VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Guilin 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 Guilin for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Guilin 8, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Muscat 44: Guilin leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Muscat 14: Guilin leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Muscat 70: Guilin leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Muscat 52: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Muscat 20: Guilin leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Muscat 42: Muscat leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Muscat 45: Guilin leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Muscat 40: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Muscat.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Muscat
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinMuscat

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. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinMuscat
Official languagePutonghuaArabic
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119968
Elevation153 m69 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinMuscat
City population4,931,1371,421,409
People per km²-406
Museums within 10 km110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Guilin 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). 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. 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.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.