VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Muscat for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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. Hurghada 84, Muscat 72: Hurghada leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Muscat 44: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Muscat 14: Hurghada leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Muscat 70: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Muscat 52: Hurghada leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Muscat 20: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Muscat 42: Muscat leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Muscat 45: Hurghada leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Muscat 40: Muscat leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Muscat.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Muscat
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
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

05101520JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaMuscat

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. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaMuscat
Official languageArabicArabic
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180968
Elevation11 m69 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaMuscat
City population214,2471,421,409
People per km²-406
Museums within 10 km110
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 Hurghada 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). 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. 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.