magical I recommand it ! And thé Wadi is an oasis really Nice

The best day of my Week ❤️ All was Perfect, my Guide Jamal and the tour company of course The places are beautiful, désert wonderful and Wadi bani Khalid is the Place not to miss it Jamal was a top driver in sand 👍 and take care of me any Timeline a wadi, ask for him if you do it 😉

What an experience!! Incredible day with our guide, Hamood. A day to remember with a lot of information and memories to take away. 10/10!!

We had an amazing experience with our guide Ilya! He told us everything about the Muscat City, about the desert and oasis. We had a pleasant conversation during the whole day, some funny action in the desert and got a nice lunch at the oasis. 10/10 would recommend!

It was a long day with a long drive but the oasis in the parched landscape and sand dunes that literally stretch as far as the eye can see was worth it.

Excellent experience Memory will last a lifetime We got to see everything we wanted to. We even enjoyed the drive and travelling from Muscat.

Really great trip with out guide Ilyas. We got to see extensive areas of Oman. The desert was amazing. Ilyas was very accommodating and flexible with the tour and extremely knowledgeable.

This tour was wonderful. My tour guide spoke great English and was very knowledgeable of the area visited. He was willing to take pictures and allowed me to take my time at each stop. This is a must do tour, would highly recommend!

Ilya arrived bang on time to pick us up from our accommodation - comms we’re great. Air conditioned lovely car with WiFi - and Ilya told us about lots of buildings as we passed through muscat - he is extremely knowledgable anf friendly. The drive was long but worth it - we went to wadi bani khakis which is very special. Ramadan meant there were almost no other visitors (which I like!) - so we had the place almost to ourselves which was magical. We then went to the desert and spent some time driving around sand dunes - being in the vast open desert is another great experience - plus we rod a camel for a short time which was fun. It’s a long drive from muscat but comfortable - and Ilya was the perfect host.

Abdullah our guide was a lovely guy, very knowledgeable and happy to chat. He made us feel very welcome.

Thank you for an amazing day tour into the Oman desert. We enjoyed the cave pools and drive into seeing local life in the desert. We had the opportunity to try coffee and dates - a must! A very comfortable vehicle with air conditioning and Wi-Fi available. A knowledgeable driver and tour guide whose first language is not English but was excellent. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Great experience , the guide was really good and told us lots of interesting things about Oman , the trip was beautiful, make sure you bring a T-shirt and shorts to be able to swim at the oasis as you are not allowed just in bikini , I also recommend swim shoes

Started the day at grand mosque - was in awe Then for amazing swim in Osasis Followed by camel ride and bbq in the desert What an amazing way to finish Oman