VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Muscat or Washington DC?

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
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Muscat leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Washington DC 64: Muscat leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Washington DC 28: Muscat leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Washington DC 26: Muscat leads by 29 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatWashington DC
City population1,421,409689,545
People per km²4063,896
Museums within 10 km1098
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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