VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Salvador?

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

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Salvador’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, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Manila and Salvador are level on 42.
Getting around. Manila 26, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Salvador 42: Manila leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Salvador 70: Manila leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Salvador 32: Manila leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Salvador.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights 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

Salvador in July

27 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
201 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSalvador
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishPortuguese
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation9 m8 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSalvador
City population1,902,5902,417,678
People per km²76,1043,489
Museums within 10 km2749
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 Salvador 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.