VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Manila or Wellington?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Wellington 62: Manila leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Wellington 44: Manila leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Wellington 45: Manila leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Wellington 40: Manila leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Wellington 42: Manila leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Wellington 33: Manila leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Wellington 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 Wellington.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaWellington
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation9 m0 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaWellington
City population1,902,590216,200
People per km²76,104487
Museums within 10 km2712
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Manila or Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.