VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Muscat or Nairobi?

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 Muscat for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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. Muscat 72, Nairobi 4: Muscat leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Nairobi 48: Nairobi leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Nairobi 35: Muscat leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Nairobi 28: Muscat leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Muscat and Nairobi are level on 20.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Nairobi 45: Nairobi leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Nairobi 35: Muscat leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Nairobi 25: Muscat leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Muscat
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatNairobi

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. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatNairobi
Official languageArabicEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+3
Emergency number968Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation69 m1,661 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatNairobi
City population1,421,4095,545,000
People per km²4067,967
Museums within 10 km104
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Nairobi 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.