VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Manila for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • beaches

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. Johannesburg 5, Manila 12: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Manila 64: Manila leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Manila 54: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Manila 64: Manila leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Manila 40: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Manila 42: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg and Manila are level on 42.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Manila 26: Manila leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Manila 60: Manila leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Manila 77: Manila leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Manila 50: Johannesburg leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Manila 40: Manila leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg 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

Johannesburg
47match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 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
JohannesburgManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgManila
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
Elevation1,753 m9 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgManila
City population4,803,2621,902,590
People per km²2,92276,104
Museums within 10 km1427
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 Johannesburg 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. 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. 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.