VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Manila or Ottawa?

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
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Ottawa’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, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Ottawa 45: Manila leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Ottawa 35: Manila leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Ottawa 40: Manila leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Ottawa 40: Manila leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Ottawa 52: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around 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

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaOttawa
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishFrench, English
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m70 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaOttawa
City population1,902,5901,017,449
People per km²76,104366
Museums within 10 km2720
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Ottawa 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.