VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain.

Manila or Nuevo Vallarta?

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
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Nuevo Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’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, Nuevo Vallarta 84: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Nuevo Vallarta 40: Manila leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Nuevo Vallarta 6: Manila leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Nuevo Vallarta 16: Manila leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Nuevo Vallarta 75: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Nuevo Vallarta 58: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Nuevo Vallarta 73: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Nuevo Vallarta 25: Manila leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Nuevo Vallarta 22: Manila leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Nuevo Vallarta 45: Manila leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Nuevo Vallarta 18: Manila leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Nuevo Vallarta 55: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Nuevo Vallarta.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

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

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaNuevo Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureManilaNuevo Vallarta
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 m3 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaNuevo Vallarta
City population1,902,5901,301
People per km²76,104-
Museums within 10 km270
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Nuevo Vallarta 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.