VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Muscat for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • day trips

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. Lima 42, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Muscat 44: Lima leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Muscat 55: Lima leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Muscat 14: Lima leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Muscat 52: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Muscat 20: Lima leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Muscat 42: Lima leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Muscat 45: Lima leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Muscat 40: Lima leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Muscat.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaMuscat

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. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaMuscat
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaArabic
CurrencySol (PEN)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+4
Emergency number111 or 911968
Elevation154 m69 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLimaMuscat
City population9,943,8001,421,409
People per km²3,721406
Museums within 10 km4710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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