VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Bucharest 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 Bucharest for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Manila for

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • prices

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. Bucharest 8, Manila 12: Manila leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Manila 64: Manila leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Manila 54: Bucharest leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Manila 64: Bucharest leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest 45, Manila 40: Bucharest leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Manila 42: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Manila 42: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Manila 26: Bucharest leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Manila 60: Manila leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bucharest 70, Manila 77: Manila leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Manila 50: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Manila 40: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bucharest and Manila.

Your match

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

Bucharest
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
BucharestManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBucharestManila
Official languageRomanianEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m9 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestManila
City population1,716,9611,902,590
People per km²7,59776,104
Museums within 10 km4127
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 Bucharest 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.