VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Cairo 10, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Muscat 44: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Muscat 55: Cairo leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Muscat 14: Cairo leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Muscat 62: Cairo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Muscat 52: Muscat leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Muscat 20: Cairo leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Muscat 42: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Muscat 45: Cairo leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Muscat 40: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo 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

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 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

05101520JFMAMJJASOND
CairoMuscat

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. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoMuscat
Official languageArabicArabic
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180968
Elevation23 m69 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCairoMuscat
City population9,801,5361,421,409
People per km²18,564406
Museums within 10 km4810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Cairo 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). 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. 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.