VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Acapulco or Manila?

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 Acapulco for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Manila for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Manila’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. Acapulco 80, Manila 12: Acapulco leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Manila 64: Manila leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Manila 54: Manila leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco and Manila are level on 64.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Manila 40: Acapulco leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Manila 42: Manila leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Manila 42: Acapulco leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Manila 26: Acapulco leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Manila 60: Manila leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Manila 77: Manila leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Manila 50: Manila leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Manila 40: Manila leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Manila.

Your match

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

Acapulco
44match

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

Manila
Best match
48match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Acapulco in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
226 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Manila in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
487 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoManila
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation18 m9 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoManila
City population658,6091,902,590
People per km²35076,104
Museums within 10 km327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Acapulco or Manila 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.