VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Manila or Puerto Plata?

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 Puerto Plata for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Puerto Plata 40: Manila leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Puerto Plata 35: Manila leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Puerto Plata 38: Manila leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Puerto Plata 57: Puerto Plata leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Puerto Plata 30: Manila leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Puerto Plata 64: Manila leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Puerto Plata 18: Manila leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Puerto Plata 35: Manila leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Manila
Best match
48match

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

Puerto Plata
45match

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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Puerto Plata 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). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaPuerto Plata
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m34 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaPuerto Plata
City population1,902,590-
People per km²76,104-
Museums within 10 km271
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Puerto Plata 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.