Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.
Muscat or Petra?
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
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Muscat’s own page.
Choose Petra for
- culture and sights
- nature and the outdoors
- getting around
What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Petra.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.
Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors 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
Petra in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.
Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.
Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.
Petra has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Muscat | Petra |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Arabic | Arabic |
| Currency | Rial Omani (OMR) | Jordanian Dinar (JOD) |
| Sockets | CG240 V, 50 Hz | BCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+4 | UTC+3 |
| Emergency number | 968 | 911 |
| Elevation | 69 m | 850 m |
| Main airport | Muscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations | King Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations |
By the numbers
| Measure | Muscat | Petra |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,421,409 | - |
| People per km² | 406 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 10 | 2 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Petra somewhere new.