Doha or Muscat?

701 km apart, in Qatar and Oman. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

Doha is the better pick in March; Muscat in January and October; either in February, April and November to December. May to September are best avoided at both.

Month by month

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Doha	22° 1d	23° 1d	27° 1d	32° 1d	37° 0d	40° 0d	41° 0d	41° 0d	39° 0d	35° 0d	30° 0d	25° 1d
Muscat	24° 1d	26° 1d	29° 1d	33° 1d	37° 0d	38° 0d	36° 0d	36° 0d	35° 0d	33° 1d	29° 0d	25° 1d
Pick	Muscat	either	Doha	either	neither	neither	neither	neither	neither	Muscat	either	either

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Doha

22° 1d

23° 1d

27° 1d

32° 1d

37° 0d

40° 0d

41° 0d

39° 0d

35° 0d

30° 0d

25° 1d

Muscat

24° 1d

26° 1d

29° 1d

33° 1d

37° 0d

38° 0d

36° 0d

35° 0d

33° 1d

29° 0d

25° 1d

Pick

Muscat

either

Doha

either

neither

Muscat

either

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

Cost of living — Doha: cheap, about 56% of the United States; Muscat: cheap, about 47% of the United States.
Currency — Doha: Qatari riyal; Muscat: Omani rial.
Plugs — Doha: type G, 240 V; Muscat: type C and G, 240 V.
Driving — Doha: on the right; Muscat: on the right.
Travel advice — Doha: no advice against travel; Muscat: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

701 km as the crow flies, about 1h 46m in the air.Nonstop, about 5 a day · Oman Air, Qatar Airways. By road, 1,041 km and about 9h 31m.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.