Mirbat is a coastal town in the Dhofar governorate

Mirbat is a coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman. . It was the site of the 1972 Battle of Mirbat between Communist guerrillas on one side and the Armed forces of the Sultan of Oman and their Special Air Service advisers.

Mirbat  was involved in the export of frankincense in ancient times, to places as far as China.

In ancient times Mirbat was the capital of Dhofar, with an income derived from the frankincense trade and from breeding Arabian horses. During the Dhofar Rebellion it was the site of the Battle of Mirbat in 1972. Today the town has a population of 15,000.

Mirbat is 70 km east of Salalah on Highway 49. The drive from Salalah Airport takes about an hour; microbuses from Salalah charge just RO1 for the trip.

1.       Mirbat Castle. This fortress was besieged during the Battle of Mirbat in 1972, and is under restoration.

2.   

    Old houses (near the beach and fort). Mirbat has a number of old merchant houses, built in traditional Yemeni-style mud brick with hand-carved doors and windows.

3.       Mausoleum of Bin Ali, Bin Ali Rd. Mohammed Bin Ali was a 14th-century local Islamic scholar, and this structure is actually a mosque built over his tomb. Visitors should remove their shoes and be appropriately dressed, and women should cover their hair. A large cemetery surrounds the mosque and tomb.

4.       Baobab grove, Wadi Hinna (15 km west of Mirbat: from Hwy 49 turn north onto the road to Tawi Atayr). This is the only place in Arabia where you can find baobab trees growing in the wild. Their nearest relatives are found in eastern Africa, and it is unclear if there was once a larger forest here, or if a tree was intentionally planted here at some point. There is a well-worn footpath leading from the car park into the grove, which has some truly enormous specimens. Further on there is a picturesque spring with ferns and fig trees. 

5.       Anti-Gravity Point (Magnetic Point) (on the road to Tawi Atayr, below the baobab trees). This is a well-known gravity hill (magnetic hill), where cars left in neutral will appear to drift uphill in apparent defiance of gravity.