VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Muscat or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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 Monica 66: Muscat leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Santa Monica 35: Muscat leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Santa Monica 14: Muscat leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Santa Monica 38: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Santa Monica 45: Muscat leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSanta Monica

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 Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSanta Monica
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number968911
Elevation69 m32 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSanta Monica
City population1,421,40993,076
People per km²4064,270
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Santa Monica 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.