VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Manila or Samarkand?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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, Samarkand 4: Manila leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Samarkand 54: Manila leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Samarkand 14: Manila leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila and Samarkand are level on 40.
Day trips. Manila 42, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Samarkand 30: Manila leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Samarkand 42: Manila leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Samarkand 24: Manila leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Samarkand 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 Samarkand.

Your match

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

Manila
Best match
48match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on getting around 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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSamarkand
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishUzbek
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation9 m702 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSamarkand
City population1,902,590546,303
People per km²76,1045,058
Museums within 10 km2711
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 Samarkand 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.