Cardiff or Manchester?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Cardiff if you want the coast within reach of the centre, at 2km, with more park space and a little more protected countryside for days out.
Choose Manchester if your evenings matter most: about twice as many restaurants near the centre, twice as many bars and clubs, and a tighter core of notable places within walking distance.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Cardiff leads by 18 points.18
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 28 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 8 | 10 |
| Coast distance | 2 km | 27 km |
| Water distance | 2 km | 27 km |
Places to eat. Manchester leads by 8 points.8
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 68 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 541 | 853 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 32 | 35 |
Museums & heritage. Manchester leads by 3 points.3
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 39 | 42 |
| Museums within 10 km | 61 | 23 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 6 | 11 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 10 | 48 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 2 |
Nightlife. Manchester leads by 14 points.14
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48 | 62 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 536 | 1,029 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 395 | 792 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 74 | 77 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 35 | 82 |
Nature & day trips. Cardiff leads by 14 points.14
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 36 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 18 | 17 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 15 | 17 |
| Land share of disc % | 68 | 99 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 63 hectares |
Good for families. Cardiff and Manchester are level on 32.
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 32 | 32 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 4 | 5 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 63 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Manchester leads by 3 points.3
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 45 | 48 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 51 | 61 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Cardiff and Manchester are level on 54.
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 54 |
| Price level global | 84.9 | 84.9 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Cardiff and Manchester are level on 54.
| Cardiff | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 54 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.7 °C to 20.2 °C | 7.2 °C to 20.8 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 49 mm to 87 mm | 51 mm to 95 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Cardiff puts the sea 2km from the centre against 27km for Manchester, so a swim or a coastal walk is an afternoon rather than an expedition, with the water at its warmest, 18°C, in August. Around the city, 18% of the land is protected against 17%, and there is more park space close in.
Manchester has about twice as many places to drink and about twice as many nightclubs, most of them central, along with roughly twice as many restaurants near the centre and a slightly denser walkable core.
Where they are alike
Both run daytime highs of about 8-20°C across the year, warmest in July and cool rather than harsh in winter. Neither gets a month at 40mm of rain or less, so wet-weather clothing belongs in the bag whenever you go.
They are also level for families and close on heritage. Each has 2 theme parks within reach; Cardiff has more museums, while Manchester's sit more tightly around the centre.
Which traveller are you?
If swimming and coastal walks shape the trip, Cardiff wins easily: the sea is 2km from the centre against 27km for Manchester, and reaches 18°C in August. Manchester's extra beaches need a journey.
For eating out and late nights, Manchester: roughly twice as many restaurants near the centre and twice as many bars and clubs, most of them close enough together to walk between.
Travelling with children, the two are level. Each has 2 theme parks within reach; Manchester has more attractions near the centre, Cardiff more park space, so decide on the other axes instead.
What the numbers don't tell you
Treat the value comparison as empty. Neither city carries a daily budget figure here, and the value reading is a national price level that is the same for both by construction, so nothing in this data tells you which trip costs more.
The beach picture needs reading carefully too. Cardiff's sea is 2km from the centre and Manchester counts more beaches nearby, but they sit 27km out, and neither city gets a month with the sea at 21°C or more. Swimming is bracing rather than warm, and no month in either place drops to 40mm of rain or less.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre). Manchester: 1991-2020 normals, Manchester Airport (14.8 km from centre).
Cardiff is the better bet across July and August, when highs reach 20°C and the sea is at its warmest, 18°C. It also holds September more reliably: 54mm of rain against Manchester's 71mm, which makes a late-summer trip the safer one here.
Manchester's window is narrower. July is its clear month, marginally warmer at 21°C and its driest of the summer at 60mm. Later summer turns wetter, and October is the wettest month either city records, so autumn favours Cardiff.
Getting there
| Flying from | Cardiff | Manchester |
|---|---|---|
| Puerto del RosarioFUE | 3 h 50 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 4 h 5 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| PalmaPMI | 2 h 20 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 2 h 30 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| Las PalmasLPA | 4 h 0 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 4 h 15 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| ArrecifeACE | 3 h 45 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 4 h 0 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| IbizaIBZ | 2 h 20 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 2 h 35 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| PaphosPFO | 4 h 40 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 4 h 40 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| MarrakechRAK | 3 h 20 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 3 h 35 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| BridgetownBGI | 8 h 25 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 8 h 35 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 7 h 10 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 7 h 10 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
| New DelhiDEL | 8 h 40 m no fares BHX · 146 km | 8 h 40 m no fares MAN · 15 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Cardiff | Manchester |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | English |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | Pound Sterling (GBP) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | G230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC, UTC+1 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 112 or 999 |
| Elevation | 41 m | 38 m |
| Main airport | Cardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre8 non-stop destinations | Manchester Airport (MAN)15 km from centre210 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 8 days | 8 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cardiff | Manchester |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 383,536 | 547,627 |
| People per km² | 2,734 | 4,737 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 28 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 2 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 55 | 63 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cardiff or Manchester somewhere new.