VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Muscat for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Biarritz 68, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Muscat 44: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Muscat 14: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Muscat 70: Biarritz leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Muscat 62: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Muscat 52: Biarritz leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Muscat 20: Biarritz leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz and Muscat are level on 42.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Muscat 40: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Muscat 55: Biarritz leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Muscat.

Your match

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

Biarritz
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzMuscat

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. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzMuscat
Official languageFrenchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112968
Elevation0 m69 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzMuscat
City population26,2061,421,409
People per km²2,240406
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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.