VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Charleston 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 Charleston for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • 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. Charleston 72, Manila 12: Charleston leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Manila 64: Charleston leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Manila 54: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Manila 64: Manila leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Manila 40: Charleston leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Manila 42: Charleston leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Manila 42: Charleston leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Manila 26: Charleston leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Manila 60: Manila leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Manila 77: Manila leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Manila 50: Manila leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston and Manila are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Manila.

Your match

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

Charleston
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices 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.

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Manila in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
487 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonManila
Official language-English, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation6 m9 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonManila
City population150,2271,902,590
People per km²53276,104
Museums within 10 km1927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston 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). 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.