VacationSelector
The cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar, Bogota
BogotaThe cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Bogota by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Bogota 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 Bogota for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Manila for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • beaches

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. Bogota 5, Manila 12: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Bogota 66, Manila 64: Bogota leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Bogota 68, Manila 54: Bogota leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Bogota 72, Manila 64: Bogota leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bogota 64, Manila 40: Bogota leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Bogota 52, Manila 42: Bogota leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Bogota 45, Manila 42: Bogota leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bogota 36, Manila 26: Bogota leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Bogota 52, Manila 60: Manila leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bogota and Manila are level on 77.
Live music & performing arts. Bogota 64, Manila 50: Bogota leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bogota 28, Manila 40: Manila leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bogota and Manila.

Your match

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

Bogota
Best match
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on wellness 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.

Bogota in July

17 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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
BogotaManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bogota: 1991-2020 normals, Bogota / Eldorado (14.1 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBogotaManila
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123911
Elevation2,582 m9 m
Main airportEl Dorado International Airport (BOG)13 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBogotaManila
City population8,034,6491,902,590
People per km²5,09276,104
Museums within 10 km3027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bogota 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.