VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cebu or Panama City?

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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Panama City for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Cebu leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Panama City 57: Cebu leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Cebu and Panama City are level on 45.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cebu 80, Panama City 55: Cebu leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Panama City 34: Panama City leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Panama City 22: Cebu leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cebu
48match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
CebuPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuPanama City
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation135 m20 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCebuPanama City
City population965,3321,540,000
People per km²3,0655,600
Museums within 10 km510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Cebu or Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.