VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Muscat or Wellington?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Wellington for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Muscat leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Wellington 44: Muscat leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Wellington 40: Muscat leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat and Wellington are level on 42.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Wellington 33: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Wellington 30: Muscat leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

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 wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatWellington

Where the figures come from

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

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatWellington
Official languageArabicEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number968111
Elevation69 m0 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatWellington
City population1,421,409216,200
People per km²406487
Museums within 10 km1012
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 Wellington 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.