VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Muscat or Rome?

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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Rome 82: Rome leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Rome 99: Rome leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Rome 58: Rome leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Rome 58: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Rome 92: Rome leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Rome 50: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Rome 60: Rome leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Rome 72: Rome leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Rome 38: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Rome 68: Rome leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Rome 40: Muscat leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatRome

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatRome
Official languageArabicItalian
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m21 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatRome
City population1,421,4092,748,109
People per km²4062,135
Museums within 10 km10178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
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 Rome 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). 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.