VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Manila or Santa Marta?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Santa Marta 44: Manila leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Santa Marta 34: Manila leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Santa Marta 50: Manila leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Santa Marta 38: Manila leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Santa Marta 40: Manila leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Santa Marta 27: Manila leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Santa Marta 17: Manila leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Santa Marta 30: Manila leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Manila
48match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSanta Marta
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation9 m8 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSanta Marta
City population1,902,590505,915
People per km²76,1041,723
Museums within 10 km273
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 Santa Marta 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.