كهف إتين

Ittin Cave - Ettein Cave - Al Ateen Cave

Useful Information

Location:	North of Salalah. From Salalah follow (Itin Street) north across the coastal plain and upt the hill. The parking lot is on the right there are several restaurants. A trail around the hill leads to the cave. (17.1075187, 54.0644100)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Tufa Cave Tufa Deposits
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	A=400 m asl, Ar=600 m², Ar=190 m².
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Ittin Cave.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

كهف إتين (Ittin Cave) is a primary cave which was formed together with the rock. The rock is a deposit of tufa, the precipitated limestone from a limestone rich karst spring. There are several tufa deposits forming waterfalls and pools in the valley below, but this cave is located 200 m higher on the first hill, offering a great view on the wadi below. The Ittin Cave Restaurant was named after the cave, but has actually no other connection to the cave than being close to the cave. There is also a campground nearby. The hill is popular for its view on Salah on one side and the wadi on the other side, thats why it is called the balcony of Salalah City.

The Ittin Cave is a huge shelter, the walls consist of porous tufa with bulbous forms and even some stalactites. The cave is well developed with a paved trail and a railing. Light is not necessary as the cave shelter has no dark zone. There is not a single cave, but a series of shelters along an overhanging cliff face. Just follow the trail to the end.

Another version of the cave name is Al Ateen Cave, which seems to be a different transliteration. The cave was also published under the name Ettein Cave, under this name it was even listed in Lonely Planet, a listing which was fortunately removed. The description was both correct and completely wrong:

Ettein Cave, Dhofar consists of mainly two chambers. One of the chambers comes with the main room comprising an area of more than 602 square meters. The smaller region encompasses approximately 189 square meters of area.
Ettein Cave, around 10km from Salalah, is made up of two enormous chambers and is the largest and most well-known cave in the southern region of Oman. Anyone who is relatively fit should be able to attempt this one, and once inside the gigantic cave expect to see the colossal stalagmites—watch out for the odd creepy crawly!

From these descriptions Lonely Planet and others derived "two huge underground chambers". That's nonsense, there are two huge elongated shelters, and the square meters are probably correct, but the caves are not underground in the sense the description implies. There is no dark section, and definitely no "colossal stalagmites" as one page stated.