VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Muscat or Valencia?

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

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

Choose Valencia for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Valencia 74: Valencia leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Valencia 68: Valencia leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Valencia 60: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Valencia 55: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Valencia 42: Muscat leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Valencia.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

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

Valencia
Best match
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatValencia

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). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatValencia
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number968112
Elevation69 m15 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatValencia
City population1,421,409840,792
People per km²4066,242
Museums within 10 km1045
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Valencia 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.