VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Manila or Nairobi?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Manila leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Nairobi 48: Manila leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Nairobi 35: Manila leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Nairobi 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Nairobi 28: Manila leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Nairobi 20: Manila leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Nairobi 45: Manila leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Nairobi 60: Manila leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Nairobi 35: Manila leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Nairobi 25: Manila leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Manila
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaNairobi
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 m1,661 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaNairobi
City population1,902,5905,545,000
People per km²76,1047,967
Museums within 10 km274
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 Nairobi 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.