Fins Beach

Fins, sometimes called White Beach, lies on the coast road between Muscat and Sur, in Oman's Ash Sharqiyah region. It is a stretch of pale sand at the foot of limestone cliffs, with the Hajar mountains behind and the Gulf of Oman in front.

It became reachable relatively recently. The coast road from Muscat to Sur was completed in the 2000s and turned a full day's journey into two hours; before that this shore was accessible only by track. What that means in practice is a coastline with the road running along it and almost nothing else — no resorts, no towns of any size, and long stretches with no building at all.

The sand is fine and pale against dark limestone, and the water is clear and turquoise on a shore that is sheltered enough for easy swimming. There is no reef immediately at the beach. Wadi Shab, one of the best-known canyon walks in Oman, reaches the sea a few minutes away, and Bimmah Sinkhole — a collapsed limestone cavern filled with brackish water — is a short drive along the same road.

There is nothing built. Some shade structures, occasionally a fisherman, and camping on the sand, which is permitted and normal in Oman under a general right that visitors are expected not to abuse. The road itself is the argument for coming: Muscat to Sur runs along the coast for two hundred kilometres with the mountains on one side and the Gulf of Oman on the other, and Fins is roughly the midpoint and the natural place to stop.

One road made this coast reachable and nothing else has followed it. Camp on the sand — it is permitted and normal — take everything away, and drive the Muscat–Sur route slowly, because the road is the reason to be here as much as the beach is. Wadi Shab is ten minutes away and repays the walk in.