VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Merida?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Merida for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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, Merida 50: Merida leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Merida 72: Merida leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Merida 64: Merida leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Merida 42: Manila leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Merida 48: Merida leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Merida 80: Merida leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Merida 50: Merida leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Merida 45: Merida leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Merida 50: Manila leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Merida 75: Manila leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Merida 52: Merida leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila and Merida are level on 40.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Merida.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMerida
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-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m12 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMerida
City population1,902,590892,363
People per km²76,1041,010
Museums within 10 km275
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 Merida 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.