VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Santo Domingo?

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

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Santo Domingo 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Santo Domingo 64: Santo Domingo leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Santo Domingo 36: Manila leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Santo Domingo 40: Manila leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Santo Domingo 40: Santo Domingo leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Santo Domingo 44: Manila leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Santo Domingo 66: Manila leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Santo Domingo 46: Manila leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Santo Domingo 22: Manila leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Manila
48match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Santo Domingo
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

Santo Domingo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSanto Domingo
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m14 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSanto Domingo
City population1,902,5902,201,941
People per km²76,1041,691
Museums within 10 km2710
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 Santo Domingo 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.