VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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. Boston 35, Manila 12: Boston leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Boston and Manila are level on 64.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Manila 54: Boston leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Manila 64: Manila leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Manila 40: Boston leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Manila 42: Boston leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Manila 42: Boston leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Manila 26: Boston leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Manila 60: Manila leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Manila 77: Manila leads by 59 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Manila 50: Boston leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Manila 40: Manila leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Manila.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices 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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonManila
Official language-English, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation43 m9 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonManila
City population675,6471,902,590
People per km²2,91076,104
Museums within 10 km5127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.