VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Manila for

  • prices
  • 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. Madrid 5, Manila 12: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Manila 64: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Manila 54: Madrid leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Manila 64: Madrid leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Manila 40: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Manila 42: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Manila 42: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Manila 26: Madrid leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Manila 60: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Manila 77: Manila leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Manila 50: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Manila 40: Manila leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Manila.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
MadridManila

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridManila
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m9 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridManila
City population3,506,7301,902,590
People per km²5,80176,104
Museums within 10 km8827
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 Madrid 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.