El Nido or Manila?

This is where the two differ most. In El Nido the day revolves around sand and sea: soft beaches at Las Cabanas and Marimegmeg, the near-empty 4km arc of Nacpan, and small white coves between cliffs out in the bay, best reached early before the tour boats crowd in.

Manila has a bayfront but no beach. Roxas Boulevard is for watching the sunset, the water is too polluted to swim in, and the sands of Batangas or Bataan are two to three hours away, better as an overnight stay than a day out. Many travellers simply fly from Manila to Palawan, which is where El Nido is.

Manila eats far better. Its Filipino cooking runs from lechon and kare-kare to halo-halo, Binondo packs dumpling houses and hopia bakeries into a few walkable streets, and Makati, Poblacion and BGC add chef-led and international kitchens.

El Nido has the same dishes, adobo, sinigang and kinilaw, but its lanes lean towards pizza and smoothie bowls for backpackers. Its best meal is the grilled seafood lunch the boat crews cook on an island beach, a fine experience but not a reason to choose it for eating.

Manila has real history to explore, and El Nido has almost none. Intramuros, with Fort Santiago and the UNESCO-listed San Agustin Church, sits beside the National Museum and Luna's Spoliarium. Binondo, Quiapo and Escolta add more, although the destruction of 1945 left the city mostly modern.

In El Nido the landmark is a limestone cliff, with a modest parish church and a few old wooden houses below it.

Manila goes out much harder. Poblacion's tight grid of cocktail bars and rooftops, the large clubs of BGC and Malate's older haunts give real range, and karaoke is taken seriously. Because of the traffic, it is best to pick one district per night.

El Nido's evenings start with sunset drinks at Las Cabanas and move on to reggae bars, fire dancers and a couple of late spots on the main lanes. There are no clubs, and guests at the outlying beach resorts may never notice the scene.

El Nido's setting is in another league. Bacuit Bay's black limestone islands hide lagoons you paddle into on Miniloc, and coral gardens, walls and turtle sites come with every boat day. On land there is the climb up the Taraw cliff and the Nagkalit-kalit waterfalls.

Manila's green spaces lie outside the sprawl: Taal, a volcano sitting in a lake, the Masungi georeserve and early hikes on Batulao or Pico de Loro. Anilao offers excellent diving. Each of these needs an early start to beat the traffic.

Manila is the better base for excursions. The ferry to Corregidor's wartime fortress, the cool ridge at Tagaytay, the old towns and hot springs of Laguna and the basilica town of Taal can each fill a day, traffic permitting.

From El Nido, the small Spanish fort at Taytay is about the only outing by land. Port Barton is a long road trip away, so days here are spent on boats in the bay instead.

Neither is easy with small children, and both share the Filipino warmth towards them. The difference is in what the days look like. El Nido suits older children who love snorkelling and boat trips in warm, shallow coves, but nothing is built for children, the boat ladders are steep and medical care is basic.

Manila's family days happen mostly indoors, in malls with ice rinks, at Manila Ocean Park and in the natural history museum. The streets outside are hot, with broken pavements, and hard going with a pram.

Both are awkward, in opposite ways. El Nido is small: you walk the town lanes, which have no pavements, and take tricycles, scooters or boats everywhere else, as there is no public transport.

Manila is huge. Its rail lines miss much of what visitors want to see and the roads jam for hours, so most people rely on ride-hailing cars and keep to one district a day. Makati, BGC and Intramuros are each pleasant on foot.

Manila is a serious shopping city, while El Nido barely has any shopping. Manila's giant malls, the Ayala Center and the open-air streets of BGC cover fashion and luxury, and Divisoria, Greenhills and the stalls under Quiapo's bridge sell bargains, pearls and handicrafts such as piña weaving.

El Nido offers sarongs, dry bags, woven bags and shell jewellery from small shops, enough for beach gear and a souvenir.

Manila stretches a budget further. Carinderias, street food, trains and jeepneys cost little, the National Museum is free and mid-range hotels are good value. Costs only climb noticeably in Makati and BGC.

El Nido's guesthouses, canteens and tricycles are still inexpensive, but its remoteness pushes up the price of almost everything. Boat tours are a daily cost, and the private-island resorts in the bay are as expensive as anywhere in Asia.

Manila is far ahead here, and for a night of music or theatre El Nido barely competes. In El Nido, performance is something that happens while you drink: a guitarist playing reggae covers in a beach bar, and fire dancers spinning flames on the sand after dark. There is no stage and nothing to buy a ticket for.

Manila has a real programme. The Cultural Center of the Philippines, a modernist complex on reclaimed land along the bayfront a short way south of Intramuros, is home to the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Ballet Philippines, and the national folk companies dance the tinikling between clapping bamboo poles. English-language musicals have strong local casts, and Filipino bands in the bars of Makati and Quezon City sing with real polish. The calendar is not deep, but it can give a trip several good evenings out, which El Nido cannot.

El Nido is a little more restful, mostly because of its slower pace. Beachfront massage huts, yoga classes and the very quiet private-island resorts make it easy to unwind, as long as you stay at Corong-Corong, Las Cabanas or the northern beaches rather than in the noisy town.

In Manila, the way to unwind is a long, affordable hilot or shiatsu after a day in traffic, or a full hotel spa. The hot springs of Los Baños and the cool air of Tagaytay are a couple of hours away.