VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

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

Muscat or Riga?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Riga for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Muscat leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Riga 52: Riga leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Riga 66: Riga leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Riga 52: Riga leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Riga 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Riga 60: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Riga 50: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Riga 68: Riga leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Riga 45: Riga leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Riga 62: Riga leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Riga 65: Riga leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Riga 50: Muscat leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Riga.

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.

Riga
Best match
55match

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatRiga

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). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatRiga
Official languageArabicLatvian
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m6 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatRiga
City population1,421,409588,911
People per km²406-
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Riga 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. 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.