VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Muscat or Thessaloniki?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Muscat leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Thessaloniki 66: Muscat leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Thessaloniki 50: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Thessaloniki 33: Muscat leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatThessaloniki

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). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatThessaloniki
Official languageArabicGreek
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m6 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatThessaloniki
City population1,421,409309,617
People per km²40616,042
Museums within 10 km1032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat or Thessaloniki 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.