VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Manila for

  • beaches
  • wellness

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. Guadalajara 5, Manila 12: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Manila 64: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Manila 54: Guadalajara leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Manila 64: Guadalajara leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Manila 40: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Manila 42: Guadalajara leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Manila 42: Guadalajara leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Manila 26: Guadalajara leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara and Manila are level on 60.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Manila 77: Guadalajara leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Manila 50: Guadalajara leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Manila 40: Manila leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Manila.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guadalajara in July

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

Manila in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
487 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraManila

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara 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. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraManila
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,536 m9 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraManila
City population1,385,6211,902,590
People per km²9,55676,104
Museums within 10 km1727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Guadalajara or Manila 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.