VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cebu or Kathmandu?

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 Cebu for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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. Cebu 60, Kathmandu 4: Cebu leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Kathmandu 55: Cebu leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Kathmandu 36: Cebu leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cebu 45, Kathmandu 20: Cebu leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Kathmandu 25: Cebu leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Cebu 80, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Kathmandu 28: Kathmandu leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Kathmandu 45: Cebu leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Cebu
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CebuKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuKathmandu
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishNepali
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:45
Emergency number911Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation135 m1,300 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCebuKathmandu
City population965,332845,767
People per km²3,06517,121
Museums within 10 km59
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cebu or Kathmandu 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.