VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Muscat or Seoul?

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Muscat leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 70 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 67 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Seoul.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSeoul

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). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSeoul
Official languageArabicKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+9
Emergency number968Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation69 m38 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-18 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSeoul
City population1,421,4099,668,465
People per km²40615,973
Museums within 10 km1081
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
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 Seoul 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.