VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Mazatlan?

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 Manila for

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

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Manila 12, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Mazatlan 62: Manila leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Mazatlan 42: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Mazatlan 55: Manila leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Mazatlan 45: Mazatlan leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Mazatlan 30: Manila leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Mazatlan 70: Manila leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Mazatlan 40: Manila leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Mazatlan 35: Manila leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Mazatlan
Best match
52match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMazatlan
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m139 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMazatlan
City population1,902,590441,975
People per km²76,104-
Museums within 10 km273
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Manila or Mazatlan 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. 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. 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.