VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Muscat or Victoria?

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
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Victoria for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: Muscat leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Victoria 50: Victoria leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Victoria 42: Muscat leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Victoria 30: Victoria leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Victoria 54: Muscat leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Victoria 62: Victoria leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Victoria 60: Victoria leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Victoria 40: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Victoria 34: Muscat leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat and Victoria are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Victoria 48: Muscat leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

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 beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Victoria
47match

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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatVictoria

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatVictoria
Official languageArabicFrench, English
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number968911
Elevation69 m23 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatVictoria
City population1,421,40991,867
People per km²4064,711
Museums within 10 km106
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 Victoria 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.