VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Medellin?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Medellin for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Medellin 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Medellin 42: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Medellin 45: Manila leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Medellin 42: Manila leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Medellin 30: Manila leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Medellin.

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.

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin 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. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMedellin
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation9 m1,405 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMedellin
City population1,902,5902,529,403
People per km²76,1046,644
Museums within 10 km2714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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