VacationSelector
The entrance to the Big Lagoon, El Nido
El NidoThe entrance to the Big Lagoon
The Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi, Kochi
KochiThe Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi

Photos: El Nido by nennnn, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Kochi by Vis M, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

El Nido or Kochi?

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 El Nido for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Kochi for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Kochi’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. El Nido 92, Kochi 38: El Nido leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. El Nido 27, Kochi 66: Kochi leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. El Nido 4, Kochi 62: Kochi leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. El Nido 30, Kochi 18: El Nido leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. El Nido 87, Kochi 55: El Nido leads by 32 points.
Day trips. El Nido 8, Kochi 52: Kochi leads by 44 points.
Good for families. El Nido and Kochi are level on 40.
Getting around. El Nido 22, Kochi 44: Kochi leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. El Nido 7, Kochi 45: Kochi leads by 38 points.
Affordability. El Nido 64, Kochi 88: Kochi leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. El Nido 7, Kochi 40: Kochi leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. El Nido 46, Kochi 70: Kochi leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: El Nido and Kochi.

Your match

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

El Nido
36match

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

Kochi
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

El Nido in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
368 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Kochi in July

27 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
439 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
El NidoKochi

Where the figures come from

El Nido has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Kochi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. El Nido: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Kochi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureEl NidoKochi
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishHindi, English
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation35 m0 m
Main airportEl Nido Airport (ENI)4 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsCochin International Airport (COK)24 km from centre36 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureEl NidoKochi
City population51,367677,381
People per km²567,138
Museums within 10 km04
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 El Nido or Kochi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.