VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Manila or Montevideo?

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

  • prices
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Montevideo 57: Manila leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Manila and Montevideo are level on 54.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Montevideo 50: Manila leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Montevideo 34: Manila leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Montevideo 36: Manila leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Montevideo 42: Manila leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Montevideo 38: Manila leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Montevideo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaMontevideo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaMontevideo
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish-
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m41 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaMontevideo
City population1,902,5901,302,954
People per km²76,1041,785
Museums within 10 km2736
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Manila or Montevideo 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.