VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Cancun 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 Cancun for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Manila for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Cancun 98, Manila 12: Cancun leads by 86 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Manila 64: Manila leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Manila 54: Manila leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Manila 64: Cancun leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Manila 40: Cancun leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Manila 42: Cancun leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Manila 42: Cancun leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Manila 26: Manila leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Manila 60: Manila leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Manila 77: Manila leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Manila 50: Manila leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Manila 40: Cancun leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Manila.

Your match

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

Cancun
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cancun in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Manila in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
487 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
CancunManila

Where the figures come from

Cancun has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunManila
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation5 m9 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunManila
City population888,7971,902,590
People per km²-76,104
Museums within 10 km127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Manila somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.