VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Muscat or Osaka?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Osaka for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Muscat leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 47 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Osaka 63: Osaka leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Osaka 58: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 70 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 11 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Osaka.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on getting around and nightlife 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatOsaka

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). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatOsaka
Official languageArabicJapanese
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+9
Emergency number968Police 110, fire 119
Elevation69 m20 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatOsaka
City population1,421,4092,751,862
People per km²40612,340
Museums within 10 km1044
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km06
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Osaka 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.