VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Puerto Princesa?

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 Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Puerto Princesa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Princesa’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. Kathmandu 4, Puerto Princesa 58: Puerto Princesa leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Puerto Princesa 38: Kathmandu leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Puerto Princesa 22: Kathmandu leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Puerto Princesa 26: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Puerto Princesa 80: Puerto Princesa leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Puerto Princesa 12: Kathmandu leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Puerto Princesa 45: Puerto Princesa leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Puerto Princesa 30: Puerto Princesa leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Puerto Princesa 20: Kathmandu leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Puerto Princesa 78: Kathmandu leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Puerto Princesa 10: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Puerto Princesa 40: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Puerto Princesa.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

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

Puerto Princesa
38match

Wins on beaches 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.

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduPuerto Princesa

Where the figures come from

Puerto Princesa 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. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduPuerto Princesa
Official languageNepaliEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m98 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-18 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduPuerto Princesa
City population845,767316,384
People per km²17,121133
Museums within 10 km91
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Kathmandu or Puerto Princesa 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). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.