VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

London 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 London for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices

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. London 25, Manila 12: London leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Manila 64: London leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Manila 54: London leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Manila 64: London leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Manila 40: London leads by 17 points.
Day trips. London 90, Manila 42: London leads by 48 points.
Good for families. London 82, Manila 42: London leads by 40 points.
Getting around. London 85, Manila 26: London leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Manila 60: London leads by 35 points.
Affordability. London 15, Manila 77: Manila leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Manila 50: London leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London and Manila are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Manila.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
LondonManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonManila
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation4 m9 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonManila
City population8,799,7281,902,590
People per km²5,59876,104
Museums within 10 km21627
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 London 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.