VacationSelector
Durban
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Durban 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 Durban for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Manila for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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. Durban 80, Manila 12: Durban leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Manila 64: Manila leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Manila 54: Manila leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Manila 64: Manila leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Manila 40: Durban leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Manila 42: Manila leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Manila 42: Durban leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Manila 26: Manila leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Manila 60: Manila leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Manila 77: Manila leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Manila 50: Manila leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Manila 40: Manila leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Manila.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 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
DurbanManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanManila
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m9 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanManila
City population595,0611,902,590
People per km²2,63476,104
Museums within 10 km127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Durban 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.