VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cebu or Tampa?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tampa for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Tampa 57: Cebu leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Tampa 55: Cebu leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Cebu 45, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Tampa 22: Cebu leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Tampa 40: Cebu leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cebu 80, Tampa 40: Cebu leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Tampa 30: Cebu leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Tampa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cebu
48match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on families 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.

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CebuTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuTampa
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish-
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation135 m30 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCebuTampa
City population965,332384,959
People per km²3,065848
Museums within 10 km56
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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