VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Montpellier 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 Montpellier for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Muscat for

  • wellness
  • beaches

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. Montpellier 64, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Muscat 44: Montpellier leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Muscat 55: Montpellier leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Muscat 14: Montpellier leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Muscat 70: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Muscat 62: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Muscat 52: Montpellier leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Muscat 20: Montpellier leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Muscat 42: Montpellier leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Muscat 45: Montpellier leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Muscat 40: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Muscat.

Your match

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

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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
MontpellierMuscat

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. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierMuscat
Official languageFrenchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112968
Elevation7 m69 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierMuscat
City population310,2401,421,409
People per km²5,452406
Museums within 10 km1410
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 Montpellier 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). 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. 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.