VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Manila or Tampa?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Tampa 57: Manila leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Tampa 42: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Tampa 52: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Tampa 22: Manila leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Tampa 40: Manila leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Tampa 40: Manila leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Tampa 47: Manila leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Tampa 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 Tampa.

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 prices and shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaTampa
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish-
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m30 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaTampa
City population1,902,590384,959
People per km²76,104848
Museums within 10 km276
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 Tampa 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.