VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Muscat for

  • wellness
  • 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. Barcelona 75, Muscat 72: Barcelona leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Muscat 44: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Muscat 55: Barcelona leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Muscat 14: Barcelona leads by 68 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Muscat 70: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Muscat 62: Barcelona leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Muscat 52: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Muscat 20: Barcelona leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Muscat 42: Barcelona leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Muscat 40: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Muscat.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaMuscat

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. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaMuscat
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
Elevation9 m69 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaMuscat
City population1,731,6491,421,409
People per km²17,094406
Museums within 10 km9510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Barcelona 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.