VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Manila or San Jose, Costa Rica?

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
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’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 and San Jose, Costa Rica are level on 12.
Food & drink. Manila 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Manila leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Manila leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Manila leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Manila leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Manila leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Manila leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Manila leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and San Jose, Costa Rica.

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 shopping with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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 Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m1,161 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population1,902,590335,007
People per km²76,1047,511
Museums within 10 km279
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 San Jose, Costa Rica 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.