Making the Most of the Al Jabal Al Akhdhar Festival

I have been fortunate enough to visit the Al Jabal Al Akhdhar Festival since its very first edition.
I still remember making that drive up the mountain in August 2022. Oman was beginning to breathe again after the pandemic. Travel no longer felt uncertain, yet there remained a quiet appreciation for simply being outdoors, surrounded by people once more. The festival itself was wonderfully modest. Pomegranates were undoubtedly the stars of the show. A handful of local stalls lined the grounds, families wandered at an unhurried pace and the atmosphere felt less like a major tourism event than a community proudly opening its doors to the rest of the country.
I have returned almost every year since, watching the festival evolve into one of Oman's signature summer events. More attractions, more local businesses and more entertainment have helped it grow in confidence without losing the warmth that made it so special in the first place.
Perhaps that is why I keep returning. Not simply because the festival grows every year, but because each visit has become an opportunity to rediscover the mountain itself.
My own trips have always been memorable because I have never let the festival be the entire itinerary.
For me, Al Jabal Al Akhdhar is one of Oman's finest places for café hopping. Within a short drive, you can move from elegant cafés inside luxury resorts to village coffee shops where Omani hospitality takes centre stage. One offers sweeping canyon views; another, little more than kahwa, warm conversation and a glimpse into mountain life. Both leave a lasting impression.
Then there are the people who know the mountain better than any map. Joining a local guide through pomegranate farms, ancient falaj systems and quiet villages reveals stories that would otherwise remain hidden. These are experiences that no festival programme can schedule.
But if there is one tradition my family looks forward to every year, it is wild camping.
After the festival lights begin to fade, we leave the crowds behind and settle beneath one of the clearest night skies in Oman. The mountain grows quiet as countless stars slowly claim the darkness above. It is a spectacle no stage performance could ever rival.
Around a small campfire, children search for constellations and ask endless questions. Without realising it, they begin learning how the stars once guided travellers across deserts and mountains, turning a family holiday into a lesson in astronomy, history and Omani heritage.
The festival gives us a reason to climb Al Jabal Al Akhdhar. Everything else that makes us fall in love with it is waiting beyond the festival gates.