VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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. Austin 30, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Muscat 44: Austin leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Muscat 14: Austin leads by 51 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Muscat 52: Austin leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Muscat 20: Austin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Muscat 42: Austin leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Muscat 40: Austin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 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: Austin and Muscat.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Austin
50match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches 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.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinMuscat

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. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinMuscat
Official language-Arabic
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number911968
Elevation149 m69 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAustinMuscat
City population961,8551,421,409
People per km²1,217406
Museums within 10 km2110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.