VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Muscat or Samarkand?

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 Samarkand for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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, Samarkand 4: Muscat leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Muscat and Samarkand are level on 14.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Samarkand 40: Muscat leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Samarkand 30: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat and Samarkand are level on 42.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Samarkand 24: Muscat leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Samarkand 32: Muscat leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Muscat
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on getting around and prices 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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSamarkand

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). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSamarkand
Official languageArabicUzbek
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+5
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m702 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSamarkand
City population1,421,409546,303
People per km²4065,058
Museums within 10 km1011
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 Samarkand 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. 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.