VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Manila or Mexico 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 Manila for

  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico 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. Manila 12, Mexico City 5: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Mexico City 75: Manila leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila and Mexico City are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMexico City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMexico City
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 m2,240 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMexico City
City population1,902,5909,209,944
People per km²76,1046,202
Museums within 10 km27108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
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 Mexico 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. 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.