VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Muscat or Sao Paulo?

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
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Muscat leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 72 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Sao Paulo 48: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Sao Paulo 47: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Muscat and Sao Paulo are level on 52.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Sao Paulo 25: Muscat leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSao Paulo
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-3
Emergency number968Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation69 m760 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSao Paulo
City population1,421,40911,451,999
People per km²4067,519
Museums within 10 km1090
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Sao Paulo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.