Oman’s southern Dhofar region, some 1,000km from Muscat is home to the country’s second largest city, Salalah.
Each year from the middle of July to the end of August, more than 300,000 visitors come here to celebrate the Khareef Festival.
This is the time of the year when visitors can experience the cooler, cloudy, summer climate with refreshing rains, commonly known as the Khareef season, (the summer monsoon).
The city of Salalah is packed with visitors from around the region who come to experience a wide range of activities centred on the whole family.
Traditionally popular with GCC nationals, the Khareef season now also attracts resident expatriates who are looking to explore a distinctly different part of the Arabian Peninsula. 
Imagine a part of the Arabian Gulf where visitors can trek through lush green countryside from June to September enjoying temperatures in the mid-30 C, when the rest of the region is basking in hot dry temperatures in the high 40s.
Imagine a land where the constant cooling summer rains transform the land so much that you would be forgiven for thinking you are in England’s Yorkshire Dales, rather than the arid Arabian Peninsula – the reality is it’s here in the  Dhofar region of Oman. This year, the summer rains began early and already the countryside is being transformed into a lush green canvas.
Michael Bamberg, general manager, The Hilton Resort, said: “Salalah really is quite beautiful now. The temperatures are a pleasant 30-32 C and there is a cooling ocean breeze.”