Salalah From the cliffs of Rakhyut and Dhalkut to the green valleys around Darbat, a network of new and upgraded roads is opening easier routes into some of Dhofar’s most visited landscapes as the governorate prepares to receive more than 1mn visitors during the 2026 khareef season.

The projects are aimed at easing congestion, improving road safety and giving visitors better access to beaches, mountain villages, natural attractions and heritage sites at a time when traffic across Dhofar rises sharply.

Saeed bin Mohammed Tabouk, Director General of Roads and Land Transport in Dhofar, said work had been accelerated across the mountainous belt to serve residents while improving movement for tourists.

Among the latest additions is a 20km coastal dirt road linking Rakhyut and Dhalkut, opening access to largely untouched natural areas along western Dhofar.

The route is expected to improve connectivity between the two wilayats while making several coastal and mountain locations easier to reach.

A much larger project is the 33km dualisation of the Raysut-Al Mughsail road, costing more than RO30mn. The corridor serves one of the most popular tourism areas west of Salalah.

At Al Mughsail itself, a road and bridge project costing more than RO9mn opened to traffic in early July. It includes parking spaces, a lit pedestrian walkway, landscaping and an underground passage serving the Mughsail waterfront and nearby Al Marneef Cave, known for its blowholes.

Road investment is also pushing eastwards. Rehabilitation and widening of the 21km Al Mamoura-Taqah road, costing more than RO1.5mn, is due for completion by the end of 2026. Work is also under way on the 24km Taqah-Madinat Al Haq road, another project valued at more than RO1.5mn and scheduled to finish this year.

Further into the mountains, the Madinat Al Haq-Yur and Tawi Attir-Darbat roads are being rehabilitated over a combined 42km, at a cost exceeding RO1.9mn. Completion is expected by mid-2027.

The 30km Tawi Attir-Rakah-Jabjat road, costing more than RO1.2mn, was completed at the end of last year, strengthening access to natural sites in the area.

Al Tabouk said the wider programme is intended not only to improve traffic flow but also to strengthen links between communities and tourism destinations.

For Dhofar, where the annual khareef transforms mountains and valleys into the centre of Oman’s summer tourism season, the roads are increasingly part of the visitor experience itself – taking travellers beyond Salalah and deeper into a landscape of coastal cliffs, mountain settlements and natural attractions.