VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Muscat or Oslo?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Oslo for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Oslo’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, Oslo 36: Muscat leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Oslo 55: Oslo leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Oslo 66: Oslo leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Oslo 48: Oslo leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Oslo 82: Oslo leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Oslo 52: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Oslo 63: Oslo leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Oslo 85: Oslo leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Oslo 50: Oslo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Oslo 14: Muscat leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Oslo 62: Oslo leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Oslo 60: Oslo leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Oslo
Best match
56match

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatOslo

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). Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatOslo
Official languageArabicNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number968Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation69 m23 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatOslo
City population1,421,409717,710
People per km²406-
Museums within 10 km1060
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Oslo 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.