VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Muscat or Tampa?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tampa for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Tampa 42: Muscat leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Tampa 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Tampa 54: Muscat leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Tampa 22: Tampa leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Tampa 40: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Tampa 40: Muscat leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Tampa 30: Muscat leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Tampa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on nightlife and families 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatTampa

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). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatTampa
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number968911
Elevation69 m30 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatTampa
City population1,421,409384,959
People per km²406848
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Tampa 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.