VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Muscat or Santa Marta?

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

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Muscat and Santa Marta are level on 44.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Santa Marta 34: Muscat leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Santa Marta 38: Muscat leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Santa Marta 40: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Santa Marta 27: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Santa Marta 17: Muscat leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Santa Marta 30: Muscat leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nightlife 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSanta Marta

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). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSanta Marta
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number968123
Elevation69 m8 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSanta Marta
City population1,421,409505,915
People per km²4061,723
Museums within 10 km103
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Santa Marta 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.