VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Cartagena 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 Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Cartagena 70, Manila 12: Cartagena leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Manila 64: Manila leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Manila 54: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Manila 64: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Manila 40: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Manila 42: Manila leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Manila 42: Manila leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Manila 26: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Manila 60: Manila leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Manila 77: Manila leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Manila 50: Manila leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Manila are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Manila.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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.

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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
CartagenaManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaManila
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m9 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaManila
City population914,5521,902,590
People per km²1,59976,104
Museums within 10 km227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Cartagena 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.