Sohar

Sohar is one of the oldest settled places in Oman. Copper from the hills behind the town was smelted and shipped from this coast in the third millennium BC, when the region was known to Mesopotamian records as Magan, and the falaj channels that carried mountain water to the date gardens of the Batinah plain are almost as old. The shoreline gave ships an open roadstead rather than a sheltered harbour, but the trade was rich enough to make it worth using.

By the 10th century the port was among the wealthiest in the Gulf, praised by Arab geographers such as Al-Maqdisi and compared by them with the ports of China, with merchants dealing in spices, timber, textiles and slaves between India, East Africa and the Gulf. Omani tradition links Sohar to the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, and a replica ninth-century dhow named Sohar, built at Sur, sailed from Oman to Guangzhou in 1980–81 to test the old route. Raids, changing trade patterns and the rise of Hormuz reduced the town from the 11th century onwards, and the Portuguese held the fort for a period in the 16th century.

Sohar remained important politically: in the 1740s its governor, Ahmad bin Said, expelled Persian forces from Oman and founded the Al Bu Said dynasty that still rules the country. The modern city dates from the decades after 1970, when roads, schools and a hospital arrived, followed from the early 2000s by a deep-water industrial port and freezone to the north, with aluminium, steel and petrochemical plants that reshaped the economy of the whole coast.

Sohar is an Omani working city rather than a place built for visitors, and its character comes from the mix of families who have farmed and fished the Batinah for generations and the large foreign workforce drawn by the port. Omani men wear the white dishdasha with a kuma cap or a wrapped massar, and the khanjar appears at weddings and on national holidays; women's dress on this coast is conservative, and public life is reserved.

The coast has its own traditions. Fishing families still launch small boats from the beach at dawn, and dates from the plantations behind the city set the year's rhythm, with the harvest in late summer. Music and dance at weddings and national celebrations use large drums and lines of performers, and Sohar's link with the sea is celebrated in the story of Sinbad, whose name is attached to hotels, schools and roundabouts across the city.

The population includes long-established Baluchi families and a large South Asian community whose shops, cafés and mosques are part of the centre, so Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam and Baluchi are heard alongside Arabic. Manners follow the Omani pattern: greetings first and at length, quiet voices, hospitality pressed on guests, and an expectation of modesty in dress and behaviour that is stronger here than in the capital.

Sohar had about 140,000 people at the 2010 census, making it one of the largest settlements in Oman outside the capital and the seat of the Al Batinah North Governorate, and a substantial share of its residents are migrant workers from South Asia employed in the port, industry and construction. The port and freezone, with aluminium smelting, steel, petrochemicals and logistics, dominate the economy, alongside fishing, farming on the irrigated plain, government jobs and the university.

Life follows the heat. Work and errands are done early, the middle of the day is quiet, and the corniche, beaches and markets fill after sunset. Weekends fall on Friday and Saturday, with Friday morning given over to prayers and family meals. The city has spread far along the coastal highway into districts of walled villas, and nearly every household depends on a car.

Farming remains visible immediately behind the city: date palms, limes, mangoes and vegetables grown with water from the aflaj and from wells, though falling groundwater and salt intrusion are long-standing problems on the Batinah. Sohar's position near the Emirati border means constant cross-border movement of goods and workers, and the city has felt the disruption to shipping in the Gulf since early 2026 through its port.

Sohar eats from the sea and the date gardens. Kingfish, tuna, sardine, prawns and lobster come off the Batinah boats and are grilled over charcoal, fried, or cooked into a spiced broth with rice. Mashuai, a whole spit-roasted kingfish served with lemon rice, is a coastal favourite, and salted and dried fish is a traditional store for the hot months.

The Omani dishes served everywhere else in the country are the staples here: majboos, rice cooked with chicken, mutton or fish and a blend of spices including dried lime; harees, wheat and meat cooked to a thick paste and served with ghee; and shuwa, the festive dish of spiced meat cooked for many hours in a covered pit. Bread comes as thin rounds baked over a hot dome, eaten with honey, eggs or curry.

Dates are the pride of the Batinah, with dozens of varieties sold fresh in summer and dried the rest of the year, usually with kahwa, cardamom-scented coffee, and Omani halwa, a sticky preserve of sugar, rosewater, saffron and nuts. The city's South Asian cafés serve biryani, thali and karak tea to a large part of the workforce, and limes dried into loomi, mangoes and bananas from the plantations fill the market stalls.