Oman’s Green Mountain Opens 2026 Rummana Season

On Oman’s fabled Green Mountain, the 2026 Rummana season has opened for visitors, marking the return of one of the country’s most distinctive agritourism experiences on Jabal Akhdar.

Agritourism Returns to Jabal Akhdar’s Terraced Slopes

Rummana, staged on the terraced farms of Jabal Akhdar in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, has evolved in recent years into a signature summer attraction built around the highland pomegranate harvest. Publicly available information on earlier editions indicates steadily rising attendance, with tens of thousands of visitors recorded over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, highlighting strong regional interest in cooler mountain escapes during the hottest months in the Gulf.

Set among orchards of pomegranate, walnut and peach trees, the event combines farm access, seasonal produce markets and hands-on experiences that give visitors a window into life on Oman’s Green Mountain. The concept has been developed as part of a wider push to position Jabal Akhdar as a leading agritourism destination, supported by investment in roads, public facilities and hospitality infrastructure on the plateau.

The 2026 season follows iterations that have run from early July into late August or September, aligning with the ripening of the pomegranate crop. While specific dates for this year’s closing have not been formally detailed in open sources, operators and previous schedules point to a multi-week program intended to capture the bulk of the harvest period and the regional school holiday window.

What Visitors Can Expect During the 2026 Season

The Rummana experience typically centers on guided and self-guided walks through working farms, where families can see pomegranate trees heavy with fruit and terraced fields fed by traditional aflaj irrigation channels. Farm stalls and pop-up markets offer fresh produce, juices and pomegranate-derived products, alongside other local specialities such as mountain honey and rose-based items made from the spring bloom.

For 2026, local operators are promoting a broader range of family activities, building on formats tested in earlier editions. These include children’s play zones, simple adventure elements such as ziplines and obstacle courses, and shaded rest areas that cater to day trippers from Muscat and Nizwa. Craft corners, cooking demonstrations and small cultural performances have been part of past programming and are expected to feature again, reinforcing the event’s blend of entertainment and education.

Food remains a core draw. Many visitors time their day to enjoy traditional Omani dishes prepared with mountain ingredients, along with casual café offerings and stalls that cater to a mix of domestic and international tastes. The setting at around 2,000 meters above sea level provides a noticeably cooler climate than coastal Oman, which is a key selling point during the long summer.

Boost for Local Communities and Sustainable Tourism

Rummana has been framed as a model for community-centered tourism on Jabal Akhdar, where small farmers and local entrepreneurs are able to participate directly in a seasonal visitor economy. Published coverage and corporate reports from previous years highlight how farm owners, food vendors and craft producers benefit from increased footfall, while accommodation providers on the plateau see higher occupancy during the event period.

By encouraging visitors to experience agriculture up close, the initiative also aims to raise awareness of the challenges and value of highland farming in Oman. The terraced fields of Jabal Akhdar have been recognized in international publications for their heritage significance, and the event’s programming often references topics such as water management, crop diversity and the preservation of traditional varieties.

Observers note that the 2026 season unfolds against a backdrop of continued investment in Jabal Akhdar’s tourism infrastructure, including upgrades to access roads and public spaces. This aligns with broader national objectives to diversify the economy through tourism while maintaining a focus on environmental and cultural sustainability in sensitive mountain environments.

Planning a Visit to Oman’s Green Mountain

Travel information from government and destination portals consistently advises that access to Jabal Akhdar’s plateau is restricted to four-wheel-drive vehicles because of steep gradients on the ascent road. Visitors without their own 4WD typically transfer at a checkpoint outside the main climb, where local drivers offer transport services up to resorts, guesthouses and farm areas close to the Rummana venue.

From Muscat, the journey to the plateau usually takes around two and a half hours by road via Nizwa, making the event feasible as a long day trip or an overnight escape from the capital. Travel forums and previous years’ coverage suggest that many visitors choose to stay one or two nights to combine the Rummana experience with hikes to viewpoints, visits to abandoned mountain villages and stops at established hotels and eco-lodges.

Daytime temperatures on the plateau in mid-summer are generally several degrees lower than in the lowlands, with evenings that can be relatively cool by regional standards. Visitors are therefore encouraged in publicly available guidance to bring light layers, along with sun protection and comfortable footwear suitable for uneven farm paths and village trails.

How Rummana Fits into Oman’s Year-Round Mountain Calendar

The opening of the 2026 Rummana season adds another chapter to a year-round tourism calendar on Jabal Akhdar that already includes the spring rose season, when valleys turn pink with Damask roses destined for local distilleries. Regional travel commentary often compares the two periods, with spring attracting photography and hiking enthusiasts, and late summer drawing families seeking cooler air and fruit harvests.

In recent years, Rummana has also been scheduled alongside broader summer festivals on Jabal Akhdar, which feature concerts, sports activities and promotional offers from hotels and tour operators. This clustering of events is designed to encourage longer stays and to spread visitors across multiple sites on the mountain, from farm terraces to panoramic viewpoints.

With the 2026 edition now underway, Rummana continues to serve as a showcase for Oman’s mountain landscapes at a time when interest in agritourism and climate-friendly summer escapes is rising across the region. For travelers looking beyond the country’s coasts and desert camps, the Green Mountain’s pomegranate season is positioned as a compelling reason to head uphill.