VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Honolulu 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 Honolulu for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Muscat for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • 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. Honolulu 91, Muscat 72: Honolulu leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Muscat 44: Honolulu leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu and Muscat are level on 55.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Muscat 14: Honolulu leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Muscat 70: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Muscat 52: Honolulu leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Muscat 20: Honolulu leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Muscat 42: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Muscat 45: Muscat leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu and Muscat are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 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: Honolulu and Muscat.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
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

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluMuscat

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. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluMuscat
Official language-Arabic
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+4
Emergency number911968
Elevation12 m69 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluMuscat
City population350,9641,421,409
People per km²1,981406
Museums within 10 km1210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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