VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Brisbane 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 Brisbane for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • 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. Brisbane 55, Manila 12: Brisbane leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Manila 64: Manila leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Manila 54: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Manila 64: Manila leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Manila 40: Brisbane leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Manila 42: Brisbane leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Manila 42: Brisbane leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Manila 26: Brisbane leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Manila 60: Manila leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Manila 77: Manila leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Manila 50: Brisbane leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane and Manila are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Manila.

Your match

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

Brisbane
Best match
54match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 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
BrisbaneManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneManila
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+8
Emergency number000911
Elevation0 m9 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneManila
City population2,706,9661,902,590
People per km²17176,104
Museums within 10 km1627
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brisbane 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.