VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Manila or Sydney?

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

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Sydney 60: Manila leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Sydney 22: Manila leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Sydney.

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.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaSydney
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishEnglish
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number911000
Elevation9 m6 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSydney
City population1,902,5905,450,496
People per km²76,104449
Museums within 10 km2738
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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