VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Muscat or Seattle?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Muscat leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Seattle 50: Muscat leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Seattle 55: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Seattle 22: Muscat leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Seattle 40: Muscat leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Seattle.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSeattle
City population1,421,409737,015
People per km²4061,996
Museums within 10 km1027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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.