VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Cologne’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. Cologne 14, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Muscat 44: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Muscat 55: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Muscat 14: Cologne leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Muscat 62: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Muscat 52: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Muscat 20: Cologne leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Muscat 42: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Muscat 45: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Muscat 40: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Muscat.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and nightlife 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.

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
CologneMuscat

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. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMuscat
Official languageGermanArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112968
Elevation59 m69 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMuscat
City population1,025,5231,421,409
People per km²2,532406
Museums within 10 km4010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Cologne 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). 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. 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.