VacationSelector
A boat in the swell beside El Arco, Los Cabos
Los CabosA boat in the swell beside El Arco
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Los Cabos by Jules Clark, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Los Cabos 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 Los Cabos for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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. Los Cabos 84, Manila 12: Los Cabos leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Los Cabos 54, Manila 64: Manila leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Los Cabos 20, Manila 54: Manila leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Los Cabos 66, Manila 64: Los Cabos leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Cabos 78, Manila 40: Los Cabos leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Los Cabos and Manila are level on 42.
Good for families. Los Cabos 55, Manila 42: Los Cabos leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Los Cabos 28, Manila 26: Los Cabos leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Los Cabos 36, Manila 60: Manila leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Los Cabos 28, Manila 77: Manila leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Cabos 12, Manila 50: Manila leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Cabos 58, Manila 40: Los Cabos leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Cabos 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

Los Cabos
47match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Cabos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
19 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
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
Los CabosManila

Where the figures come from

Los Cabos 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. Los Cabos: 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

MeasureLos CabosManila
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC+8
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m9 m
Main airportLos Cabos International Airport (SJD)35 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos CabosManila
City population202,6941,902,590
People per km²-76,104
Museums within 10 km127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Cabos 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.