VacationSelector
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Manaus or Panama City?

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 Manaus for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Panama City for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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. Manaus 38, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Manaus 56, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Manaus 46, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Manaus 42, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manaus 86, Panama City 74: Manaus leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Manaus 12, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Manaus 35, Panama City 45: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Manaus 27, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Manaus 36, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Manaus 63, Panama City 55: Manaus leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manaus 54, Panama City 34: Manaus leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manaus 20, Panama City 22: Panama City leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manaus and Panama City.

Your match

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

Manaus
43match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
ManausPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manaus: 1991-2020 normals, Manaus (1.7 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManausPanama City
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCN60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation92 m20 m
Main airportEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureManausPanama City
City population2,303,7321,540,000
People per km²2025,600
Museums within 10 km1310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Manaus or Panama City 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.