VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Alicante 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 Alicante for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Muscat for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Alicante 82, Muscat 72: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Muscat 44: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Muscat 14: Alicante leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Muscat 62: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Muscat 52: Alicante leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Muscat 20: Alicante leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Muscat 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Muscat 45: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Muscat 40: Muscat leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Muscat.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMuscat

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. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMuscat
Official languageSpanishArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112968
Elevation3 m69 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMuscat
City population366,2211,421,409
People per km²1,819406
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.