VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Manila or San Francisco?

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 San Francisco for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, San Francisco 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, San Francisco 58: Manila leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, San Francisco 14: Manila leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and San Francisco.

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.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSan Francisco
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish-
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m16 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSan Francisco
City population1,902,590873,965
People per km²76,1041,455
Museums within 10 km2751
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Manila or San Francisco 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.