VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Muscat or Tromso?

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
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Tromso for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Muscat leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Tromso 36: Muscat leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Tromso 27: Muscat leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Tromso 14: Muscat leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Tromso 45: Muscat leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Tromso 15: Muscat leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Tromso 11: Muscat leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Tromso 32: Muscat leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Tromso 38: Muscat leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Tromso.

Your match

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

Muscat
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on getting around and nightlife 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatTromso

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). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatTromso
Official languageArabicNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number968Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation69 m20 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatTromso
City population1,421,40979,943
People per km²40632
Museums within 10 km108
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 Tromso 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). 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.