VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Hamburg 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 Hamburg for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Hamburg’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. Hamburg 28, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Muscat 44: Hamburg leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Muscat 55: Hamburg leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Muscat 14: Hamburg leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Muscat 62: Hamburg leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Muscat 52: Hamburg leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Muscat 20: Hamburg leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Muscat 42: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Muscat 40: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 11 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

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.

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 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
HamburgMuscat

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. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgMuscat
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
Elevation6 m69 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgMuscat
City population1,869,4731,421,409
People per km²2,476406
Museums within 10 km7710
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 Hamburg 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.