VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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. Cologne 14, Manila 12: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Manila 64: Manila leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Manila 54: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Manila 64: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Manila 40: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Manila 42: Cologne leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Manila 42: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Manila 26: Cologne leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Manila 60: Manila leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Manila 77: Manila leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Manila 50: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Manila 40: Cologne leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Manila.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
CologneManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneManila
Official languageGermanEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m9 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneManila
City population1,025,5231,902,590
People per km²2,53276,104
Museums within 10 km4027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.