VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

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

Hanoi 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 Hanoi for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Hanoi 6, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Muscat 44: Hanoi leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Muscat 55: Hanoi leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi 50, Muscat 14: Hanoi leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Hanoi 58, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Muscat 52: Muscat leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Muscat 20: Hanoi leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Muscat 42: Hanoi leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Muscat 45: Hanoi leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi and Muscat are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Muscat.

Your match

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

Hanoi
Best match
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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.

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HanoiMuscat

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

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. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHanoiMuscat
Official languageVietnameseArabic
CurrencyDong (VND)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114968
Elevation10 m69 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiMuscat
City population8,717,6001,421,409
People per km²2,595406
Museums within 10 km1410
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 Hanoi 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). 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.