Atin Square gives Khareef Dhofar a global evening stage
SALALAH: As mist settles over Dhofar’s mountains and valleys, the crowds gathering at Atin Square after dark reveal another side of Oman’s monsoon season — one built around live performance, family entertainment, food and commerce.
The square has begun its Dhofar Khareef 2026 programme, bringing international carnival productions, Arab musical groups, comedy, retail outlets and restaurants into one of the season’s principal evening venues.
Its programme will run until August 31, within the wider Dhofar Khareef season that continues from June 21 to September 21.
Dhofar Municipality’s 2026 programme comprises 125 cultural, artistic, sporting and entertainment events distributed across tourist destinations and several wilayats. Atin Square has been designated as a main location for international performances and cultural activities, alongside other venues across Salalah and the wider governorate.
Atin Square’s importance lies not only in the number of performances it hosts, but in the way it brings several parts of the visitor experience into one place.
Visitors who spend the daytime exploring Dhofar’s green mountains, springs, valleys and coast are offered an evening destination where performances, cafés, restaurants and retail businesses operate together.
This represents an effort to broaden the khareef experience beyond its defining natural attractions and create more opportunities for visitor activity after sunset.
The square’s main stage is hosting a programme combining international entertainment with music drawn from across the Arab region.
According to organisers, the announced programme includes Egypt’s Harmony Choir, a choir from Basra in Iraq and a Saudi choir scheduled to perform weekly. It also includes stand-up comedy and a production by composer Mohammed al Qahoom combining orchestral arrangements with elements of traditional music.
Rather than concentrating solely on individual concerts, the programme presents Atin Square as a meeting point for different regional musical traditions and contemporary live entertainment.
Roaming carnivals and acrobatic shows are also being staged across the venue, allowing entertainment to move beyond the main theatre and into the public spaces used by families.
The commercial element is centred partly on the Street of Perfumes, where Omani businesses and other exhibitors offer perfumes, frankincense, clothing and related products.
The section connects one of Oman’s best-known products — frankincense — with modern fragrance retail, while giving participating businesses direct access to khareef visitors.
A dedicated dining area offers restaurants and food outlets, while another section, branded “Downtown London”, uses a European-inspired streetscape with cafés, seating and family facilities.
The London-themed design may provide a recognisable visual attraction, but the venue’s more significant contribution is its ability to hold visitors for longer by combining activities that might otherwise be spread across different parts of the city.
Atin Square is also increasingly being used for purposes beyond conventional festival entertainment.
The Ministry of Energy and Minerals is holding its Energy and Minerals Exhibition and Media Forum 2026 at the square from late July until August 6. Nine interactive pavilions will introduce visitors to oil and gas history, renewable energy, hydrogen, minerals, investment, digital transformation and local-content programmes.
The decision to place a national energy exhibition within a major khareef venue demonstrates how the season’s visitor traffic is being used to take economic and development subjects to a wider public audience.
For international readers, khareef is the annual monsoon that brings cooler temperatures, drizzle, low cloud and green landscapes to parts of southern Oman during the Gulf summer.
The climate remains the reason many visitors come. Venues such as Atin Square are designed to answer a different question: what visitors can do once they arrive.
By combining entertainment, regional culture, Omani products, dining and public exhibitions, the square is becoming part of a wider effort to turn khareef from a journey through the landscape into a fuller day-and-night visitor experience.
