VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Sao Paulo?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Sao Paulo 48: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Sao Paulo 62: Manila leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Sao Paulo 25: Manila leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Manila
48match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSao Paulo
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishPortuguese
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation9 m760 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSao Paulo
City population1,902,59011,451,999
People per km²76,1047,519
Museums within 10 km2790
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 Sao Paulo 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.