VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Muscat or Rotterdam?

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 Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Muscat leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Rotterdam 44: Muscat leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Rotterdam 38: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Rotterdam 42: Muscat leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Rotterdam.

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.

Rotterdam
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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatRotterdam

Where the figures come from

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

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatRotterdam
Official languageArabicDutch
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m10 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatRotterdam
City population1,421,409664,311
People per km²4062,080
Museums within 10 km1040
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
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 Rotterdam 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.