Can anyone tell me if they've travelled the road between Nizwa & Salalah, Oman? If so, can you remember if there were any petrol stations along the way? There's a big distance between Adam & the next town - Hayma - and from the map, there doesn't appear to be any filling stations in between in between!
Any help will be most appreciated.
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16 comments:
I do not believe you will find a petrol station between the two places. Not sure if this helps, but here is a good site on Salalah, that I used the last time I was there. http://www.salalahtours.com/
are you referring to the RT-31 road/highway?
According to my GPS there is are two petrol stations in Al Wusta (maybe that's where wasta was invented?). They are a shell station and an "al maha" station; not sure as to the accuracy of this, but these maps are supposed to be quite recent.
oh ya, incase my information is incorrect, I accept no responsibility if you get stuck in the middle of the desert with no petrol; I do suggest you get a good map before travelling though.
Thanks guys! I'll check out the salalah link anon.
sam - yep, I'm referring to the 31 highway. We're riding from Abu Dhabi to Salalah next month & it's this one stretch of road that's a bit of a worry. If push comes to shove, we'll just have to take some containers of fuel in the back-up truck.
Jayne, few weeks ago, I went from Dubai to Muscat by an Omani taxi that used to make this trip frequently. My destination was Salalah, but I preferred going to Muscat by road and take a flight from Muscat to Salalah. The driver (Omani guy) said that he went few times to Salalah by road, but it’s a long boring drive. I don’t recall that he mentioned that there is a problem with petrol stations on the road. The car was Toyota Avalon, so it wasn’t a four wheel drive with two tanks, for example.
I think in all cases, you will pass by Adam, whether you are coming from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Muscat, so the same case should be valid with you.
Also don’t drive too fast for not significantly increasing the fuel consumption. I am sure you about this :)
guys i work near salalah.. the road from nizwa to salalah have a petrol station every 150-200 KM... and there is signs telling you how far is the next petrol station... so there is nothing to worry about apart from the camels crossing the road and having a good healthy car
". . . . .I accept no responsibility if you get stuck in the middle of the desert with no petrol;"
. . . . sam it should be in the middle of mountains
"When in doubt, take jerry can"
but do Harleys have jerry cans?
I have driven it, and unhesitatingly reccomend that you fly.
If you do drive, There are quite a few petrol stations along the way. I think the longest stretch you have to travel without a station is 200 km.
The petrol stations are dirty, rarely have anything worth eating, and the bathrooms are the most horrifying experience I have ever had on a road trip Bar none. Pack some TP and all your own food.
The road itself is a two lane tarmac(one lane in each direction) usually without a paved shoulder. The overtaking is dangerous, and terrifying, plus thare are about a million camels hust begging to be hit. You need to be on a razor edge of alertness.
THe Scenery from Adam until Thumrait is pretty barren, mostly gravel planes, the occasional Sabkah, some dunes way, way off in the distance.
The average temperature in the interior once you get over the mountains is about 10 degrees hotter than on the coast. It's really, really, really hot, even this early in the year.
OK. hope that helps. Have a great trip, you'll like Salalah a lot.
hello Jayne... sorry for the delay... i did the Dubai to Salalah journey by car back in the 1990s. and i remember petrol stations roughly every 100 km... and i remember we used to fill up at every station or every 2nd station (at the very least). Hope this helps.
I repeat, this is about 2 decades ago, i'm sure now they have more stations etc... I think it's a rather boring drive but you should find it to be comfortable if you have a new car or at least a V8 ... etc...
PS: from Muscat to Salalah is the boring route,,, with infrequent petrol stations.. but UAE to Muscat is a good road.
PPS: Any car should be able to do 300km easy on a full tank.. so i repeat.. you should be ok.
When you leave the hafeet border post from abu Dhabi, just ensure that you top up your car t every petrol pump. There is a stretch of road that has 250 kms 2 pumps. I have travelled twice to salalah by road
yes there are at least 2 as my memory tells me.
Thank you so much everyone, for your input. There's a bunch of us (H.O.G.) riding from Abu Dhabi to Salalah & some of the bikes can only do approx 160-180km on a tank, which is why we were concerned. Apparently provision is being made to top up bikes via jerry cans which will be in a support vehicle, just for that one stretch between Adam & Hayma.
(I was really looking forward to the ride (mad as I am!) but we've decided to take grandma, so I'll be flying via Muscat. Bummer!)
Jane,
Try the costal road.... it a lot more scenic but longer. The whole point of going is for fun so try it out. The Nizwa -Salalah road is boring.
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Yemen is a very beautiful country and it has some of the Arab world's most interesting, best preserved, medieval ruins. And it's also got a living culture which is exotic in the true sense of the word. It offers stunning, ancient cities like Ma'rib, which was the capital of ancient Queen of Sheba. The country also boasts soaring mountains and pristine coral reefs. Yemen's architecture is dramatically different from the suburban sprawl and urban boxes of most of the modern world. It has buildings made of mud, straw and dung that can rise eight stories, and the mosque minarets are frosted with gypsum. It also offers the stunning, UNESCO's, World Heritage city of Shibam and much more.
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