VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Muscat or Philadelphia?

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
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Muscat leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Philadelphia 52: Muscat leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Philadelphia 40: Muscat leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Philadelphia 26: Muscat leads by 29 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatPhiladelphia

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). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatPhiladelphia
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number968911
Elevation69 m12 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatPhiladelphia
City population1,421,4091,603,797
People per km²4064,339
Museums within 10 km1054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Philadelphia 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.