VacationSelector
The entrance to the Big Lagoon, El Nido
El NidoThe entrance to the Big Lagoon
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: El Nido by nennnn, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

El Nido or Whistler?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: El Nido leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. El Nido 27, Whistler 40: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. El Nido 4, Whistler 20: Whistler leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. El Nido 30, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. El Nido 87, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 10 points.
Day trips. El Nido 8, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 22 points.
Good for families. El Nido 40, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 28 points.
Getting around. El Nido 22, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. El Nido 7, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 23 points.
Affordability. El Nido 64, Whistler 12: El Nido leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. El Nido 7, Whistler 15: Whistler leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. El Nido 46, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: El Nido and Whistler.

Your match

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

El Nido
36match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Whistler
Best match
43match

Wins on getting around and families 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

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
El NidoWhistler

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.

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEl NidoWhistler
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishFrench, English
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation35 m670 m
Main airportEl Nido Airport (ENI)4 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEl NidoWhistler
City population51,36713,982
People per km²5658
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow El Nido or Whistler 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.