VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • shopping

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. Athens 70, Manila 12: Athens leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Manila 64: Athens leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Manila 54: Athens leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Manila 64: Athens leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Manila 40: Athens leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Manila 42: Athens leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Manila 42: Athens leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Manila 26: Athens leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Manila 60: Manila leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Manila 77: Manila leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Manila 50: Athens leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Manila 40: Athens leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Manila.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
AthensManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensManila
Official languageGreekEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation74 m9 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensManila
City population643,4521,902,590
People per km²16,49976,104
Museums within 10 km8827
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.