VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Bergen 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 Bergen for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • day trips

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. Bergen 20, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Muscat 44: Bergen leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen and Muscat are level on 55.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Muscat 14: Bergen leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Muscat 70: Bergen leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Muscat 52: Bergen leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Muscat 20: Bergen leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Muscat 42: Muscat leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Muscat 40: Bergen leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen 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

Bergen
46match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches 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.

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
18 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenMuscat

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. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenMuscat
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiArabic
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110968
Elevation5 m69 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBergenMuscat
City population291,1891,421,409
People per km²3,339406
Museums within 10 km3110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.