VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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. Chicago 50, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Muscat 44: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Muscat 55: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Muscat 14: Chicago leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Muscat 52: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Muscat 20: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Muscat 42: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Muscat 40: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 22 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Muscat.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMuscat

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. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMuscat
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
Elevation179 m69 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMuscat
City population2,746,3881,421,409
People per km²4,529406
Museums within 10 km4410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

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