VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Manila or Tirana?

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

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Tirana 57: Manila leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Tirana 42: Manila leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Tirana 58: Manila leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Tirana 40: Manila leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Tirana 32: Manila leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Tirana 76: Manila leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Tirana 32: Manila leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Tirana 27: Manila leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Tirana.

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 shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tirana
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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaTirana
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishAlbanian
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Lek (ALL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation9 m110 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaTirana
City population1,902,590389,323
People per km²76,1049,314
Museums within 10 km2711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Manila or Tirana 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.