VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Muscat?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Adelaide for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Adelaide’s own page.

Choose Muscat for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Muscat’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Adelaide 68, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Muscat 44: Adelaide leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Muscat 14: Adelaide leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Muscat 52: Adelaide leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Muscat 20: Adelaide leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Muscat 42: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Muscat 40: Adelaide leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Muscat.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Muscat in July

33 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
31 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideMuscat

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideMuscat
Official languageEnglishArabic
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number000968
Elevation1 m69 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideMuscat
City population1,387,2901,421,409
People per km²1,071406
Museums within 10 km1310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Muscat somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.