VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Taipei?

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 Taipei for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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, Taipei 40: Taipei leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Taipei 68: Taipei leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Taipei 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Taipei 78: Taipei leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Taipei 72: Taipei leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Taipei 70: Taipei leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Taipei 66: Manila leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Taipei 55: Taipei leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 40 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Taipei.

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.

Taipei
Best match
70match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaTaipei

Where the figures come from

Taipei 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). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaTaipei
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishTaiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency number911110 or 112 or 119
Elevation9 m10 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureManilaTaipei
City population1,902,5902,429,429
People per km²76,1048,938
Museums within 10 km2769
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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