VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Manila or Mombasa?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Mombasa’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, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Mombasa 60: Manila leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Mombasa 55: Mombasa leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Mombasa 46: Manila leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Mombasa 30: Mombasa leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Mombasa 35: Manila leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Mombasa 70: Manila leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Mombasa 22: Manila leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila and Mombasa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Manila
48match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Mombasa in July

28 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
63 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMombasa

Where the figures come from

Mombasa 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). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMombasa
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+3
Emergency number911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation9 m50 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMombasa
City population1,902,5901,208,333
People per km²76,1044,100
Museums within 10 km270
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Mombasa 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.