VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Muscat or San Sebastian?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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, San Sebastian 68: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, San Sebastian 52: Muscat leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, San Sebastian 40: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, San Sebastian 32: Muscat leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, San Sebastian 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 San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and food and drink 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

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

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

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSan Sebastian
Official languageArabicSpanish
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 m6 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSan Sebastian
City population1,421,409189,866
People per km²4063,118
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or San Sebastian 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.