VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Manila or Xi'an?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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, Xi'an 4: Manila leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Xi'an 42: Manila leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila 40, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Manila 42, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Xi'an 50: Manila leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Xi'an 40: Manila leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila and Xi'an are level on 40.
0255075100

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

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Manila
48match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManilaXi'an
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishPutonghua
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation9 m405 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaXi'an
City population1,902,59012,952,907
People per km²76,1041,283
Museums within 10 km279
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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